Abstract
Plants and insects have co-existed for millions of years. Although research has been conducted on various insect species that induce galls on various plant tissues, information is particularly scarce when it comes to insects that form galls on the tough trunk of their host plants. This contribution describes the gall-inducing aphid Nipponaphis hubeiensis sp. nov. from the Zhushan County, Shiyan City, Hubei Province of China. This aphid induces enclosed galls with woody external layer on the trunk of Sycopsis sinensis (Saxifragales: Hamamelidaceae), an uncommon ecological niche in the aphid-plant interaction system. Morphological features for the identification of new species are provided. In addition, a partial sequence of the nuclear gene EF1α was amplified and sequenced to construct a cluster graph. Based on the clustering graph combined with morphology traits, the gall-forming aphid was classified into Nipponaphis. The unique ecological habits of this new aphid will bring innovative perspectives to the study of the evolution and diversity in aphid-host interaction.
Highlights
Gall formation may have evolved as a mechanism to sequester galling insects, protecting other parts of the plant from potential damage (Price et al 1987, Wool 2004)
All samples were collected from Tianjiaba Town, Zhushan County, Shiyan City, Hubei Province, China, 32°11’48”N, 110°4’1”E, altitude 556 m, 15 August 2019, on Sycopsis sinensis
We found that the tannin content in N. hubeiensis sp. nov. is extremely low in comparison, only about 3% (Fig. 13), which was obviously different from Chinese horned gall
Summary
Gall formation may have evolved as a mechanism to sequester galling insects, protecting other parts of the plant from potential damage (Price et al 1987, Wool 2004). Galls of some Nipponaphidini have been found on Sycopsis and Distyliopsis (Hamamelidaceae) trees in Taiwan (Aoki and Kurosu 2010, Yeh and Ko 2017). These galls have different shapes and structure, for instance semi-spherical, spherical, spiny, tubular, bag-like, banana-bundle-shaped, or conical. Nov., forming woody-galls on the trunk of Sycopsis sinensis (Hamamelidaceae) is described This increases the known number of species of Nipponaphis in China to three. This species occupies an unusual niche and is a promising model in studies of co-evolution between galling aphids and host plants
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