Abstract
A new species of the genus Mesopolobus Westwood, 1833, Mesopolobus robiniae Lakatos & László sp. nov., is described and illustrated from east-central Europe (Romania and Hungary). The species was reared from black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) seedpod samples, where it most likely parasitizes the black locust’s seed predator Bruchophagus robiniae Zerova, 1970. Here we present the new species and report on its ecological relationships within the European seed predator community of black locust. We also give details regarding type material and type locality, a detailed description with images, a differential diagnosis of the new species, and a modification to the identification key published by Graham (1969), that distinguishes this new species from closely related species. In addition, we provide information on the distribution, biology and results of barcoding analysis. We also provide the DNA sequence data to complement the morphological taxonomy.
Highlights
In the last century, the black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) became a characteristic component feature of the Central and Eastern European landscape (Vítková et al 2017)
Our objectives were the following: i) to identify those morphometric characters that give the best discrimination of the females emerged from black locust seedpods from other Mesopolobus species. ii) to calculate the genetic distance values between the mtCOI sequence of the females emerged from black locust and the other Mesopolobus species. iii) to describe the females and the males of the species that emerged from black locust seedpods
The multivariate ratio analysis (MRA) and the mtDNA sequence analysis resulted in the successful separation of the Mesopolobus species emerging from black locust seedpods from the other congeneric relatives
Summary
The black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) became a characteristic component feature of the Central and Eastern European landscape (Vítková et al 2017). The invasive history of black locust follows the characteristic pathway of introduced crops with an initial phase when presumably several independent introductions occurred from North America, which ceased for a long period, were followed by frequent plantings and a rapid invasion in the wild, resulting in its widespread distribution of today (DAISIE 2009). The invasion of black locust in Central and Eastern Europe was facilitated by extensive plantings, due to the wood’s long-term quality, resistance to insects and fungi, rapid growth, easy propagation, and ability to stabilize soils (Vítková et al 2017)
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