Abstract
The genus Buffingtonella Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar, 2019 is known only by the species B. polita (Ashmead, 1896) and from only a few specimens. An undescribed species belonging to this genus was located among material deposited at the Mississippi Entomological Collection (Mississippi State University, Mississippi, USA) which is described here as B. buffingtoni Nastasi sp. nov. An updated diagnosis for the genus and convenient characters separating the two species are provided. The possible ecology of Buffingtonella is also discussed; the genus is likely associated with galls of Polystepha gall midges (Diptera: Nematocera: Cecidomyiidae). Lastly, the generic taxonomy of Ceroptresini is discussed in reference to findings in other recent studies of the tribe.
References
- Ashmead, W.H. (1896) Descriptions of new parasitic Hymenoptera. Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 23 (2), 179–234.
- Lobato-Vila, I. & Pujade-Villar, J. (2019) Revision of world Ceroptresini (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) with the description of a new genus and five new species. Zootaxa, 4685 (1), 1–67. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4685.1.1
- Nastasi, L.F., Buffington, M.L., Davis, C.K. & Deans, A.R. (2024a) Key to the North American tribes and genera of herb, rose, bramble, and inquiline gall wasps (Hymenoptera, Cynipoidea, Cynipidae sensu lato). ZooKeys, 1196, 177–207. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1196.118460
- Nastasi, L.F., Smith, C.N., Davis, C.K., Ward, A.K.G., Brown, G., Zhang, Y.M., Rollins, S., Friesen, C., Tribull, C.M., Forbes, A.A. & Deans, A.R. (2024b) One must imagine Sisyphus happy: Integrative taxonomic characterization of 22 new Ceroptres species (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Ceroptresini). Zootaxa, 5508 (1), 1–63. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5508.1.1