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The Nearctic cynipid oak gall wasp genus Feron Kinsey, comb. rev., is re-established with 34 species: F. albicomus (Weld, 1952), comb. nov., F. amphorus (Weld, 1926), comb. nov., F. apiarium (Weld, 1944), comb. nov., F. atrimentum (Kinsey, 1922), comb. nov., F. bakkeri (Lyon, 1984), comb. nov., F. caepula (Weld, 1926), comb. nov., F. californicum (Beutenmueller, 1911), comb. nov., F. clarkei (Bassett, 1890), comb. nov., F. comatum (Weld, 1952), comb. nov., F. crystallinum (Bassett, 1900), comb. nov., F. cylindratum (Kinsey, 1937), comb. nov., F. discale (Weld, 1926), comb. nov., F. discularis (Weld, 1926), comb. nov., F. dumosae (Weld, 1957), comb. nov., F. gigas (Kinsey, 1922), comb. nov., F. izabellae Melika, Nicholls & Stone, sp. nov., F. kingi (Bassett, 1900), comb. nov., F. parmula (Bassett, 1900), comb. nov., F. pattersonae (Fullaway, 1911), comb. nov., F. roberti Melika, Nicholls & Stone, sp. nov., F. rucklei Melika, Nicholls & Stone, sp. nov., F. scutellum (Weld, 1930), comb. nov., F. serranoae Pujade-Villar & Cuesta-Porta, sp. nov., F. splendens (Weld, 1919), comb. nov., F. stellare (Weld, 1926), comb. nov., F. stellulum (Burnett, 1974), comb. nov., F. sulfureum (Weld, 1926), comb. nov., F. syndicorum Pujade-Villar & Cuesta-Porta, sp. nov., F. tecturnarum (Kinsey, 1920), comb. nov., F. tetyanae Melika, sp. nov., F. tibiale Kinsey, 1937, comb. rev., F. tubifaciens (Weld, 1926), comb. nov., F. verutum Kinsey, 1937, comb. rev., and F. vitreum Kinsey, 1937, comb. rev. Most species are known only from the asexual generation; F. clarkei, F. comatum, and F. dumosae are known only from the sexual generation, while both generations are recognised for F. atrimentum, F. crystallinum, F. gigas, F. kingi, and F. pattersonae. Matching of alternate sexual and asexual generations is established for the first time for F. kingi and F. pattersonae (= Andricus pedicellatus (Kinsey, 1922), syn. nov.) based on molecular data (both cytb and ITS2 sequences). Morphological descriptions, re-descriptions, diagnoses, and a key to species are given, as well as data on DNA sequences, biology, phenology, and distribution.

Amphibolips is currently divided into two species-groups, clearly differentiated by adult and gall morphology. The niger group of Amphibolips species is revised. This complex includes eight species: A. gumia Kinsey, A. jubatus Kinsey, A. elatus Kinsey, A. maturus Kinsey, A. nebris Kinsey, A. niger Kinsey, A. pistrix Kinsey and A. ufo Cuesta-Porta & Pujade-Villar sp. nov. We provide descriptions of new species and re-descriptions of known species, diagnoses, keys to complexes and species. The possibility of the niger complex belonging to a new genus is also discussed.

Galls are complex structures that develop from plant tissue, providing protection and food for gall-forming organisms, such as insects or mites. However, the molecules used by insects or mites to manipulate plant development have proved elusive. A landmark study has tracked down a gene in a gall-forming aphid that controls whether galls on witch hazel are green or red. The 'green allele' is strongly expressed in aphid salivary glands and represses plant genes used for red color formation. Excitingly, the gene product is part of a large suite of proteins that aphids may use to interact with plant biology., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright: © 2023 Faculty Opinions Ltd.)

Insects provide key pollination services in most terrestrial biomes, but this service depends on a multistep interaction between insect and plant. An insect needs to visit a flower, receive pollen from the anthers, move to another conspecific flower, and finally deposit the pollen on a receptive stigma. Each of these steps may be affected by climate change, and focusing on only one of them (e.g., flower visitation) may miss important signals of change in service provision. In this study, we combine data on visitation, pollen transport, and single-visit pollen deposition to estimate functional outcomes in the high Arctic plant-pollinator network of Zackenberg, Northeast Greenland, a model system for global warming-associated impacts in pollination services. Over two decades of rapid climate warming, we sampled the network repeatedly: in 1996, 1997, 2010, 2011, and 2016. Although the flowering plant and insect communities and their interactions varied substantially between years, as expected based on highly variable Arctic weather, there was no detectable directional change in either the structure of flower-visitor networks or estimated pollen deposition. For flower-visitor networks compiled over a single week, species phenologies caused major within-year variation in network structure despite consistency across years. Weekly networks for the middle of the flowering season emerged as especially important because most pollination service can be expected to be provided by these large, highly nested networks. Our findings suggest that pollination ecosystem service in the high Arctic is remarkably resilient. This resilience may reflect the plasticity of Arctic biota as an adaptation to extreme and unpredictable weather. However, most pollination service was contributed by relatively few fly taxa (Diptera: Spilogona sanctipauli and Drymeia segnis [Muscidae] and species of Rhamphomyia [Empididae]). If these key pollinators are negatively affected by climate change, network structure and the pollination service that depends on it would be seriously compromised., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Authors. Ecological Monographs published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America.)

