Bassettia pallida

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Bassettia pallida
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Cynipidae
Genus: Bassettia
Species:
B. pallida
Binomial name
Bassettia pallida
Ashmead, 1896 [1]

Bassettia pallida is a species of gall wasp found in the Southern United States. This species was described by American entomologist William Harris Ashmead in 1896. B. pallida reproduces asexually in galls it induces on oak trees. The parasite Euderus set , a eulophid wasp, has B. pallida as a host and manipulates its behavior.

Contents

Taxonomy

William Harris Ashmead described this species in 1896 based on a female specimen in the National Museum of Natural History. The holotype was collected in 1884 in Georgia. [1]

Distribution

This species has been found in the American states of Georgia, Florida, [2] Missouri, Louisiana, and Texas. [3] Its type location is Savannah, Georgia. [1]

Description

Adult female

The female is 2 mm (0.08 in) long. The antennae have thirteen joints. The head, antennae, thorax and legs are a brownish yellow color, while the posterior tibiae and eyes are dark brown and the abdomen is a polished black. A grooved line goes around the base of the scutellum. [1]

Biology

Reproduction

The females can reproduce asexually in galls of the oaks Quercus geminata , Quercus virginiana , [2] and Quercus minima . [4] These oak species are all in the Virentes section (or subsection) of Quercus . [5] Galls are formed on the oaks' stem underneath the bark. [4] Mature B. pallida come out of the galls in March or April, [2] coinciding with the production of new leaves on the oak. [6] : 3  Sexual reproduction is thought to happen afterwards in galls formed on the midvein of new leaves. [6] : 3 

Parasites

Euderus set Euderus-set.png
Euderus set

The chalcid wasp Euderus set parasitizes B. pallida. [3] [6] This is a rare example of hypermanipulation, i.e., where one parasite which manipulates its host's phenotype has its own phenotype manipulated by a different parasite. In this case, B. pallida causes the oak to form a gall, and E. set alters the behavior of B. pallida to create a hole in the gall and plug the hole with their head and die; E. set later emerges through a hole in its host's head. [6]

Only the asexual reproductive stage is targeted by E. set. [6] : 3 

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gall wasp</span> Superfamily of wasps

Gall wasps, also incorrectly called gallflies, are hymenopterans of the family Cynipidae in the wasp superfamily Cynipoidea. Their common name comes from the galls they induce on plants for larval development. About 1,300 species of this generally very small creature (1–8 mm) are known worldwide, with about 360 species of 36 different genera in Europe and some 800 species in North America.

<i>Andricus kollari</i> Species of insect

Andricus kollari, also known as the marble gall wasp, is a parthenogenetic species of wasp which causes the formation of marble galls on oak trees. Synonyms for the species include Cynips kollari, Andricus quercusgemmae, A. minor, A. indigenus and A. circulans.

<i>Neuroterus</i> Genus of wasps

Neuroterus is a genus of gall wasps that induce galls on oaks in which the wasp larvae live and feed. Some species produce galls that fall off the host plant and 'jump' along the ground due to the movement of the larvae within.

<i>Andricus</i> Genus of wasps

Andricus is a genus of oak gall wasps in the family Cynipidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynipini</span> Tribe of wasps

Cynipini is a tribe of gall wasps. These insects induce galls in plants of the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. They are known commonly as the oak gall wasps. It is the largest cynipid tribe, with about 936 to 1000 recognized species, most of which are associated with oaks. The tribe is mainly native to the Holarctic. Cynipini wasps can act as ecosystem engineers. Their galls can become hosts of inquilines, and the wasps themselves are hosts to parasitoids.

<i>Andricus quercuscalifornicus</i> Species of wasp

Andricus quercuscalifornicus, or the California gall wasp, is a small wasp species that induces oak apple galls on white oaks, primarily the Valley Oak but also other species such as Quercus berberidifolia. The California gall wasp is considered an ecosystem engineer, capable of manipulating the growth of galls for their own development. It is found from Washington, Oregon, and California to northern regions of Mexico. Often multiple wasps in different life stages occupy the same gall. The induced galls help establish complex insect communities, promoting the diversification in niche differentiation. Furthermore, the adaptive value of these galls could be attributed their ecological benefits such as nutrition, provision of microenvironment, and enemy avoidance.

