title: Molecular approaches identify known species, reveal cryptic species and verify host specificity of Chinese Philotrypesis (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae).
abstract: Philotrypesis, a major component of the fig wasp community (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), is a model taxon for studying male fighting and mating behaviour. Its extreme sexual dimorphism and male polymorphism render species identification uncertain and in-depth research on its ecology, behaviour and other evolutionary topics challenging. The fig wasps' enclosed habitat within the syconia makes their mating behaviour inaccessible, to the extent of matching conspecific females and males. In this study, we combine morphological and molecular analyses to identify species of Philotrypesis sampled from south China and to associate their extraordinarily dimorphic genders and labile male morphologies. Morphological evaluations of females identify 22 species and 28 male morphs. The mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I and nuclear internal transcribed spacer 2 data detect 21 species using females, and 15 species among the males. Most of the males match the species as delimited by females. Both markers reveal cryptic species in P. quadrisetosa on Ficus vasculosa. Most species of wasps live on one species of fig but three species co-occur in two hosts (F. microcarpa and F. benjamina), which indicates host switching.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Mei-Jiao
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Jin-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Sheng-Nan
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Bian
authors.forename: Yan-Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Li-Ming
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Hao-Yuan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Wen-Shan
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Da-Wei
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D021901:DNA, Intergenic / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D058507:Host Specificity / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D019849:Sex Determination Processes / Q000235:genetics*; D014863:Wasps / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D021901:DNA, Intergenic; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV