New Data on the Parasitoid-Inquiline Community of Andricus quercustozae (Bosc, 1792) (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) in Bulgaria

Abstract

New data on parasitoids and inquilines occurring in galls of the cynipid hymenopteran Andricus quercustozae (Bosc, 1792) from the Lozenska Mts., Bulgaria, are presented. Bootanomyia stigmatizans (Fabricius, 1798) (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) is the most abundant parasitoid species in galls of A. quercustozae. The inquiline Pammene amygdalana (Duponchel in Godart, 1842) (Lepidoptera: Torticidae) is recorded from
A. quercustozae galls from Bulgaria for the first time. Co-existence of two inquilines, P. amygdalana and Synergus umbraculus (Olivier, 1791) (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), within the same gall on Quercus dalechampii is documented. In addition, a new gall association for Torymus cyaneus Walker, 1847 (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) is recorded.

Full text

301
ACTA ZOOLOGICA BULGARICA
Acta zool. bulg., 71 (2), 2019: 301-303
Short Communication
Introduction
The gall wasp Andricus quercustozae (Bosc, 1792)
is a Western Palaearctic species causing some of the
most striking and easy recognisable oak galls. Only
asexual females are known but some authors sup-
pose the existence of unknown sexual generation.
Galls develop on the buds of the previous year shoots
and grow up to 40 mm in diameter, having spherical
form and brownish colour. Besides the gall-inducer
larva, a number of parasitoids and inqulines could
invade the gall, where they develop as primary or
secondary parasitoids or compete for plant tissue
with the host larva. Amongst the 27 known parasi-
toids in A. quercustozae galls ( 2018), only
11 species are recorded on this host from Bulgaria
( 2005, 2006,  et al. 2013, 
&  2015). In addition, nine cynipid in-
quilines are associated with this host ( et al.
2013) but just one, Synergus umbraculus (Olivier)
(Cynipidae), has been found to attack A. quercusto-
zae galls in Bulgaria (- 1976,
1987, 1989).
The present study aimed to obtain new informa-
tion on parasitoids and inqulines in galls of Andricus
quercustozae from oak forests in Bulgaria.
Materials and Methods
During the winter-spring periods of 2015-2017,
we collected 224 overwintered mature galls of A.
quercustozae from six oak species, i.e. Quercus cerris
L., Q. dalechampii Ten., Q. pedunculiora K. Koch,
Q. petraea (Matt.) Liebl., Q. polycarpa Schur and
Q. pubescens Willd., in the Lozenska Mts., Bulgaria.
Every single gall was placed in a plastic cup and

Emerged parasitoids and inquilines were dehydrated
following  &  (1998). Emerged moths
were killed with ethylacetate and, when necessary,
New Data on the Parasitoid-Inquiline Community
of Andricus quercustozae (Bosc, 1792)
(Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) in Bulgaria
Ivaylo Todorov1, Anelia Stojanova2, Boyan Zlatkov1, Georgi Hristov1 & George Melika3
1 -
garia; E-mails: i.toddorov@abv.bg; bzlatkov@gmail.com
2 Department of Zoology, University of Plovdiv, 24 Tsar Assen Street, 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria; E-mail: stanelia@uni-plovdiv.bg
3 Plant Health and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Directorate of Plant Protection, Soil Conservation and Agri-environment, Na-

Abstract: New data on parasitoids and inquilines occurring in galls of the cynipid hymenopteran Andricus quercus-
tozae (Bosc, 1792) from the Lozenska Mts., Bulgaria, are presented. Bootanomyia stigmatizans (Fabricius,
1798) (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) is the most abundant parasitoid species in galls of A. quercustozae. The
inquiline Pammene amygdalana (Duponchel in Godart, 1842) (Lepidoptera: Torticidae) is recorded from
A. quercustozaeP. amygdalana and
Synergus umbraculus (Olivier, 1791) (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), within the same gall on Quercus dale-
champii is documented. In addition, a new gall association for Torymus cyaneus Walker, 1847 (Hymenop-
tera: Torymidae) is recorded.
Key words: Torymus cyaneus, oak galls, Pammene amygdalana.