Aphelonyx is a genus of oak gall wasps in the family Cynipidae, comprising three known species:

<i>Euderus set</i> Species of wasp

Euderus set, the crypt-keeper wasp, is a tiny chalcid wasp from the family Eulophidae from the United States, described in 2017 as a parasitoid of the gall wasp Bassettia pallida, and the description of its life cycle attracted widespread publicity.

Bassettia is a genus of gall wasps found in North America.

<i>Amphibolips</i> Genus of wasps

Amphibolips is an American genus of gall wasps in the family Cynipidae. There are about 57 described species in the genus Amphibolips with several others still undescribed.

<i>Heteroecus</i> Genus of wasps

Heteroecus is a genus of gall wasps in the family Cynipidae. There are about seven described species in the genus Heteroecus.

<i>Callirhytis</i> Genus of wasps

Callirhytis is a genus of gall wasps in the family Cynipidae. There are more than 90 described species in Callirhytis.

<i>Andricus dimorphus</i> Species of oak gall wasp

Andricus dimorphus, also called the clustered midrib gall wasp, is a species of oak gall wasp in the family Cynipidae. Galls in which the larvae live and feed are formed in clusters along the midrib on the underside of oak leaves.

<i>Andricus quercuspetiolicola</i> Species of wasp

Andricus quercuspetiolicola, also called the oak petiole gall wasp, is a species of oak gall wasp in the family Cynipidae. Galls in which the larvae live and feed are formed along the midrib or petiole of white oak leaves.

<i>Philonix</i> Genus of wasps

Philonix is a genus of oak gall wasps in the family Cynipidae. Species in this genus are only known from Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The larvae of Philonix wasps induce galls on white oaks that are typically spherical, soft and fleshy. Galls are usually formed on the underside of leaves. Adult wasps are similar in appearance to species in the genus Acraspis. Many gall wasps have alternate sexual and asexual generations, but this has not been documented in Philonix.

<i>Amphibolips quercusostensackenii</i> Species of wasp

Amphibolips quercusostensackenii is a species of gall wasp in the family Cynipidae. It is found throughout eastern North America.

<i>Phylloteras</i> Genus of wasps

Phylloteras is a North American genus of gall wasps in the family Cynipidae, tribe Cynipini .

<i>Acraspis quercushirta</i> Species of wasp

Acraspis quercushirta, the jewel oak gall wasp, is a species of gall wasp in the family Cynipidae, tribe Cynipini, found in North America.

<i>Kokkocynips</i> Genus of wasps

Kokkocynips is an American genus of gall wasps in the family Cynipidae. There are about 8 described species in the genus Kokkocynips with several others still undescribed.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Ashmead, William H. (1896). "Descriptions of new cynipidous Galls and Gall-Wasps in the United States National Museum". Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 19 (1102): 128.
  2. 1 2 3 Melika, G.; Abrahamson, W. G. (2007). "Review of the nearctic gallwasp species of the genus Bassettia Ashmead, 1887, with description of new species (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini)" (PDF). Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 53 (2): 131–148.
  3. 1 2 Egan, Scott P.; Weinersmith, Kelly L.; Liu, Sean; Ridenbaugh, Ryan D.; Zhang, Y. Miles; Forbes, Andrew A. (2017). "Description of a new species of Euderus Haliday from the southeastern United States (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Eulophidae): the crypt-keeper wasp". ZooKeys (645): 37–49. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.645.11117 . PMC   5299223 . PMID   28228666.
  4. 1 2 Price, Peter W.; Abrahamson, Warren G.; Hunter, Mark D.; Melika, George (2004). "Using gall wasps on oaks to test broad ecological concepts". Conservation Biology. 18 (5): 1415. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2004.00547.x. JSTOR   3589008. S2CID   678701.
  5. ↑ Cavender-Bares, Jeannine; González-Rodríguez, Antonio; Eaton, Deren A. R.; Hipp, Andrew A. L.; Beulke, Anne; Manos, Paul S. (2015). "Phylogeny and biogeography of the American live oaks (Quercus subsection Virentes): a genomic and population genetics approach". Molecular Ecology. 24 (14): 3669. doi: 10.1111/mec.13269 . PMID   26095958.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Weinersmith, Kelly L.; Liu, Sean M.; Forbes, Andrew A.; Egan, Scott P. (2017). "Tales from the crypt: a parasitoid manipulates the behaviour of its parasite host". Proceedings of the Royal Society. B: Biological Sciences. 284 (1847): 20162365. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2016.2365 . PMC   5310038 . PMID   28123089.
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