Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #380339
Research Project: Systematics of Parasitic and Herbivorous Wasps of Agricultural Importance

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: Re-description and systematic re-appraisal of the genus Kokkocynips Pujade-Villar & Melika, (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), including new combinations of Nearctic species and the description of a new species from Panama

Author
item NIEVES-ALDREY, J.L. - University Of Madrid
item NICHOLIS, JAMES - Australian National University
item TANG, CHANG-TI - George Washington University
item MELIKA, GEORGE - Plant Protection Institute - Hungary
item STONE, GRAHAM - University Of Edinburgh
item PUJADE-VILLAR, J. - University Of Barcelona
item Buffington, Matthew
item MALDONADO, YURIXI - Universidad Michoacana De San Nicolas De Hidalgo
item MEDIANERO, ENRIQUE - Universidad De Panama

Submitted to: Zootaxa
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/20/2021
Publication Date: 5/29/2021
Citation: Nieves-Aldrey, J., Nicholis, J., Tang, C., Melika, G., Stone, G., Pujade-Villar, J., Buffington, M.L., Maldonado, Y., Medianero, E. 2021. Re-description and systematic re-appraisal of the genus Kokkocynips Pujade-Villar & Melika, (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), including new combinations of Nearctic species and the description of a new species from Panama. Zootaxa. 4938:2(205-232). https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4938.2.3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4938.2.3

Interpretive Summary: Galls wasps are a unqiue group of insects that make cancer-like tumors on plants, and live inside these swellings. Oaks are particular susecptible to galling, yet the taxonomy of these wasps in the United States is quite chaotic. This paper re-describes a genus, and moves a number of North American species into this genus, making identification faster and more accurate. One new species is also described. Other taxonomists, ecologists, and biological control workers will use the data published here.

Technical Abstract: The monophyly and taxonomic validity of some currently accepted genera of gallwasps in the Cynipini (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) are being challenged by recent systematic studies. Here we used morphological and molecular data to re-describe and revise the taxonomic limits of the monotypic genus Kokkocynips Pujade-Villar & Melika, previously recorded only from Mexico. We describe a new species from Panama Kokkocynips panamensis Medianero & Nieves-Aldrey, reared from galls on Quercus salicifolia Neé, and add new records from Mexico for the type species of the genus K. doctorrrosae Pujade-Villar. Six Nearctic species, Dryocosmus rileyi (Ashmead, 1896), D. imbricariae (Ashmead, 1896), D. coxii (Basset, 1881), D. deciduus (Beutenmüller, 1913), Callirhytis difficilis (Ashmead, 1887) and C. attractans (Kinsey, 1922) are transferred to Kokkocynips. Species of Kokkocynips are associated only with red oaks (Quercus section Lobatae (Fagaceae)) and are distributed in the Nearctic and Neotropical regions, from Canada through Mexico and Panama. Taxonomic limits of Kokkocynips are discussed in light of the molecular phylogenetic relationships of the studied species. Diagnostic characters, gall description, distribution, and biological data of Kokkocynips species are given, including a key for the identification of the asexual generations of seven species.