Cryptic species diversity is a major challenge regarding the species-rich community of parasitoids attacking oak gall wasps due to a high degree of sexual dimorphism, morphological plasticity, small size and poorly known biology. As such, we know very little about the number of species present, nor the evolutionary forces responsible for generating this diversity. One hypothesis is that trait diversity in the gall wasps, including the morphology of the galls they induce, has evolved in response to selection imposed by the parasitoid community, with reciprocal selection driving diversification of the parasitoids. Using a rare, continental-scale data set of Sycophila parasitoid wasps reared from 44 species of cynipid galls from 18 species of oak across the USA, we combined mitochondrial DNA barcodes, ultraconserved elements (UCEs), morphological and natural history data to delimit putative species. Using these results, we generate the first large-scale assessment of ecological specialization and host association in this species-rich group, with implications for evolutionary ecology and biocontrol. We find most Sycophila target specific subsets of available cynipid host galls with similar morphologies, and generally attack larger galls. Our results suggest that parasitoid wasps such as Sycophila have adaptations allowing them to exploit particular host trait combinations, while hosts with contrasting traits are resistant to attack. These findings support the tritrophic niche concept for the structuring of plant-herbivore-parasitoid communities., (© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Recent years have seen rapid advances in the study of Fagaceae-associated gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) of the Eastern Palaearctic and the Oriental (EPO) regions, for both the gall inducing Cynipini (commonly termed oak gall wasps though many species gall non-oak Fagaceae) and the predominantly inquiline tribes Synergini and Ceroptresini. This process has propagated some taxonomic errors and involves many taxa whose taxonomic status is uncertain. To provide a stable foundation for further advance, here we review the taxonomic status of the 212 species (133 oak gall wasps and 79 oak cynipid inquilines) that have been described or recorded in these regions. Of this total, we treat 171 as valid species names (103 oak gall wasps and 68 oak cynipid inquilines) in 20 genera; 22 as synonym names, 13 as incertae sedis, three as nomen dubium, and three as species inquirenda. Callirhytis kunugicola Shinji, 1944 is proposed as syn. nov. of C. kunugicola Shinji, 1943, as Shinji described the same species twice. For all valid species names, we provide taxonomic references, synonyms, and geographical distributions. We summarize what is known of host plant associations and gall locations for gall inducers, and host associations for inquilines. We discuss geographic patterns in the known richness of currently valid species for both groups of organisms, and place this in the context of the biogeography of available Fagaceae host plants. We provide a brief historical review of the study of oak gall wasps and their inquilines in the EPO regions.

Five new gall wasp species, Aulacidea koeiana Melika, Tavakoli Stone, sp. nov., A. lorestanica Melika, Tavakoli Stone, sp. nov., A. piroziae Melika, Stone Pujade-Villar, sp. nov., Phanacis strigosa Melika, Stone Tavakoli, sp. nov., P. tavakolii Melika, Stone Pujade-Villar, sp. nov. are described from Lorestan, Iran. Descriptions, diagnoses, plus information on biology and host associations are given for all new species, and we provide the first description of the male of Isocolus beheni Melika Karimpour, 2008.

Most oak gallwasps (Hymenoptera; Cynipidae, Cynipini) have lifecycles involving obligate alternation between a sexual and an asexual generation. Many species are currently known from only one of these generations, with the alternate generation either unknown or separately described with a different name. Here we describe previously unknown generations for 12 Nearctic oak cynipids. We describe the sexual generation for ten species previously known only from an asexual generation: Acraspis quercushirta (Bassett, 1864), Acraspis villosa Gillette, 1888, Amphibolips spinosa Ashmead, 1887, Andricus balanaspis (Weld, 1922), comb. nov., Antron quercusnubila (Bassett, 1881), Bassettia pallida Ashmead, 1896, Neuroterus floccosus (Bassett, 1881), comb. rev., Philonix fulvicollis Fitch, 1859, Phylloteras poculum (Osten Sacken, 1862) and Sphaeroteras carolina (Ashmead, 1887), comb. rev.. We describe the asexual generation of Bassettia flavipes (Gillette, 1889), comb. nov. and Melikaiella tumifica (Osten Sacken, 1865), both previously known only from a sexual generation. Three described taxa (Neuroterus vernus Gillette, 1889, syn. nov., Neuroterus papillosus Beutenmueller, 1910, syn. nov. and Neuroterus perminimus Bassett, 1900, syn. nov.) are all identified as the sexual generation of Neuroterus niger Gillette, 1888. We also comment on the presence of previously unknown non-functional males reared from galls of the asexual generation of Neuroterus niger. We identify two further synonyms: Acraspis macrocarpae Bassett, 1890 is syn. nov. of A. quercushirta (Bassett, 1864), and Bassettia archboldi Melika Abrahamson, 2007 is syn. nov. of Bassettia pallida Ashmead, 1896. In addition, we formally synonymise multiple varieties described by Kinsey within his Acraspis quercushirta, A. villosa, Antron quercusnubila, Neuroterus niger and Philonix fulvicollis species complexes. We provide descriptions and diagnoses for these taxa, and summarise what is known of their biology, including host associations. All taxa and relationships between alternate generations are supported by morphological and molecular data.

Plant galls are novel and sometimes dramatic plant organs whose development is initiated and controlled by parasitic microbes, nematodes, insects and mites. For arthropods, galls provide relative safety from enemies and abiotic stresses while providing nutrition. Galls are formed entirely by the plant, whose transcriptional pathways are modified and coopted to produce a structure specific to the galler species; they comprise a classic example of Dawkins' "extended phenotype". Arthropod-elicited galls are unique in that they are often anatomically complex (Figure 1a), with multiple differentiated tissue types (Figure 1b). A growing number of investigators have studied changes in hostplant gene expression to understand arthropod gall development. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Martinson et al. (2021) report using RNA sequencing to explore tissue-specific gene expression associated with anatomical and functional gall complexity, demonstrating for the first time that gall tissues are as different transcriptionally as they are anatomically., (© 2022 The Authors. Molecular Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The Nearctic cynipid oak gall wasp genus Druon Kinsey comb. rev. is re-established, with 5 new species and 10 species previously placed in the genus Andricus Hartig 1840: D. alexandri Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., D. flocculentum (Lyon), comb. nov., D. fullawayi (Beutenmller), comb. nov., D. garciamartinonae Pujade-Villar, sp. nov., D. gregori Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., D. hansoni Cuesta-Porta, Melika Pujade-Villar, sp. nov., D. ignotum (Bassett), comb. nov., D. linaria Kinsey, comb. rev., D. pattoni (Bassett), comb. nov., D. protagion Kinsey, comb. rev. (D. malinum Kinsey, syn. nov., D. polymorphae Kinsey, syn. nov.), D. quercusflocci (Walsh), comb. nov., D. quercuslanigerum (Ashmead), comb. nov., D. receptum Kinsey, comb. rev., D. rusticum Kinsey, comb. rev. and D. serretae Pujade-Villar, Cuesta-Porta Melika, sp. nov.. All species are known only from their asexual generation except for D. ignotum and D. quercuslanigerum, for which alternating asexual and sexual generations are known. The sexual generation of D. ignotum and a new morphological variety of D. quercuslanigerum from Mexico are both described for the first time. We provide descriptions, redescriptions, diagnoses, keys to species, DNA sequence data and analyses, and information on biology, phenology, and distribution. Additionally, four Andricus species with woolly galls and striato-reticulated metasomas are transferred to Striatoandricus Pujade-Villar: S. furnessulus, comb. nov., S. furnessae, comb. nov., S. guatemalensis, comb. nov., and S. tenuicornis, comb. nov.

