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Abstract
Following previous work developed on Eurytoma Illiger larvae belonging to the same community, we study the morphology of terminal-instar larvae of five species representative of Sycophila parasitoids of gall wasps (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) in Europe. The terminal-instar larvae of S. biguttata (Swederus), S. binotata (Fonscolombe), S. flavicollis (Walker), S. mayri (Erdös) and S. submutica (Thomson), are described for the first time based on scanning electron microscope images. The morphological characters distinguishing them from other eurytomid larvae include: general chaetotaxy reduction; deep divisions of labrum into seven lobes and reduction of mandible size. Although we found limited variation in body shape, studied species share important diagnostic characters on the head, mouthparts and mandibles potentially with systematic value. Biological data of studied species are discussed and illustrated with photographs. Sycophila mayri and S. submutica are associated with cynipid galls on herbs; S. biguttata, S. binotata and S. flavicollis are parasitoids in cynipid galls on Quercus trees.
Acknowledgements
We thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which helped us to improve the manuscript. We thank Dr R.R. Askew for checking the identifications of adult specimens and for allowing the use of his unpublished identification keys for Palaearctic Chalcidoidea. Financial support for this paper was provided by the Spanish Government through research projects CGL2005–01922/BOS, CGL2009 10111 and CGL2010-15786/BOS to JLN-A. Graham Stone was supported by NERC grants NER/B/S2003/00856 NER/B/504406 and NE/D007178/1. We also thank Laura Tormo and Marta Furió for technical assistance in the production of the scanning electron micrographs.