ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Taxonomic review of Afrotropical Watshamia Boucek(Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), with description of a new species

Mircea-Dan MITROIUFaculty of Biology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania

AbstractWatshamia Boucek, 1974 (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) has three known world species described byBoucek: W. versicolor and W. turneri (Afrotropical), and W. malaica (Oriental). In this paper, Watshamiagero sp. nov. is described from Kenya. It is the only known species in which females have hyaline fore wings.Wing interference pattern (WIP) is used for the first time in the taxonomy of Pteromalidae as a differentialfeature. An illustrated key to females and males of Afrotropical Watshamia is given and the first indicationsof the biology of the Afrotropical species are presented. Watshamia versicolor is newly reported from theDemocratic Republic of Congo.

Key words: parasitoid, Pireninae, taxonomy, wing interference pattern (WIP).

INTRODUCTION

Watshamia Boucek, 1974 (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae:Pireninae) is a small genus, having only three knownspecies worldwide, all described by Boucek (1974):W. versicolor (type species) from Zimbabwe and SouthAfrica, W. turneri from Namibia and South Africa,and W. malaica from Malaysia. According to Boucek(1974), Watshamia is somewhat similar to MacroglenesWestwood, but differs in many respects and “seems tolink still more closely the tribes Ormocerini and Pireniniof the subfamily Miscogasterinae than any other knowngenus” (p. 339).

The biology of the Afrotropical species of Watshamiais unknown, but according to Boucek (1974), W. mala-ica was reared from Asphondylia sp. (Diptera:Cecidomyiidae) on Dryobalanops aromatica Gaertn.(Dipterocarpaceae), the Malay Camphor, a criticallyendangered tree species.

Based on examination of various natural history col-lections, specimens of Watshamia are apparently seldomcollected. However, several specimens from the Natural

History Museum in London proved to belong to a newspecies, which was reared from an unidentified cecid-omyiid species in Kenya.

The wing interference pattern (WIP) was recentlyintroduced as a new character for the wings of smallinsects (Shevtsova et al. 2011). So far, this character hasbeen used only in Eulophidae for taxonomy, for males ofAchrysocharoides Girault (for species separation) andCornugon Hansson (for generic and species separation)(Hansson 2011). In this paper, WIP is used for the firsttime for species separation in Pteromalidae.

The aim of this paper is to describe a new species ofWatshamia, provide an illustrated key to the Afrotropi-cal species, and update the distributional and biologicaldata.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Observations and descriptions were made using aKrüss MSZ5400 steromicroscope (Krüss, Hamburg,Germany) with a maximum magnification of 180X.Images were taken using a Leica DFC500 digital cameraattached to a Leica M205A automated research stere-omicroscope (Leica, Wetzlar, Germany). The imageswere then processed either with Leica dedicated soft-ware or Helicon Focus 5.2 (Helicon Soft, Kharkov,Ukraine). Their clarity was further enhanced usingAdobe Photoshop 7.0 (Adobe Systems Incorporated,

Correspondence: Mircea-Dan Mitroiu, Faculty of Biology,Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Bd. Carol I 11, 700506Iasi, Romania.Email: mircea.mitroiu@uaic.ro

Received 27 August 2012; accepted 29 August 2012.

Entomological Science (2013) 16, 191–195 doi:10.1111/j.1479-8298.2012.00554.x

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San Jose, CA, USA). Measurements were taken with amicrometric graduated ocular.

Terminology follows Gibson (1997), with one addi-tion: the term “pecten” was introduced by Graham(1969, p. 335) for a row of specialized hairs on the inneraspect of the hind tibia found in some Pireninae. Thescape is measured without the radicle. The height of thehead is measured in frontal view, from the top of theposterior ocelli to the clypeal margin. The length of themesosoma is measured in lateral view from the anterioredge of pronotum to the posterior edge of propodeum;the metasoma is measured in lateral view from its ante-rior edge to the tip of the ovipositor sheaths.