Twenty nine new species of cynipid oak gall wasps from the Nearctic region (America north of Mexico) are described: Andricus archboldi Melika Abrahamson, sp. nov., A. catalinensis Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., A. chapmanii Melika Abrahamson, sp. nov., A. chiricahuensis Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., A. coconinoensis Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., A. columbiensis Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., A. cooki Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., A. fitzpatricki Melika Abrahamson, sp. nov., A. highlandensis Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., A. mellificus Nicholls, Stone Melika, sp. nov., A. menkei Melika Abrahamson, sp. nov., A. mogollonensis Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., A. nichollsi Melika Stone, sp. nov., A. schickae Nicholls, Melika Stone, sp. nov., A. torreyaensis Melika Abrahamson, sp. nov., A. williami Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., Antron lovellae Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., A.tomkursari Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., Dryocosmus archboldi Melika Abrahamson, sp. nov., Loxaulus virginianae Melika Buss, sp. nov., Neuroterus alexandrae Nicholls Melika, sp. nov., N. aliceae Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., N. bussae Melika Nicholls, sp. nov., N. oblongifoliae Nicholls, Stone Melika, sp. nov., N. quaili Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., N. rosieae Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov., N. stonei Melika Nicholls, sp. nov., Zapatella abrahamsoni Melika, sp. nov., Z. brooksvillei Melika Abrahamson, sp. nov.. Alternate asexual and sexual generations are described for four species, Andricus archboldi Melika Abrahamson, sp. nov., A. fitzpatricki Melika Abrahamson, sp. nov., A. schickae Nicholls, Melika Stone, sp. nov., Neuroterus aliceae Melika, Nicholls Stone, sp. nov.. Descriptions, diagnoses, plus information on biology and host associations are given for all new species. All taxa are supported by morphological data; matching of generations is established using DNA sequence data. We also demonstrate that Neuroterus niger var. alimas Kinsey should be considered as a nomen dubium.

A new genus, Prokius Nieves Aldrey, Medianero Nicholls, gen. nov., and two new species of oak gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), Prokius cambrai Medianero Nieves-Aldrey sp. nov. and Prokius lisethiae Medianero Nieves-Aldrey sp. nov., are described from adults reared from galls on Quercus bumelioides Liebm (Fagaceae, sect. Quercus, white oaks) collected in Panama. The new genus is phylogenetically and morphologically close to Dros Kinsey and forms part of a large clade that includes species from several other genera that appear to require revision, including Andricus Hartig and Phylloteras Ashmead. Molecular and morphological data, diagnostic characters, gall descriptions, distribution and biological data of the new genus and the new species are given. This new genus represents the fourth recently described genus of Cynipidae endemic to the Neotropical region.

Signatures of past changes in population size have been detected in genome-wide variation in many species. However, the causes of such demographic changes and the extent to which they are shared across co-distributed species remain poorly understood. During Pleistocene glacial maxima, many temperate European species were confined to southern refugia. While vicariance and range expansion processes associated with glacial cycles have been widely documented, it is unclear whether refugial populations of co-distributed species have experienced shared histories of population size change. We analyse whole-genome sequence data to reconstruct and compare demographic histories during the Quaternary for Iberian refuge populations in a single ecological guild (seven species of chalcid parasitoid wasps associated with oak cynipid galls). For four of these species, we find support for large changes in effective population size (N e ) through the Pleistocene that coincide with major climate events. However, there is little evidence that the timing, direction and magnitude of demographic change are shared across species, suggesting that demographic histories in this guild are largely idiosyncratic, even at the scale of a single glacial refugium., (© 2021 The Authors. Molecular Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

We describe three new genera of cynipid oak gall wasps from the Nearctic: Burnettweldia Pujade-Villar, Melika Nicholls, gen. nov., Nichollsiella Melika, Pujade-Villar Stone, gen. nov., and Disholandricus Melika, Pujade-Villar Nicholls, gen. nov. (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini). Burnettweldia includes five species, B. californicordazi Cuesta-Porta, Melika Pujade-Villar, sp. nov., B. conalis (Weld), comb. nov., B. corallina (Bassett), comb. nov., B. plumbella (Kinsey), comb. nov., B. washingtonensis (Gillette), comb. nov.. Nichollsiella includes three species, N. arizonica (Cockerell), comb. nov., N. sulcata (Ashmead), comb. nov., and N. puigi Melika, Cuesta-Porta Pujade-Villar, sp. nov.. Disholandricus includes four species, D. chrysolepidis (Ashmead), comb. nov., D. lasius (Ashmead), comb. nov., D. reniformis (McCracken Egbert), comb. nov., D. truckeensis (Ashmead), comb. nov. The genus Paracraspis Weld, comb. rev. is re-established with three species, P. guadaloupensis (Fullaway), P. insolens (Weld), and P. patelloides (Trotter). Descriptions, re-descriptions, diagnoses, keys to genera and species are given, including data on DNA sequences, biology, phenology and distribution.

We provide a checklist of the gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipinae) of Iran, and place these records in a biogeographical perspective on three spatial scales, comprising (i) the Western Palaearctic, (ii) Western Asia (Turkey, the southern Caucasus and the Middle East) and (iii) regions within Iran. We present distribution and biological data for 121 species in 24 genera, representing nine of the 12 known cynipid gall wasp tribes. The most species-rich tribe in Iran is the oak gall wasp tribe Cynipini, with 74 species and 11 genera. Cynipid species richness is highest in the central and northern Zagros, with a distinctively different fauna in the forests along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. Of the species found in Iran, 63 have distributions that extend westwards far into Europe, and can be considered Western Palaearctic species. Twenty four species comprise a distinct eastern component within the Western Palaearctic, with distributions that include Iran and some or all of Turkey, the Middle East and the Caucasus. Twenty one species are apparently endemic to Iran, with distinct Zagros and Caspian components. We highlight biological and phylogeographic processes that may underlie these patterns.

The monophyly and taxonomic validity of some currently accepted genera of gall wasps 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. doctorrosae Pujade-Villar. Six Nearctic species, Dryocosmus rileyi (Ashmead, 1896), D. imbricariae (Ashmead, 1896), D. coxii (Basset, 1881), D. deciduus (Beutenmueller, 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.

Gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) induce complex galls on oaks, roses, and other plants, but the mechanism of gall induction is still unknown. Here, we take a comparative genomic approach to revealing the genetic basis of gall induction. We focus on Synergus itoensis, a species that induces galls inside oak acorns. Previous studies suggested that this species evolved the ability to initiate gall formation recently, as it is deeply nested within the genus Synergus, whose members are mostly inquilines that develop inside the galls of other species. We compared the genome of S. itoensis with that of three related Synergus inquilines to identify genomic changes associated with the origin of gall induction. We used a novel Bayesian selection analysis, which accounts for branch-specific and gene-specific selection effects, to search for signatures of selection in 7,600 single-copy orthologous genes shared by the four Synergus species. We found that the terminal branch leading to S. itoensis had more genes with a significantly elevated dN/dS ratio (positive signature genes) than the other terminal branches in the tree; the S. itoensis branch also had more genes with a significantly decreased dN/dS ratio. Gene set enrichment analysis showed that the positive signature gene set of S. itoensis, unlike those of the inquiline species, is enriched in several biological process Gene Ontology terms, the most prominent of which is "Ovarian Follicle Cell Development." Our results indicate that the origin of gall induction is associated with distinct genomic changes, and provide a good starting point for further characterization of the genes involved., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.)

Population divergence and gene flow are key processes in evolution and ecology. Model-based analysis of genome-wide data sets allows discrimination between alternative scenarios for these processes even in nonmodel taxa. We used two complementary approaches (one based on the blockwise site frequency spectrum [bSFS], the second on the pairwise sequentially Markovian coalescent [PSMC]) to infer the divergence history of a fig wasp, Pleistodontes nigriventris. Pleistodontes nigriventris and its fig tree mutualist Ficus watkinsiana are restricted to rain forest patches along the eastern coast of Australia and are separated into The Northern population is to the north of the Southern populations by two dry forest corridors (the Burdekin and St. Lawrence Gaps). We generated whole genome sequence data for two haploid males per population and used the bSFS approach to infer the timing of divergence between northern and southern populations of P. nigriventris, and to discriminate between alternative isolation with migration (IM) and instantaneous admixture (ADM) models of postdivergence gene flow. Pleistodontes nigriventris has low genetic diversity (π = 0.0008), to our knowledge one of the lowest estimates reported for a sexually reproducing arthropod. We find strongest support for an ADM model in which the two populations diverged ca. 196 kya in the late Pleistocene, with almost 25% of northern lineages introduced from the south during an admixture event ca. 57 kya. This divergence history is highly concordant with individual population demographies inferred from each pair of haploid males using PSMC. Our analysis illustrates the inferences possible with genome-level data for small population samples of tiny, nonmodel organisms and adds to a growing body of knowledge on the population structure of Australian rain forest taxa., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Rather little is known about the dietary richness and variation of generalist insectivorous species, including birds, due primarily to difficulties in prey identification. Using faecal metabarcoding, we provide the most comprehensive analysis of a passerine's diet to date, identifying the relative magnitudes of biogeographic, habitat and temporal trends in the richness and turnover in diet of Cyanistes caeruleus (blue tit) along a 39 site and 2° latitudinal transect in Scotland. Faecal samples were collected in 2014-2015 from adult birds roosting in nestboxes prior to nest building. DNA was extracted from 793 samples and we amplified COI and 16S minibarcodes. We identified 432 molecular operational taxonomic units that correspond to putative dietary items. Most dietary items were rare, with Lepidoptera being the most abundant and taxon-rich prey order. Here, we present a statistical approach for estimation of gradients and intersample variation in taxonomic richness and turnover using a generalised linear mixed model. We discuss the merits of this approach over existing tools and present methods for model-based estimation of repeatability, taxon richness and Jaccard indices. We found that dietary richness increases significantly as spring advances, but changes little with elevation, latitude or local tree composition. In comparison, dietary composition exhibits significant turnover along temporal and spatial gradients and among sites. Our study shows the promise of faecal metabarcoding for inferring the macroecology of food webs, but we also highlight the challenge posed by contamination and make recommendations of laboratory and statistical practices to minimise its impact on inference., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Galls are plant tissues whose development is induced by another organism for the inducer's benefit. 30,000 arthropod species induce galls, and in most cases the inducing effectors and target plant systems are unknown. Cynipid gall wasps are a speciose monophyletic radiation that induce structurally complex galls on oaks and other plants. We used a model system comprising the gall wasp Biorhiza pallida and the oak Quercus robur to characterise inducer and host plant gene expression at defined stages through the development of galled and ungalled plant tissues, and tested alternative hypotheses for the origin and type of galling effectors and plant metabolic pathways involved. Oak gene expression patterns diverged markedly during development of galled and normal buds. Young galls showed elevated expression of oak genes similar to legume root nodule Nod factor-induced early nodulin (ENOD) genes and developmental parallels with oak buds. In contrast, mature galls showed substantially different patterns of gene expression to mature leaves. While most oak transcripts could be functionally annotated, many gall wasp transcripts of interest were novel. We found no evidence in the gall wasp for involvement of third-party symbionts in gall induction, for effector delivery using virus-like-particles, or for gallwasp expression of genes coding for plant hormones. Many differentially and highly expressed genes in young larvae encoded secretory peptides, which we hypothesise are effector proteins exported to plant tissues. Specifically, we propose that host arabinogalactan proteins and gall wasp chitinases interact in young galls to generate a somatic embryogenesis-like process in oak tissues surrounding the gall wasp larvae. Gall wasp larvae also expressed genes encoding multiple plant cell wall degrading enzymes (PCWDEs). These have functional orthologues in other gall inducing cynipids but not in figitid parasitoid sister groups, suggesting that they may be evolutionary innovations associated with cynipid gall induction., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Although vertebrates have been reported to gain higher reproductive outputs by choosing mates, few studies have been conducted on threatened species. However, species recovery should benefit if natural mate choice could improve reproductive output (i.e. pair performance related to offspring number, such as increased clutch size, numbers of fertilized egg and fledglings). We assessed the evidence for major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-based mate preference in the endangered crested ibis (Nipponia nippon) and quantified the impacts of such choice on reproductive output. We tested the hypothesis that crested ibis advertise "good genes" through external traits, by testing whether nuptial plumage characteristics and body morphology mediate mate choice for underlying genetic MHC variation. We found differences between males and females in preferred MHC genotypes, external traits used in mate choice and contributions to reproductive outputs. Females preferred MHC-heterozygous males, which had darker [i.e. lower total reflectance and ultraviolet (UV) reflectance] nuptial plumage. Males preferred females lacking the DAB*d allele at the MHC class II DAB locus, which had higher average body mass. DAB*d-free females yielded heavier eggs and more fledglings, while MHC-heterozygous males contributed to more fertilized eggs and fledglings. Fledging rate was highest when both parents had the preferred MHC genotypes (i.e. MHC-heterozygous father and DAB*d-free mother). Comparisons showed that free-mating wild and semi-natural pairs yielded more fertilized eggs and more fledglings, with a higher fledging rate, than captive pairs matched artificially based on pedigree. Conservation programmes seldom apply modern research results to population management, which could hinder recovery of threatened species. Our results show that mate choice can play an important role in improving reproductive output, with an example in which an endangered bird selects mates using UV visual capability. Despite the undoubted importance of pedigree-based matching of mates in conservation programmes, we show that free mating can be a better alternative strategy., (© 2019 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.)

