TY - JOUR
T1 - Malagasy Conostigmus (Hymenoptera: Ceraphronoidea) and the secret of scutes
AU - Mikó, István
AU - Trietsch, Carolyn
AU - Sandall, Emily L.
AU - Yoder, Matthew Jon
AU - Hines, Heather
AU - Deans, Andrew Robert
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Brian Fisher, Charles Griswold, and Darryll Ubick, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco for making this material available for study, Missy Hazen (Penn State Huck Institute of the Life Sciences, Microscopy and Cytometry Facility) for her assistance in Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy and James Balhoff for his help in generating semantic statements in OWL. Stéphane Hanot, Akice-Marie Buset and Didier Van den Spiegel kindly sent us type specimens of the species deposited in Tervuren (Royal Museum of Central Africa, Belgium). Gavin Broad and Maciej Krzyz˙yński are also acknowledged for their valuable comments on the first draft of this manuscript. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, under Grant Nos. DBI-0850223, DEB-0956049, DBI-1356381, DEB-1353252 and Grant No. DEB-0072713 to B.L. Fisher and C.E. Griswold and Grant No. DEB-0344731 to B.L. Fisher and P.S. Ward. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The following grant information was disclosed by the authors: U.S. National Science Foundation: DBI-0850223, DEB-0956049, DBI-1356381, DEB-1353252. B.L. Fisher and C.E. Griswold: DEB-0072713. B.L. Fisher and P.S. Ward: DEB-0344731.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Mikó et al.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - We revise the genus Conostigmus Dahlbom 1858 occurring in Madagascar, based on data from more specimens than were examined for the latest world revision of the genus. Our results yield new information about intraspecific variability and the nature of the atypical latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) observed in Ceraphronoidea. We also investigate cellular processes that underlie body size polyphenism, by utilizing the correspondence between epidermal cells and scutes, polygonal units of leather-like microsculpture. Our results reveal that body size polyphenism in Megaspilidae is most likely related to cell number and not cell size variation, and that cell size differs between epithelial fields of the head and that of the mesosoma. Three species, Conostigmus ballescoracas Dessart, 1997, C. babaiax Dessart, 1996 and C. longulus Dessart, 1997, are redescribed. Females of C. longulus are described for the first time, as are nine new species: C. bucephalus Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., C. clavatus Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., C. fianarantsoaensis Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., C. lucidus Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., C. macrocupula, Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., C. madagascariensis Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., C. missyhazenae Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., C. pseudobabaiax Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., and C. toliaraensis Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov. A fully illustrated identification key for Malagasy Conostigmus species and a Web Ontology Language (OWL) representation of the taxonomic treatment, including specimen data, nomenclature, and phenotype descriptions, in both natural and formal languages, are provided.
AB - We revise the genus Conostigmus Dahlbom 1858 occurring in Madagascar, based on data from more specimens than were examined for the latest world revision of the genus. Our results yield new information about intraspecific variability and the nature of the atypical latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) observed in Ceraphronoidea. We also investigate cellular processes that underlie body size polyphenism, by utilizing the correspondence between epidermal cells and scutes, polygonal units of leather-like microsculpture. Our results reveal that body size polyphenism in Megaspilidae is most likely related to cell number and not cell size variation, and that cell size differs between epithelial fields of the head and that of the mesosoma. Three species, Conostigmus ballescoracas Dessart, 1997, C. babaiax Dessart, 1996 and C. longulus Dessart, 1997, are redescribed. Females of C. longulus are described for the first time, as are nine new species: C. bucephalus Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., C. clavatus Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., C. fianarantsoaensis Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., C. lucidus Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., C. macrocupula, Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., C. madagascariensis Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., C. missyhazenae Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., C. pseudobabaiax Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov., and C. toliaraensis Mikó and Trietsch sp. nov. A fully illustrated identification key for Malagasy Conostigmus species and a Web Ontology Language (OWL) representation of the taxonomic treatment, including specimen data, nomenclature, and phenotype descriptions, in both natural and formal languages, are provided.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85003906081&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85003906081&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.7717/peerj.2682
DO - 10.7717/peerj.2682
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85003906081
SN - 2167-8359
VL - 2016
JO - PeerJ
JF - PeerJ
IS - 12
M1 - e2682
ER -