Information on specimen labels is given ad literam,followed by the depository in parentheses. Abbrevia-tions used in the text: F1-F5, funicular segments 1–5;Gt1-Gt7, gastral tergites 1–7; M, marginal vein;OOL, minimum distance between posterior ocellus andinner orbit; P, postmarginal vein; POL, minimum dis-tance between posterior ocelli; S, stigmal vein;WIP, wing interference pattern. Depositories: CNC, Ca-nadian National Collection of Insects Ottawa, Canada;BMNH, Natural History Museum London, U.K.;RMCA, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren,Belgium.

RESULTS

Watshamia BoucekWatshamia Boucek (1974), pp. 338–339; type species:W. versicolor Boucek, by original designation.Diagnosis. Body with conspicuous, often bright metalliccolour. Head and mesosoma densely and more or lessdeeply reticulate. Antennal toruli below centre of face,from slightly above to slightly below lower eye margin.Clypeus with lower margin entire, arcuate. Antenna inboth sexes short, formula 1153, sometimes with someanelliform segments. Fore wing with sparse pilosity,parastigma and stigma conspicuously enlarged, infemale usually with some brown spots, in male hyaline.Female metasoma more or less laterally compressed.Sexual dimorphism evident, eyes of male very large,touching the posterior ocelli.

Key to Afrotropical Watshamia1 Female .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2– Male .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Mesosoma strongly convex, scutellum with convexity

stronger in anterior part (Fig. 3); fore wing with asmall brown spot under parastigma and a long trans-verse brown strip below stigma (Fig. 3) .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W. versicolor Boucek

– Mesosoma less strongly convex, scutellum evenlyconvex (Figs 1,5); fore wing with brown spots orhyaline .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

3 Fore wing hyaline (Fig. 10); metasoma longer thanmesosoma, strongly compressed laterally (Fig. 1).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W. gero sp. nov.

– Fore wing with two brown spots, a smaller one belowparastigma and a larger one below distal half of mar-ginal vein; metasoma at most as long as mesosoma,not strongly compressed laterally (Fig. 5) .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W. turneri Boucek

5 Reticulation on mesoscutum strong, hence surfacemostly dull; WIP: posterior half of hind wing violet(Fig. 12) .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W. versicolor Boucek

– Reticulation on mesoscutum shallow, hence surfacemostly shiny; WIP different .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

6 M about 3.1X S; frenal line sinuous; body size 2.5–2.6 mm; WIP: posterior third of hind wing yellow(Fig. 11) .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W. gero sp. nov.

– M about 4X S; frenal line straight; body size 1.8–2.1 mm; WIP: posterior third of hind wing violet(Fig. 13).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W. turneri Boucek

Watshamia gero Mitroiu sp. nov. (Figs 1,2,7–11)

Holotype female. “Kenya, Malili Ranch, Nov. 1990, J.Marohasy”, “X-? Parasite of cecidomyiid forming stemend galls”, “9076”, “J. Marohasy coll, 9076, IIE21507”, “� Watshamia sp., det. J. LaSalle, 1991”(BMNH).Paratypes (six males). All specimens with the sameinformation as holotype (BMNH).Diagnosis. Body with shallow reticulation; fore winghyaline (Fig. 10). Female scutellum with symmetric con-vexity, and metasoma longer than mesosoma, stronglycompressed laterally (Fig. 1). Male with M about 3.1XS, frenal line sinuate, WIP as in Figure 11, and bodylength about 2.5–2.6 mm.Description. Female. Body length: 2.75 mm. Head infrontal view bluish-green, with some violet reflectionsin upper part, most strongly around ocelli. Eyesreddish, ocelli light brown. Mesoscutum bright green,lateral lobes with violet reflections in posterior half.Scutellum bright green with violet spot in middle.Axillae and axillulae bluish-green. Propodeum brightgreen medially, violet laterally. Lateral surface ofmesosoma mainly violet. Metasoma dark brown.Antenna with scape and pedicel brown with greenishreflections, flagellum brown. Mandibles light brown,teeth darker. Legs with all segments except tarsi brownwith violet reflections; tarsi pale yellow, last tarsomeredarker; arolia and claws brown. Wings entirelyhyaline, venation light brown, parastigma and stigmadarker.