302
Todorov I., A. Stojanova, B. Zlatkov, G. Hristov & G. Melika
the genitalia were dissected ( 1976). In
the list below, we use the following abbreviations:
S – south of; em. – emerged on; h.pl. - host plant of
the gall. The new association is marked with one as-
terisk. Observed co-existence of S. umbraculus and
Pammene amygdalana (Duponchel in Godart, 1842)
(Tortricidae), i.e. specimens emerged from a single
gall, are marked with two asterisks.
Results
The following insect species were recorded from
the examined galls:
Hymenoptera
 
Eurytoma brunniventris Ratzeburg, 1852
Material: S Lanina mogila,
42°34’24.25”N/23°29’33.02”E, 948 m a.s.l.,
Q. petraea.
Sycophila biguttata Swederus, 1795
Material: S Lanina mogila,
42°34’24.25”N/23°29’33.02”E,948 m a.s.l., 1
     Q. petraea; Kurlevite
dupki, 42°34’36.26”N/23°30’11.93”E, 1015 m
   Q. polycarpa;
Rakovichka mogila, 42°35’6.14”N/23°28’14.39”E,
         
    Q. dale-
champii.
 
Ormyrus nitidulus (Fabricius, 1804)
Material: Kurlevite dupki,
42°34’38.12”N/23°30’35.81”, 1030 m a.s.l., 1
   
Q. cerris; Rakovichka
mogila, 42°35’6.14”N/23°28’14.39”E, 1130 m a.s.l.,
Q. dalechampii.
 
Bootanomyia stigmatizans (Fabricius, 1798)
Material: S Lanina mogila,
42°34’24.25”N/23°29’33.02”E, 948 m a.s.l., 2
      
Q. petraea;
S Lanina mogila, 42°34’10.00”N/23°29’54.37”E,

Q. pedunculiora.
Torymus auratus (Müller, 1764)
Material: S Lanina mogila,
42°34’24.25”N/23°29’33.02”E, 948 m a.s.l.,
  Q. petraea; Kurlevite
dupki, 42°34’38.12”N/23°30’35.81”E, 1030 m a.s.l.,
    
Q. cerris.
*Torymus cyaneus Walker, 1847
Material: S Lanina mogila,
42°34’24.25”N/23°29’33.02”E, 948 m a.s.l., 1
 Q.
petraea.

Synergus umbraculus (Olivier, 1791)
Material: Rakovichka mogila,
42°35’6.14”N/23°28’14.39”E, 1130 m a.s.l., 8


  
pl. Q. dalechampii.
Fig. 1. A gall of Andricus quercustozae with emerging holes of two specimens of Pammene amygdalana (PA1 and
PA2) and three specimens of Synergus umbraculus (SU). A total of six female cynipids emerged from that gall; A. view
from the upper side; B. view from the lower side.

New Data on the Parasitoid-Inquiline Community of Andricus quercustozae (Bosc, 1792) in Bulgaria
303
Lepidoptera

Pammene amygdalana (Duponchel, 1842)
Material: Kurlevite dupki,
42°34’38.12”N/23°30’35.81”E, 1030 m
       
vi.2016, h. pl. Q. cerris; Rakovichka mogila,
     
   
Q. dalechampii.
Discussion

that Bootanomyia stigmatizans is the most abun-
dant among the inhabitants of A. quercustozae galls.
Bootanomyia stigmatizans accounted 32.35% of
the parasitoids and 15.71% of all parasitoid-inqui-
line material in our samples. In her work on chal-
cids from Bulgaria,  (2006) analysed
the collection of - and listed
24 specimens of B. stigmatizans emerged from A.
quercustozae galls, which are 42.85% of all record-
ed parasitoids reared from this host. However, no
species of the Pteromalidae have been recorded in
that paper. Although  et al. (2013) listed eight
pteromalid species emerged from this host from
       
of them in our rearings. Torymus cyaneus, known
to emerge from many oak galls ( 2018),
A.
quercustozae galls. Regarding the other gall inhab-

     
(2006); however, no conclusions can be drawn.
  
that Synergus umbraculus is the only species of
this group associated with A. quercustozae galls in
Bulgaria. An uncommon co-existence of two inqui-
line species in a single gall was also found. These
were two males of P. amygdalana and six females
of S. umbraculus (Fig. 1) emerged from the same
gall.
Acknowledgements: This study was partly supported by the
project ANIDIV 3, funded by the Institute of Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. We are
        
getting images shown on Fig. 1.
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Received: 24.07.2018
Accepted: 18.09.2018