1. The unknown followers: Discovery of a new species of Sycobia Walker (Hymenoptera: Epichrysomallinae) associated with Ficus benjamina L. (Moraceae) in the Neotropical region
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Elmecelli Moraes de Castro Souza, Rodrigo Augusto Santinelo Pereira, Jean-Yves Rasplus, Cecilia Bernardo Pereira, Fernando Henrique Antoniolli Farache, Cristiana Koschnitzke, William Cardona, Levi Oliveira Barros, Fabián Gatti, Daniel Tirapeli Felício, FFCLRP-USP, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Univ Fed Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacl, Dept Bot, BR-20940040 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil, Partenaires INRAE, Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho = São Paulo State University (UNESP), Centro de Pesquisa Ecológica Subtropical, Universidad del Valle, Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations (UMR CBGP), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro), Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro), FAPESP : 2015/06430-2, 2015/25417-7, 2017/00647-5, CNPq : 306078/2014-7, and Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior - Brasil (CAPES) : 001
- Subjects
région tropicale ,0106 biological sciences ,Chalcidoidea ,Insecta ,Agaonidae ,Arthropoda ,Sycobia ,010607 zoology ,Ficus benjamina ,Hymenoptera ,Moraceae ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,invasive species ,Magnoliopsida ,Biologie animale ,lcsh:Zoology ,Botany ,Animalia ,lcsh:QL1-991 ,biocontrol ,Rosales ,Plantae ,dispersal ,parasitoid ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Animal biology ,biology ,[SDV.BA]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology ,15. Life on land ,biology.organism_classification ,Tracheophyta ,Insect Science ,Epichrysomallinae - Abstract
Biotic invasion in mutualistic communities is of particular interest due to the possible establishment of new relationships with native species. Ficus species are widely cultivated as ornamental plants, and they host specific communities of chalcid wasps that are strictly associated with the fig inflorescences. Some introduced fig species are capable of establishing new relationships with the local fig wasps, and fig wasp species may also be concomitantly introduced with their host plants. Ficusbenjamina L. is widely cultivated across the world, but the associated fig wasps are not reported outside of the species native range. We describe for the first time a non-pollinating fig wasp associated with F.benjamina inflorescences outside its native distribution. Sycobiahodites Farache & Rasplus, sp. n. is the third known species of the genus and was recorded in populations of F.benjamina introduced in the Neotropical region throughout several localities in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. Sycobia is a gall-inducing non-pollinating fig wasp genus associated with fig trees in the Oriental and Australasian regions. This species competes with pollinators for oviposition sites and may hinder the future establishment of the native pollinator of F.benjamina, Eupristinakoningsbergeri Grandi, 1916 in the New World. However, the occurrence of a gall inducing species in this host plant may open ecological opportunities for the establishment of species belonging to other trophic levels such as cleptoparasite and parasitoid wasps.
- Published
- 2018
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