To gain insight into wasp factors that might be involved in the initial induction of galls on woody plants, we performed high throughput (454) transcriptome analysis of ovaries and venom glands of two cynipid gall wasps, Biorhiza pallida and Diplolepis rosae , inducing galls on oak and rose, respectively. De novo assembled and annotated contigs were compared to sequences from phylogenetically related parasitoid wasps. The relative expression levels of contigs were estimated to identify the most expressed gene sequences in each tissue. We identify for the first time a set of maternally expressed gall wasp proteins potentially involved in the interaction with the plant. Some genes highly expressed in venom glands and ovaries may act to suppress early plant defense signaling. We also identify gall wasp cellulases that could be involved in observed local lysis of plant tissue following oviposition, and which may have been acquired from bacteria by horizontal gene transfer. We find no evidence of virus-related gene expression, in contrast to many non-cynipid parasitoid wasps. By exploring gall wasp effectors, this study is a first step toward understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying cynipid gall induction in woody plants, and the recent sequencing of oak and rose genomes will enable study of plant responses to these factors.

This study uses an integrated approach to address the taxonomic status of six different and problematic oak galls and their inducing wasps sampled from two sites in the Central Zagros Mountains (Lorestan province) in western Iran. Our aim was to establish whether morphologically similar but different galls are induced by the same or distinct gall-inducers. The gall wasp specimens were identified morphologically to species level, and their genomic DNA was extracted. We used PCR and Sanger sequencing to amplify three fragments comprising cytochrome oxidase subunit I ( COI ), cytochrome b ( cytB ), and a multi-gene fragment of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) including partial 5.8S, complete internal transcribed spacer 2 ( ITS2 ), and partial 28S rRNA. We found that a pair of structurally similar but differently coloured galls are induced by the sexual generation of Andricus grossulariae, while another similar pair are induced by the asexual generation of A. sternlichti. In contrast, we found that two similar galls that differ in some structural details and in developmental phenology are induced by two closely related but different gall wasps; one is the sexual generation of A. cecconii , while the second is a new but closely related sexual generation Andricus sp.

Ant guards protect plants from herbivores, but can also hinder pollination by damaging reproductive structures and/or repelling pollinators. Natural selection should favour the evolution of plant traits that deter ants from visiting flowers during anthesis, without waiving their defensive services. The Distraction Hypothesis posits that rewarding ants with extrafloral nectar could reduce their visitation of flowers, reducing ant-pollinator conflict while retaining protection of other structures.We characterised the proportion of flowers occupied by ants and the number of ants per flower in a Mexican ant-plant, Turnera velutina . We clogged extrafloral nectaries on field plants and observed the effects on patrolling ants, pollinators and ants inside flowers, and quantified the effects on plant fitness. Based on the Distraction Hypothesis, we predicted that preventing extrafloral nectar secretion should result in fewer ants active at extrafloral nectaries, more ants inside flowers and a higher proportion of flowers occupied by ants, leading to ant-pollinator conflict, with reduced pollinator visitation and reduced plant fitness.Overall ant activity inside flowers was low. Preventing extrafloral nectar secretion through clogging reduced the number of ants patrolling extrafloral nectaries, significantly increased the proportion of flowers occupied by ants from 6.1% to 9.7%, and reduced plant reproductive output through a 12% increase in the probability of fruit abortion. No change in the numbers of ants or pollinators inside flowers was observed. This is the first support for the Distraction Hypothesis obtained under field conditions, showing ecological and plant fitness benefits of the distracting function of extrafloral nectar during anthesis. Synthesis. Our study provides the first field experimental support for the Distraction Hypothesis, suggesting that extrafloral nectaries located close to flowers may bribe ants away from reproductive structures during the crucial pollination period, reducing the probability of ant occupation of flowers, reducing ant-pollinator conflict and increasing plant reproductive success.

Urban areas are often perceived to have lower biodiversity than the wider countryside, but a few small-scale studies suggest that some urban land uses can support substantial pollinator populations. We present a large-scale, well-replicated study of floral resources and pollinators in 360 sites incorporating all major land uses in four British cities. Using a systems approach, we developed Bayesian network models integrating pollinator dispersal and resource switching to estimate city-scale effects of management interventions on plant-pollinator community robustness to species loss. We show that residential gardens and allotments (community gardens) are pollinator 'hotspots': gardens due to their extensive area, and allotments due to their high pollinator diversity and leverage on city-scale plant-pollinator community robustness. Household income was positively associated with pollinator abundance in gardens, highlighting the influence of socioeconomic factors. Our results underpin urban planning recommendations to enhance pollinator conservation, using increasing city-scale community robustness as our measure of success.

Four species of Dryocosmus cynipid gallwasps are now known to induce galls on Chrysolepis in California and Oregon. Two new species, Dryocosmus demartinii Melika, Nicholls Stone and Dryocosmus juliae Melika, Nicholls Stone are described. Males of the sexual generation of D. rileypokei plus adults of the asexual generation of this species are both described for the first time. A detailed description of D. castanopsidis is given for the first time. In addition to descriptions we provide diagnoses and information on biology and host associations for all four species. All the newly described taxa are supported by morphological and molecular data.

