Exploring insect biodiversity: the parasitic Hymenoptera, chiefly Chalcidoidea, associated with seeds of asphodels (Xanthorrhoeaceae), with the description of nine new species belonging to Eurytomidae and Torymidae

An account is given of the communities of Chalcidoidea, mostly based upon species of  Bruchophagus  Ashmead (Eurytomidae), which feed as larvae in seeds of  Asphodelus  and  Asphodeline  (Xanthorrhoeaceae). Eight new species of Eurytomidae, namely  B. abscedus  Askew sp. n.,  B. asphodelinae  Askew & Stojanova sp. n.,  B. gijswijti  Askew & Ribes sp. n.,  B. insulare  Delvare sp. n.,  B. lecomtei  Delvare sp. n.,  B. ribesi  Askew sp. n.,  Eurytoma genale  Askew & Stojanova sp. n., and  Aximopsis balajasi  Delvare sp. n., are described together with the new species  Idiomacromerus asphodeli  Ribes sp. n. (Torymidae).  Eurytoma setigera  Mayr, 1878 is again synonymized with  E. pistaciae  Rondani, 1877 syn. rev.  Puklina dillerae  Doganlar, 1993 and  P. asphodelinae  Boyadzhiev, 2003 are synonymized with  P. depilata  Graham, 1987 syn n. The use, respectively of the mitochondrial genes  COI  and  Cyt B  and of the nuclear gene  EF1-α , allowed us to discriminate pairs of sibling species in the three genera of Eurytomidae and to circumscribe the limits of the hypervariable  Eurytoma asphodeli  Hedqvist, 1976. The trophic webs associated with five species/subspecies of asphodels are fully described and illustrated, the distributions of the chalcid wasps involved are figured, and the phenology of the most common species is quoted and figured.