M.-D. Mitroiu

Entomological Science (2013) 16, 191–195192© 2013 The Entomological Society of Japan

Head in frontal view (Fig. 7) uniformly reticulateexcept the mainly smooth clypeal area. Scrobes shallow,visible only for a short distance above toruli. Genamainly smooth. Head in dorsal view about twice asbroad as long and in frontal view about 1.2X as broadas high. Temple in dorsal view about 0.2X as long aseye. POL about 1.3X OOL. Eyes oval, their innermargins diverging and slightly emarginate, height about1.4X length. Malar space about 0.4X eye height andabout 0.5X eye length. Oral fosa about half head width.Antenna (Fig. 7) short, clavate, inserted slightly abovelower eye margin; scape not reaching lower margin ofmedian ocellus; pedicel length about 2.1X width inlateral view; combined length of pedicel and flagellumabout 1.6X scape length; anelli indistinct; all five funicu-lar segments transverse and with one row of sensilla(difficult to see on F1, which is almost anelliform andconical); F1 about as broad as pedicel, width about 1.7Xlength, distinctly shorter and narrower than F2; F5width about 1.5X length; clava length about 1.5Xwidth.

Mesosoma moderately convex (Fig. 1), length about1.5X width and about 1.3X height. Pronotum indorsal view barely visible. Mesoscutum width 1.45Xlength, with shallow reticulation, alveoli transverse.Scutellum length about 1.4X width; frenal line distinct,slightly sinuate; alveoli anterior to frenal line small,elongated, but faint and normal posterior to frenal lineon frenal area. Axillae and axillulae mainly smooth.Metanotum with lateral panels smooth, dorsellumraised, smooth in frontal view, and separated fromscutellum by deep groove. Propodeum mainly smoothwith some wrinkles near posterior margin, widthabout 4.3X length medially; spiracle large, touchingmetanotum; callus bare. Prepectus and mesepisternumuniformly but shallowly reticulate. Upper and lowermesepimeron smooth, separated by deep groove. Meta-pleuron smooth. Fore wing (Fig. 10) length about 2.1Xwidth, covered by short sparse pilosity, fringe absentexcept hind margin where very short; basal cell,including basal vein, and costal cell bare; speculumlarge, reaching S, with six hairs on ventral side;parastigma distinctly enlarged, gradually narrowingtowards M; M:S:P = 17:5.5:4.5; stigma moderatelyenlarged, roundish. Hind tibia with pecten regular,extending about 4/5 length of tibia.

Metasoma strongly compressed laterally (Fig. 1),length about 3.5X width, and about 1.2X as long asmesosoma. Gt1 longest, with hind margin mediallyincised. Syntergum upturned (probably after death).Ovipositor sheaths distinct in dorsal view.Male. Differs from female as follows. Body length:2.5–2.6 mm. Head width about 1.9X length in dorsalview. Eye (Figs 2,8) very large, pyriform, dorsallytouching or almost touching lateral ocellus, heightabout 1.3X length, slightly more than 1/3 of lowerpart of eye with smaller ommatidia. Flagellum (Fig. 9)with F1 width about 1.3–1.5X length; F2 only slightlywider than F1, more transverse; F5 width about 1.6–1.7X length; clava length 1.7X width. Mesosomalength about 1.5–1.6X width and about 1.4–1.5Xheight. Scutellum with frenal line sometimes moreobviously sinuous. Metasoma more strongly com-pressed laterally, length 3.8–5.2X width. Fringe on forewing long. WIP: posterior third of hind wing yellow(Fig. 11). Hind tibial pecten complete, although lessdense proximally.Etymology. The name is formed from the first twoletters of George and Rodica Popescu, to whom the newspecies is dedicated.Variation. In males, dominant colour of the mesosomavaries from bright green to blue-green. Violet reflectionsvary from less evident to more evident than for female,especially on scutellum.

Figures 1–6 Watshamia spp., habitus in lateral view.1 W. gero, female holotype; 2 W. gero, male paratype;3 W. versicolor, female; 4 W. versicolor, male; 5 W. turneri,female paratype; 6 W. turneri, male paratype.

