Pseudochalcura gibbosa

Pseudochalcura gibbosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Eucharitidae
Subfamily:	Eucharitinae
Genus:	Pseudochalcura
Species:	P. gibbosa
Binomial name
	Pseudochalcura gibbosa; (Provancher, 1881)

Identification

Distribution

Canada, United States: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin.

Habitat

Biology

Host ant:Camponotus novaeboracensis Pseudochalcura gibbosa (Provancher) oviposit masses of 1000–2000 eggs into leaf buds of various Ericaceae and Malvaceae (Cook 1905; Pierce and Morrill 1914; Clausen 1940; Heraty & Barber 1990). Eggs of this species overwinter in the leaf bud and likely fall to the ground as the buds expand and the bud scales drop in the spring. Simultaneous hatching of the egg mass upon stimulation by the host ant is seen as a means of both attracting ants (recruitment) and for gaining transport back to the ant brood as a food resource (Heraty and Barber 1990). First-instar planidial larvae of P. gibbosa initially attack larvae of Camponotus novaeboracensis (Fitch), with development completed by one to three individuals on a single host pupa (Wheeler 1910; Heraty and Barber 1990). The only other confirmed host record is for P. nigrocyanea Ashmead from Brazil, for which adults were observed exiting from a nest of Camponotus and ovipositing into flower buds of an unidentified Rosaceae (Heraty unpublished). Deposition of egg masses into flower buds is shared with Stilbula (Clausen 1940) and Substilbula (Heraty, unpublished), and is likely a plesiomorphic behavior for the Stilbula clade with oviposition into fruit regarded as a derived behavior (Heraty and Barber 1990; Torréns et al. 2008).

Nomenclature

Description

References

Heraty, J.M. 2002. A revision of the genera of Eucharitidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) of the World. Memoirs of the American Entomological Society 68: 1-359.

Heraty JM, Burks RA, Mbanyana N, Noort SV. Morphology and life history of an ant parasitoid, Psilocharis afra (Hymenoptera: Eucharitidae). Zootaxa. 2018 Sep 19;4482(3):491-510.

Heraty JM, Mbanyana N, Noort SV (2020) A new species of Eucharissa Westwood (Eucharitidae) from South Africa, with an evaluation of the importance of pupae for assessing relationships in these ant parasitoids. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 79: 43–55. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.79.56042

Risbec, J. (1952) Contribution á l'étude des chalcidoides de Madagascar., JOURBOOK: Mémoires de l'Institut Scientifique de Madagascar (E) VOLUME: 2 PAGES: 1-449

Westwood, J.O. 1868. Descriptions of new genera and species of Chalcididae. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London 1868:xxxvii