Gall midges and their parasitoids are abundant, megadiverse, and very hard to identify! Such "double dark taxa" systems present special challenges for ecology and agriculture. 🧵🧪🐙 @smnstuttgart.bsky.social @marinamoser.bsky.social @krogmann.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/aesa... - ThreadSky

parasitoidrex.bsky.social • 16 days ago

Gall midges and their parasitoids are abundant, megadiverse, and very hard to identify! Such "double dark taxa" systems present special challenges for ecology and agriculture. 🧵🧪🐙 @smnstuttgart.bsky.social @marinamoser.bsky.social @krogmann.bsky.social https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/saaf003

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parasitoidrex.bsky.social•16 days ago

How does host specialization work in these diverse lineages? Can platygastrine wasps attack multiple host species? Are there host plant effects? How can we be certain that a parasitoid is a specialist? What does this mean for biological control?

parasitoidrex.bsky.social•16 days ago

Through rearing efforts led by SMNS intern Ronja Reinisch, combined with integrative taxonomy, we found five species of Platygastrinae! Two could only be identified to genus: one Amblyaspis, and one Synopeas. The Synopeas attacks free-living fungivorous midge larvae (Mycodiplosis sp.)

parasitoidrex.bsky.social•16 days ago

Two more Synopeas were identified as S. gibberosum and S. rhanis. As far as we can tell, these appear to specialize on galls of Dasineura ulmaria and D. urticae, respectively. A similar species, S. maximum, attacks soybean gall midge in the USA! https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.96.102865

parasitoidrex.bsky.social•16 days ago

The biggest surprise: Platygaster demades. This European wasp attacks pests of pear and apple (Rosaceae). We reared it from midges on Filipendula (also Rosaceae). It was deliberately introduced to New Zealand, but its origins in Canada were thought to be accidental...

parasitoidrex.bsky.social•16 days ago

We discovered 2 junior synonyms of Platygaster demades: P. ornata and P. marchali. And "P. marchali" wasps were deliberately brought to Canada in 1981! This is a great example of how "double dark taxa" can create confusion for all kinds of research, and how integrative taxonomy can help!

toomanywasps.bsky.social•15 days ago

maybe I do need to get into rearing midges more… we’ve been getting some really neat cynipoids from midge galls on oaks but I haven’t spent much time on them beyond that

parasitoidrex.bsky.social•15 days ago

Yes! More rearing is definitely needed!

bitheolaidhe.bsky.social•15 days ago

I am thinking I'll rear some Mycodiplosis this year, happy to send on any wasps that emerge. In the paper it says they were just kept on damp cotton wool, I presume by that point they were large enough to not require any further food?

parasitoidrex.bsky.social•15 days ago

That seems to be the case, but there's a lot of room for improvement in the rearing methods. I'd love to see any wasps you get!

bitheolaidhe.bsky.social•15 days ago

1 million cecidomyiids... 1 million?! I am not that surprised as they are the second most common group of plant parasites I encounter after fungi

parasitoidrex.bsky.social•15 days ago

Yes, based on DNA barcodes, that seems to be the case! Besides the plant parasites, there are also lots of species living as detritivores and inquilines.

bitheolaidhe.bsky.social•15 days ago

I'm particularly fascinated by Mycodiplosis at the minute, once I started looking through my rust pictures I started noticing them...

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