Afrotropical Watshamia

Entomological Science (2013) 16, 191–195 193© 2013 The Entomological Society of Japan

Distribution. Kenya.Hosts. Reared from an unidentified species of Ceci-domyiidae (Diptera).Remarks. Based on the moderate convexity of themesosoma, shallower reticulation and darker colour,W. gero is most similar to W. turneri. However, the WIPof W. turneri is more similar to that of W. versicolorthan to W. gero, and females of W. gero are the onlyones with hyaline wings (with a double infumation inW. turneri). Males of W. gero are differentiated by ashorter M in respect with S and a completely differentWIP than W. turneri (Fig. 11).

Watshamia turneri Boucek (Figs 5,6,13)

Watshamia turneri Boucek (1974), pp. 340–342; holo-type in BMNH, examined.Material examined. Type material: HOLOTYPE �,“South Africa, George-Uniondale, A. Watsham, xii.1973”, “Holotype”, “� Watshamia turneri sp. n., det.Z. Boucek, 1974” (BMNH). PARATYPES: 1� and 1�,same information as holotype (BMNH). Other material:1�, “S. Afr. CP 150 m., Wilderness Native For., 15.I.86,W. Mason” (CNC); 1�, “S. AFRICA: Natal, 75 km.WSW. Eastcourt, Cathedral Peaks For. Stn.,8–31.XII.1979, S.&J. Peck, 1500 m.” “� Watshamiaturneri Bck., Det. Z. Boucek 1989” (CNC).Diagnosis. Both sexes with shallow reticulation anddarker, less well-delimited colours. Female scutellumwith symmetric convexity and fore wing with character-istic brown spots (Fig. 5). Male 1.8–2.1 mm in length

(Fig. 6); M about 4X S; frenal line straight; WIP: poste-rior third of hind wing violet (Fig. 13).Variation. No important variation was observed in theexamined specimens.Distribution. Namibia and South Africa (Noyes 2012).Hosts. Unknown.

Watshamia versicolor Boucek (Figs 3,4,12)

Watshamia versicolor Boucek (1974), pp. 339–340;holotype in BMNH, examined.Material examined. Type material: HOLOTYPE �,“South Africa: Cape Province, Pondoland, Port St.Johns, ii. 1924, R. E. Turner”, “Holotype”, “� Wat-shamia versicolor sp. n., det. Z. Boucek, 1974”(BMNH). Other material: 1�, “Rhodesia, Salisbury, A.Watsham/(XI)76”, “ex galls on Rhoicissus tridentata”,“� Watshamia versicolor Bck., det. Z. Boucek., 1978”(BMNH); 1�, “Rhodesia, Chrishawasha, Nr. Salis-bury”, “XII. 1978, A. Watsham”, Watshamia versicolorBck., det. Z. Boucek., 1979” (BMNH); 11�, “COLL.MUS. CONGO, Eala, XI1936, J. Ghesquiere”,“Washamia versicolor Bck., JY Rasplus Det. 87”(RMCA).

Figures 7–10 Watshamia gero. 7 Head of female holotype; 8Head of male paratype; 9 Antenna of male paratype; 10 Forewing of female holotype.

Figures 11–13 Wing interference patterns (WIPs) of Wat-shamia male hind wings. 11 W. gero, paratype; 12 W. versi-color; 13 W. turneri, paratype.

M.-D. Mitroiu

Entomological Science (2013) 16, 191–195194© 2013 The Entomological Society of Japan

Diagnosis. Both sexes with strong reticulation and well-delimited, bright colours; female scutellum with asym-metric convexity and fore wing with characteristicbrown spots (Fig. 3). Male WIP: posterior half of hindwing violet (Fig. 12).Variation. The metallic colour pattern on the body mayvary in intensity.Distribution. South Africa, Zimbabwe (Noyes 2012),and Democratic Republic of Congo (new record).Hosts. Unknown. One female was recorded from gallson Rhoicissus tridentata (L. F.) Wild & Drumm (Vita-ceae), the Bushman’s Grape.