We describe a new genus of cynipid oak gallwasp, Protobalandricus Melika, Nicholls Stone (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini). Protobalandricus gen. nov. includes one previously described species, Disholcaspis spectabilis (Kinsey), which induces stem swelling-like galls on golden cup oaks, Quercus section Protobalanus. Descriptions of the genus and diagnostic characters, including DNA sequence data, are presented.

Coevolutionary theory has long predicted that the arms race between plants and herbivores is a major driver of host selection and diversification. At a local scale, plant defenses contribute significantly to the structure of herbivore assemblages and the high alpha diversity of plants in tropical rain forests. However, the general importance of plant defenses in host associations and divergence at regional scales remains unclear. Here, we examine the role of plant defensive traits and phylogeny in the evolution of host range and species divergence in leaf-feeding sawflies of the family Argidae associated with Neotropical trees in the genus Inga throughout the Amazon, the Guiana Shield and Panama. Our analyses show that the phylogenies of both the sawfly herbivores and their Inga hosts are congruent, and that sawflies radiated at approximately the same time, or more recently than their Inga hosts. Analyses controlling for phylogenetic effects show that the evolution of host use in the sawflies associated with Inga is better correlated with Inga chemistry than with Inga phylogeny, suggesting a pattern of delayed host tracking closely tied to host chemistry. Finally, phylogenetic analyses show that sister species of Inga- sawflies are dispersed across the Neotropics, suggesting a role for allopatric divergence and vicariance in Inga diversification. These results are consistent with the idea that host defensive traits play a key role not only in structuring the herbivore assemblages at a single site, but also in the processes shaping host association and species divergence at a regional scale.

Direct and indirect negative interactions between ant guards and pollinators on ant-plants are expected for two reasons. First, aggressive ants may deter pollinators directly. Second, pollinators benefit from plant investment in reproduction whilst ants benefit from plant investment in indirect defense, and resource allocation trade-offs between these functions could lead to indirect conflict. We explored the potential for ant-pollinator conflict in a Mexican myrmecophile, Turnera velutina , which rewards ants with extrafloral nectar and pollinators with floral nectar. We characterized the daily timing of ant and pollinator activity on the plant and used experiments to test for direct and indirect conflict between these two groups of mutualists. We tested for direct conflict by quantifying pollinator responses to flowers containing dead specimens of aggressive ant species, relative to unoccupied control flowers. We assessed indirect conflict by testing for the existence of a trade-off in sugar allocation between ant and pollinator rewards, evidenced by an increase in floral nectar secretion when extrafloral nectar secretion was prevented. Secretion of floral and extrafloral nectar, activity of ants and pollinators, and pollen deposition all overlapped in daily time and peaked within the first 2 h after flowers opened. We found evidence of direct conflict, in that presence of ants inside the flowers altered pollinator behavior and reduced visit duration, although visit frequency was unchanged. We found no evidence for indirect conflict, with no significant difference in the volume or sugar content of floral nectar between control plants and those in which extrafloral nectar secretion was prevented. The presence of ants in flowers alters pollinator behavior in ways that are likely to affect pollination dynamics, though there is no apparent trade-off between plant investment in nectar rewards for pollinators and ant guards. Further studies are required to quantify the effect of the natural abundance of ants in flowers on pollinator behavior, and any associated impacts on plant reproductive success.

RNA interference (RNAi)-related pathways target viruses and transposable element (TE) transcripts in plants, fungi, and ecdysozoans (nematodes and arthropods), giving protection against infection and transmission. In each case, this produces abundant TE and virus-derived 20-30nt small RNAs, which provide a characteristic signature of RNAi-mediated defence. The broad phylogenetic distribution of the Argonaute and Dicer-family genes that mediate these pathways suggests that defensive RNAi is ancient, and probably shared by most animal (metazoan) phyla. Indeed, while vertebrates had been thought an exception, it has recently been argued that mammals also possess an antiviral RNAi pathway, although its immunological relevance is currently uncertain and the viral small RNAs (viRNAs) are not easily detectable. Here we use a metagenomic approach to test for the presence of viRNAs in five species from divergent animal phyla (Porifera, Cnidaria, Echinodermata, Mollusca, and Annelida), and in a brown alga-which represents an independent origin of multicellularity from plants, fungi, and animals. We use metagenomic RNA sequencing to identify around 80 virus-like contigs in these lineages, and small RNA sequencing to identify viRNAs derived from those viruses. We identified 21U small RNAs derived from an RNA virus in the brown alga, reminiscent of plant and fungal viRNAs, despite the deep divergence between these lineages. However, contrary to our expectations, we were unable to identify canonical (i.e. Drosophila- or nematode-like) viRNAs in any of the animals, despite the widespread presence of abundant micro-RNAs, and somatic transposon-derived piwi-interacting RNAs. We did identify a distinctive group of small RNAs derived from RNA viruses in the mollusc. However, unlike ecdysozoan viRNAs, these had a piRNA-like length distribution but lacked key signatures of piRNA biogenesis. We also identified primary piRNAs derived from putatively endogenous copies of DNA viruses in the cnidarian and the echinoderm, and an endogenous RNA virus in the mollusc. The absence of canonical virus-derived small RNAs from our samples may suggest that the majority of animal phyla lack an antiviral RNAi response. Alternatively, these phyla could possess an antiviral RNAi response resembling that reported for vertebrates, with cryptic viRNAs not detectable through simple metagenomic sequencing of wild-type individuals. In either case, our findings show that the antiviral RNAi responses of arthropods and nematodes, which are highly divergent from each other and from that of plants and fungi, are also highly diverged from the most likely ancestral metazoan state., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

How widespread ecological communities assemble remains a key question in ecology. Trophic interactions between widespread species may reflect a shared population history or ecological fitting of local pools of species with very different population histories. Which scenario applies is central to the stability of trophic associations and the potential for coevolution between species. Here we show how alternative community assembly hypotheses can be discriminated using whole-genome data for component species and provide a likelihood framework that overcomes current limitations in formal comparison of multispecies histories. We illustrate our approach by inferring the assembly history of a Western Palearctic community of insect herbivores and parasitoid natural enemies, trophic groups that together comprise 50% of terrestrial species. We reject models of codispersal from a shared origin and of delayed enemy pursuit of their herbivore hosts, arguing against herbivore attainment of "enemy-free space." The community-wide distribution of species expansion times is also incompatible with a random, neutral model of assembly. Instead, we reveal a complex assembly history of single- and multispecies range expansions through the Pleistocene from different directions and over a range of timescales. Our results suggest substantial turnover in species associations and argue against tight coevolution in this system. The approach we illustrate is widely applicable to natural communities of nonmodel species and makes it possible to reveal the historical backdrop against which natural selection acts., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.)

