Systematics and biology of the aberrant intertidal parasitoid wasp Echthrodesis lamorali Masner (Hymenoptera : Platygastridae s.l.): a parasitoid of spider eggs
Simon van Noort A B H , Lubomir Masner C , Ovidiu Popovici D , Alejandro A. Valerio E , Charuwat Taekul E , Norman F. Johnson E , Nicholas P. Murphy F and Andrew D. Austin G
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Natural History, Iziko South African Museum, PO Box 61, Cape Town 8000, South Africa.
B Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa.
C Research Associate, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Research Branch. K.W. Neatby Building, Ottawa, Ontario K1A OC6, Canada.
D Facultatea de Biologie, Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza IASI, Bulevardul Carol I, Nr.11, 700506, IASI, Romania.
E Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212, USA.
F Department of Genetics, School of Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Vic. 3086, Australia.
G Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
H Corresponding author. Email: svannoort@iziko.org.za
Invertebrate Systematics 28(1) 1-16 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS13015
Submitted: 11 April 2013 Accepted: 12 November 2013 Published: 20 March 2014
Abstract
The platygastroid wasp Echthrodesis lamorali has been of considerable interest since its description in 1968, primarily because of its highly modified, densely pilose, wingless body, its distribution and unusual biology. The species is endemic to the Cape Peninsula, South Africa, where it is an endoparasitoid of eggs of the marine spiders Desis formidabilis (Desidae) and Amaurobioides africanus (Anyphaenidae) in the intertidal region. Although a highly aberrant monospecific genus, the phylogenetic relationships of Echthrodesis are confused, in part due to convergence in body form across numerous unrelated platygastroid genera. We used sequence data from the nuclear 28S rRNA and 18S rDNA genes, and the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) gene, to determine the phylogenetic affinities of E. lamorali. We present a revised taxonomic description for the genus and species, as well as new morphological information on the structure of its mouthparts and ovipositor system. Phylogenetic analyses of molecular data place E. lamorali within one of two independent clades of platygastroid wasps that use spider eggs as hosts. Echthrodesis is sister to a group of three genera: Neobaeus (New Zealand; host unconfirmed); Mirobaeoides (Australia; spider eggs); and Embidobia (near cosmopolitan; embiid eggs). Details on the biology, behaviour and morphological adaptations of E. lamorali are provided.
Additional keywords: morphology, phylogeny, Scelioninae, taxonomy.
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