DISCUSSION

Watshamia was considered by Boucek (1974) as “closerto Pirenini” (upgraded to subfamily by Boucek (1988))without clearly mentioning the features shared withother genera of the group, except for the large eyes ofmales. The genus clearly belongs to Pireninae based onthe following shared features: antennae inserted low,level with lower eye margin or slightly above, and withreduced number of segments; fore wings with reducedpilosity; M long, S and P very short; and hind tibialpecten present. The pecten is mentioned for the first timein Watshamia and it is visible in all Afrotropical species.

Watshamia can be regarded as monophyletic based onthe following putative autapomorphies: body surface(except metasoma) distinctly reticulate (mostly smoothin other Pireninae), with bright metallic colours (blackor dull metallic in others); parastigma enlarged (normalin others); antenna with anelli indistinct and all fivefunicular segments bearing sensilla (if anelli indistinctthen at least some funicular segments anelliform in otherPireninae). The genus appears to be closest to Macro-glenes Westwood, which is diverse in the Palaearcticregion (Mitroiu 2010) but not yet recorded from theAfrotropical region. Watshamia shares with Macro-glenes the following features: clypeal margin arcuate,antenna with indistinct anelli, male eye considerablyenlarged, Cecidomyiidae as hosts. However, a compre-hensive phylogenetic analysis is needed to determine theposition of Watshamia within the subfamily Pireninae.

The genus has a tropical distribution, three speciesbeing recorded from southern, central and easternAfrica, and one from Malaysia. Watshamia malaica wasrecorded from Asphondylia sp. (Diptera: Cecidomyi-idae) on Dryobalanops aromatica Gaertn. (Dipterocar-paceae), the Malay Camphor, a critically endangeredspecies of tree. Label data for W. gero also indicatesunidentified cecidomyiid galls as hosts and one female of

W. versicolor was reared from unidentified galls onRhoicissus tridentata (Vitaceae). These are the first indi-cations of the biology of the Afrotropical species andtogether suggest that species of Watshamia are parasi-toids of Cecidomyiidae. Watshamia malaica may proveuseful in the protection the Malay Camphor againstcecidomyiid pests.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was supported by the Sectorial OperationalProgram “The Development of Human Resources”through the project “Development of the innovationcapacity and increase of the research impact throughpostdoctoral programs” POSDRU/89/1.5/S/49944.Many thanks to John Noyes, Suzanne Ryder (BMNH)and Eliane de Coninck (RMCA) for valuable helpduring my research visits, and to Gary Gibson (CNC)for constructive comments on the manuscript.

REFERENCES

Boucek Z (1974) On some Chalcididae and Pteromalidae(Hymenoptera), with descriptions of new genera andspecies from Africa and one species from Asia. Journal ofthe Entomological Society of Southern Africa 37, 327–343.

Boucek Z (1988) Australasian Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). ABiosystematic Revision of Genera of Fourteen Families,with A Reclassification of Species. CAB International,Wallingford, Cambrian News Ltd, Aberystwyth.

Gibson GAP (1997) Morphology and terminology. In: GibsonGAP, Huber JT, Woolley JB (eds) Annotated Keys to theGenera of Nearctic Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera), pp16–44. NRC Research Press, Ottawa.

Graham MWRdeV (1969) The Pteromalidae of northwesternEurope (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Bulletin of theBritish Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) Suppl.16, 1–908.

Hansson C (2011) Cornugon (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae: Ent-edoninae) a new genus from tropical America including 10new species. Zootaxa 2873, 1–26.

Mitroiu M-D (2010) Revision of the Palaearctic species ofMacroglenes Westwood (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae).Zootaxa 2563, 1–34.

Noyes JS (2012) Universal Chalcidoidea Database [databaseon the Internet]. Natural History Museum London.[updated Jun 2012; cited 10 Jul 2012.] Available fromURL: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/chalcidoids/index.html

Shevtsova E, Hansson C, Janzen D, Kjærandsen J (2011) Stablestructural color patterns displayed on transparent insectwings. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesof the United States of America 108, 668–673.

Afrotropical Watshamia

Entomological Science (2013) 16, 191–195 195© 2013 The Entomological Society of Japan