Alloxysta tscheki
Creators: name: Ferrer-Suay, Mar
name: Selfa, Jesús
name: Pujade-Villar, Juli
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Figitidae
Alloxysta
Alloxysta tscheki

description: Alloxysta tscheki (Giraud, 1860)
Figs 3.16, 5.20
Allotria tscheki Giraud, 1860: 128. Type: deposited in NMW (examined).
Allotria (Allotria) tscheki – Dalla Torre & Kieffer 1902: 41.
Charips (Charips) tscheki – Dalla Torre & Kieffer 1910: 285.
Charips tscheki – Dunn 1949: 106.
Alloxysta tscheki – Hellén 1963: 18.
Diagnosis
Alloxysta tscheki is morphologically very similar to A. consobrina and it is practically impossible to differentiate them under the microscope (see comments).
Material examined
Lectotype
AUSTRIA: ♂ [All. Tscheki det. Giraud Type (handwritten)], [Ex. Aphidibus; Ribes rubr. (handwritten)], [Allotria Tscheki Giraud (handwritten)], [Allotria Tscheki Giraud 2♂♂, det. H.H. Evenhuis, 1976 (handwritten, orange label)], [das rechte Männchen wäre als Lektotypus zu wählen, H.H. Evenhuis (handwritten, orange label)], [NHMW (yellow label)], [LECTOTYPE Allotria tscheki Giraud, 1860 ♂ Desig. H.H. Evenhuis, 1976 (red label)], [Alloxysta tscheki (Giraud, 1860) ♂ det. M. Ferrer-Suay 2013] (NMW).
Paralectotypes
AUSTRIA: 1 ♂ [Tscheki, Pirstiny, 1867 (handwritten)], [All. Tscheki det. Giraud Type (handwritten)], [Allotria Tscheki Giraud, 2 ♂♂, det. H.H. Evenhuis, 1976 (handwritten)], [NHMW (yellow label)], [PARALECTOTYPE Allotria tscheki Giraud, 1860 ♂ (red label)], [Alloxysta tscheki (Giraud, 1860) ♂ det. M. Ferrer-Suay 2013](NMW); 1 ♀ [All.Tscheki det.Giraud Type (handwritten)], [understandable, Ex. Aphis Ribes Tschek col.], [Allotria Tscheki Giraud 2 ♀♀ det. H.H. Evenhuis 1976 (handwritten, orange label)], [NHMW (yellow label)], [PARALECTOTYPE Allotria tscheki Giraud, 1860 ♂ (red label)], [Alloxysta tscheki (Giraud, 1860) ♀ det. M. Ferrer-Suay 2013] (NMW); 2 ♀♀ [Type (handwritten)], [All. Tscheki det. Giraud Type (handwritten)], [Allotria Tscheki Giraud (handwritten)], [2♀♀, det. H.H. Evenhuis, 1976 (handwritten, orange label)], [NHMW (yellow label)], [PARALECTOTYPE Allotria tscheki Giraud, 1860 ♂ (red label)], [Alloxysta tscheki (Giraud, 1860) ♀ det. M. Ferrer-Suay 2013] (NMW).
Distribution
Palaearctic.
Certain records: Austria (Giraud 1860: 128), Iran (Ferrer-Suay et al. 2013a: 39), Romania (Feraru et al. 2005: 67), Japan (Ferrer-Suay et al. 2013i).
Uncertain records: Austria (Giraud 1860: 128; Hellén 1963: 19), Belgium (Lameere 1907), England (Cameron 1889: 54), Finland (Hellén 1963: 19), France (De Gaulle 1908: 26; Dalla Torre & Kieffer 1910: 285), Germany (Taschenberg 1866: 129; van Veen et al. 2003: 450), Hungary (Dalla Torre & Kieffer 1910: 285), Scotland (Cameron 1886: 85), Western Europe (Andrews 1978: 91).
Comments
The morphological features of A. tscheki are very similar, if not identical, to those of A. consobrina. According to Van Veen et al. (2003), who treated A. consobrina as A. fuscicornis, these two species have to be considered as biologically different, because their typical hosts are different: A. consobrina tends to attack Brevicorine brassicae (L., 1758) through Diaretiella rapae (M’cIntosh, 1855), while A. tscheki appears in Cryptomizus sp. through Aphidius ribes Haliday, 1834. Additionally, taking into account the sequences of the ITS2 gene, these two species have different haplotypes. However, these arguments can be disputed. Firstly, Alloxysta consobrina is a cosmopolitan species that has already been found in a diverse range of hosts, although not yet in Aphidius ribes. Secondly, the molecular results are not conclusive due to the low number of specimens analyzed. Also, Van Veen et al. (2003) only took into account specimens collected in a reduced area and studied just five specimens of A. tscheki. For these reasons, we consider that intraspecific variability has not been studied thoroughly enough and that a complete study should be done in order to clarify the status of these two species. While awaiting a more comprehensive assessment, we treat these two species as separate (Ferrer-Suay et al. 2015b: 33).
description: Published as part of Ferrer-Suay, Mar, Selfa, Jesús & Pujade-Villar, Juli, 2018, Palaearctic species of Charipinae (Hymenoptera, Figitidae): two new species, synthesis and identification key, pp. 1-110 in European Journal of Taxonomy 427 on pages 74-75, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2018.427, http://zenodo.org/record/3787233