Cynipid gallwasps comprise 1364 species worldwide, predominantly in temperate regions of the Holarctic. The vast majority of recorded species are from the Nearctic and the Western Palaearctic, both of which are long-standing centers of research on the taxonomy and biology of this group. In contrast, the Eastern Palaearctic and the Oriental Region faunas are much less studied, but potentially extremely rich. Previously recorded species richness of cynipid groups in the Eastern Palaearctic and Oriental regions probably represents a significant underestimate. This is particularly marked for gallwasps associated with oaks (tribe Cynipini), as has been shown by recent works, which describe many new species galling oaks in the subgenera Quercus and Cyclobalanopsis and plants of the other Fagaceae genera (Castanopsis, Lithocarpus and Castanea). In the present paper, we summarise the current knowledge of oak gallwasps in the regions that extend from Pakistan, through Nepal and China to Japan and south to Indonesia, and list a total of 97 species of Cynipini from the area.

The need for species identification and taxonomic discovery has led to the development of innovative technologies for large-scale plant identification. DNA barcoding has been useful, but fails to distinguish among many species in species-rich plant genera, particularly in tropical regions. Here, we show that chemical fingerprinting, or 'chemocoding', has great potential for plant identification in challenging tropical biomes. Using untargeted metabolomics in combination with multivariate analysis, we constructed species-level fingerprints, which we define as chemocoding. We evaluated the utility of chemocoding with species that were defined morphologically and subject to next-generation DNA sequencing in the diverse and recently radiated neotropical genus Inga (Leguminosae), both at single study sites and across broad geographic scales. Our results show that chemocoding is a robust method for distinguishing morphologically similar species at a single site and for identifying widespread species across continental-scale ranges. Given that species are the fundamental unit of analysis for conservation and biodiversity research, the development of accurate identification methods is essential. We suggest that chemocoding will be a valuable additional source of data for a quick identification of plants, especially for groups where other methods fall short., (© 2018 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2018 New Phytologist Trust.)

The reconstruction of relationships within species-rich groups that have recently evolved in biodiversity hotspots is hampered by a lack of phylogenetically informative markers. It is also made difficult by the lack of sampling necessary to reconstruct a species-level phylogeny. We use transcriptome mining to search for markers to reconstruct a phylogeny of the amphi-Atlantic genus Renealmia L. f. (Zingiberaceae). We recover seven introns from single copy genes and use them to reconstruct the phylogeny of the genus together with a commonly used phylogenetic marker, internal transcribed spacers of ribosomal DNA (ITS) that has previously been used to reconstruct the phylogeny of the genus. We targeted genes with low numbers of base pairs that improves sequencing success using highly degraded DNA from herbarium specimens. The use of herbarium specimens greatly increased the number of species in the study as these were readily available in historical collections. Data were obtained for 14 of the 17 African species and 54 of the 65 Neotropical species. The phylogeny was well-supported for a number of Renealmia subgroups although relationships among those clades remained poorly supported., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Communities of insect herbivores and their natural enemies are rich and ecologically crucial components of terrestrial biodiversity. Understanding the processes that promote their origin and maintenance is thus of considerable interest. One major proposed mechanism is ecological speciation through host-associated differentiation (HAD), the divergence of a polyphagous species first into ecological host races and eventually into more specialized daughter species. The rich chalcid parasitoid communities attacking cynipid oak gall wasp hosts are structured by multiple host traits, including food plant taxon, host gall phenology, and gall structure. Here, we ask whether the same traits structure genetic diversity within supposedly generalist parasitoid morphospecies. We use mitochondrial DNA sequences and microsatellite genotypes to quantify HAD for Megastigmus ( Bootanomyia ) dorsalis , a complex of two apparently generalist cryptic parasitoid species attacking oak galls. Ancient Balkan refugial populations showed phenological separation between the cryptic species, one primarily attacking spring galls, and the other mainly attacking autumn galls. The spring species also contained host races specializing on galls developing on different host-plant lineages (sections Cerris vs. Quercus ) within the oak genus Quercus . These results indicate more significant host-associated structuring within oak gall parasitoid communities than previously thought and support ecological theory predicting the evolution of specialist lineages within generalist parasitoids. In contrast, UK populations of the autumn cryptic species associated with both native and recently invading oak gall wasps showed no evidence of population differentiation, implying rapid recruitment of native parasitoid populations onto invading hosts, and hence potential for natural biological control. This is of significance given recent rapid range expansion of the economically damaging chestnut gall wasp, Dryocosmus kuriphilus , in Europe.

Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) is a powerful and widely used approach in inference of population history. However, the computational effort required to discriminate among alternative historical scenarios often limits the set that is compared to those considered more likely a priori. While often justifiable, this approach will fail to consider unexpected but well-supported population histories. We used a hierarchical tournament approach, in which subsets of scenarios are compared in a first round of ABC analyses and the winners are compared in a second analysis, to reconstruct the population history of an oak gall wasp, Synergus umbraculus (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) across the Western Palaearctic. We used 4,233 bp of sequence data across seven loci to explore the relationships between four putative Pleistocene refuge populations in Iberia, Italy, the Balkans and Western Asia. We compared support for 148 alternative scenarios in eight pools, each pool comprising all possible rearrangements of four populations over a given topology of relationships, with or without founding of one population by admixture and with or without an unsampled "ghost" population. We found very little support for the directional "out of the east" scenario previously inferred for other gall wasp community members. Instead, the best-supported models identified Iberia as the first-regional population to diverge from the others in the late Pleistocene, followed by divergence between the Balkans and Western Asia, and founding of the Italian population through late Pleistocene admixture from Iberia and the Balkans. We compare these results with what is known for other members of the oak gall community, and consider the strengths and weaknesses of using a tournament approach to explore phylogeographic model space., (© 2017 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Coevolutionary models suggest that herbivores drive diversification and community composition in plants. For herbivores, many questions remain regarding how plant defenses shape host choice and community structure. We addressed these questions using the tree genus Inga and its lepidopteran herbivores in the Amazon. We constructed phylogenies for both plants and insects and quantified host associations and plant defenses. We found that similarity in herbivore assemblages between Inga species was correlated with similarity in defenses. There was no correlation with phylogeny, a result consistent with our observations that the expression of defenses in Inga is independent of phylogeny. Furthermore, host defensive traits explained 40% of herbivore community similarity. Analyses at finer taxonomic scales showed that different lepidopteran clades select hosts based on different defenses, suggesting taxon-specific histories of herbivore-host plant interactions. Finally, we compared the phylogeny and defenses of Inga to phylogenies for the major lepidopteran clades. We found that closely related herbivores fed on Inga with similar defenses rather than on closely related plants. Together, these results suggest that plant defenses might be more evolutionarily labile than the herbivore traits related to host association. Hence, there is an apparent asymmetry in the evolutionary interactions between Inga and its herbivores. Although plants may evolve under selection by herbivores, we hypothesize that herbivores may not show coevolutionary adaptations, but instead "chase" hosts based on the herbivore's own traits at the time that they encounter a new host, a pattern more consistent with resource tracking than with the arms race model of coevolution., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Research on urban insect pollinators is changing views on the biological value and ecological importance of cities. The abundance and diversity of native bee species in urban landscapes that are absent in nearby rural lands evidence the biological value and ecological importance of cities and have implications for biodiversity conservation. Lagging behind this revised image of the city are urban conservation programs that historically have invested in education and outreach rather than programs designed to achieve high-priority species conservation results. We synthesized research on urban bee species diversity and abundance to determine how urban conservation could be repositioned to better align with new views on the ecological importance of urban landscapes. Due to insect pollinators' relatively small functional requirements-habitat range, life cycle, and nesting behavior-relative to larger mammals, we argue that pollinators put high-priority and high-impact urban conservation within reach. In a rapidly urbanizing world, transforming how environmental managers view the city can improve citizen engagement and contribute to the development of more sustainable urbanization., (© 2016 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.)

Many herbivores employ reward-based mutualisms with ants to gain protection from natural enemies. We examine the evolutionary dynamics of a tetra-trophic interaction in which gall wasp herbivores induce their host oaks to produce nectar-secreting galls, which attract ants that provide protection from parasitoids. We show that, consistent with other gall defensive traits, nectar secretion has evolved repeatedly across the oak gall wasp tribe and also within a single genus (Disholcaspis) that includes many nectar-inducing species. Once evolved, nectar secretion is never lost in Disholcaspis, consistent with high defensive value of this trait. We also show that evolution of nectar secretion is correlated with a transition from solitary to aggregated oviposition, resulting in clustered nectar-secreting galls, which produce a resource that ants can more easily monopolize. Such clustering is commonly seen in ant guard mutualisms. We suggest that correlated evolution between maternal oviposition and larval nectar induction traits has enhanced the effectiveness of this gall defense strategy.

Pollen beetles (Nitidulidae: Meligethinae) are among the most abundant flower-visiting insects in Europe. While some species damage millions of hectares of crops annually, the biology of many species is little known. We assessed the utility of a 797 base pair fragment of the cytochrome oxidase 1 gene to resolve molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) in 750 adult pollen beetles sampled from flowers of 63 plant species sampled across the UK and continental Europe. We used the same locus to analyse region-scale patterns in population structure and demography in an economically important pest, Brassicogethes aeneus. We identified 44 Meligethinae at ∼2% divergence, 35 of which contained published sequences. A few specimens could not be identified because the MOTUs containing them included published sequences for multiple Linnaean species, suggesting either retention of ancestral haplotype polymorphism or identification errors in published sequences. Over 90% of UK specimens were identifiable as B. aeneus. Plant associations of adult B. aeneus were found to be far wider taxonomically than for their larvae. UK B. aeneus populations showed contrasting affiliations between the north (most similar to Scandinavia and the Baltic) and south (most similar to western continental Europe), with strong signatures of population growth in the south.

Planted meadows are increasingly used to improve the biodiversity and aesthetic amenity value of urban areas. Although many 'pollinator-friendly' seed mixes are available, the floral resources these provide to flower-visiting insects, and how these change through time, are largely unknown. Such data are necessary to compare the resources provided by alternative meadow seed mixes to each other and to other flowering habitats. We used quantitative surveys of over 2 million flowers to estimate the nectar and pollen resources offered by two exemplar commercial seed mixes (one annual, one perennial) and associated weeds grown as 300m2 meadows across four UK cities, sampled at six time points between May and September 2013. Nectar sugar and pollen rewards per flower varied widely across 65 species surveyed, with native British weed species (including dandelion, Taraxacum agg.) contributing the top five nectar producers and two of the top ten pollen producers. Seed mix species yielding the highest rewards per flower included Leontodon hispidus, Centaurea cyanus and C. nigra for nectar, and Papaver rhoeas, Eschscholzia californica and Malva moschata for pollen. Perennial meadows produced up to 20x more nectar and up to 6x more pollen than annual meadows, which in turn produced far more than amenity grassland controls. Perennial meadows produced resources earlier in the year than annual meadows, but both seed mixes delivered very low resource levels early in the year and these were provided almost entirely by native weeds. Pollen volume per flower is well predicted statistically by floral morphology, and nectar sugar mass and pollen volume per unit area are correlated with flower counts, raising the possibility that resource levels can be estimated for species or habitats where they cannot be measured directly. Our approach does not incorporate resource quality information (for example, pollen protein or essential amino acid content), but can easily do so when suitable data exist. Our approach should inform the design of new seed mixes to ensure continuity in floral resource availability throughout the year, and to identify suitable species to fill resource gaps in established mixes.

Eight new species of cynipid gallwasps, Cycloneuroterus abei Melika & Tang, C. ergei Tang & Melika, C. gilvus Melika & Tang, C. globosus Melika & Tang, C. jianwui Tang & Melika, C. lohsei Melika & Tang, C. tumiclavus Tang & Melika, C. uraianus Tang & Melika, from Taiwan and mainland China are described. Descriptions, diagnoses, biology, and host associations for the new species and a key to all Cycloneuroterus species are given. All taxa are supported by morphological and molecular data. Seven newly described species induce galls on Quercus subgenus Cyclobalanopsis, while one, C. uraianus, induces galls on Castanopsis. This is the first Cycloneuroterus species known to associate with Castanopsis.