Jose-Luis Nieves-Aldrey

• Doctor of Biology
• Senior Researcher at The National Museum of Natural Sciences

A new genus of herb gall wasps, Fumariphilus Nieves-Aldrey gen. nov., (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Aulacideini), is described. Previous molecular phylogenetic analyses, and resulting systematic changes at the tribe level, have shown that the related species Aylax hypecoi Trotter and Neaylax versicolor Nieves-Aldrey have been incorrectly placed within t...

Gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) comprise 13 distinct tribes whose interrelationships remain incompletely understood. Recent analyses of ultra‐conserved elements (UCEs) represent the first attempt at resolving these relationships using phylogenomics. Here, we present the first analysis based on protein‐coding sequences from genome and transcript...

One of the most prominent problems related to biological invasions is the variation of local species composition, which often leads to ex novo interspecific interactions. Here, we explored and analysed the native species composition of gall inducers and their associated parasitoids and inquilines in Spanish areas invaded by Dryocosmus kuriphilus Ya...

In recent years, new wasp species and genera of Cynipidae have been described, and their species delimitation and evolutionary relationships have been supported using molecular markers. However, few studies have included comprehensive and extensive sampling of specimens across the complete distribution of a single genus. In this study, we analysed...

Fig pollinating wasps (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Agaonidae) constitute a key ecological role since they are the only known pollinators to Ficus (Moraceae), founding complex food webs. Taxonomy of Agaonidae is relatively well known due to their ecological importance and their mutualistic closed relationship with Ficus. However, the spatial and temp...

1. A key question in insect community ecology is whether parasitoid assemblages are structured by the food plants of their herbivore hosts. 2. Tritrophic communities centred on oak-feeding cynipid gallwasps are one of the best-studied tritrophic insect communities. Previous work suggests that host plant identity is a much stronger predictor of oak...

Revealing processes that structure species interactions is central to understanding community assembly and dynamics. Species interact via their phenotypes, but identifying and quantifying the traits that structure species-specific interactions (links) can be challenging. Where these traits show phylogenetic signal, however, link properties may be p...

Chalcidoidea are mostly parasitoid wasps that include as many as 500 000 estimated species. Capturing phylogenetic signal from such a massive radiation can be daunting. Chalcidoidea is an excellent example of a hyperdiverse group that has remained recalcitrant to phylogenetic resolution. We combined 1007 exons obtained with Anchored Hybrid Enrichme...

Highlights •Torymus sinensis can attack native species under laboratory and field conditions. •Molecular and mating data show that there is no hybridization with the native species. •We detected the presence of the alien species Torymus beneficus in Spain. •Decisions on biological control of D. kuriphilus by T. sinensis are discussed. BACKGROU...

Andricus dentimitratus (Rejtõ, 1887) and Andricus pictus (Hartig, 1856) are two European gall wasps (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) that induce galls on species of Quercus. The distribution and ecological niches of these species have not been studied in detail, though they are known to have a different distribution pattern in the Iberian Peninsula in Euro...

Paraulax Kieffer and Cecinothofagus Nieves-Aldrey & Liljeblad (Cynipidae: Paraulacini) were long supposed to be gall-makers on southern beeches ( Nothofagus , Nothofagaceae). Dissections of galls on Nothofagus Blume, suggested that Cecinothofagus could be instead either endoparasitoid or inquiline of Aditrochus larva (Chalcidoidea). We sequenced th...

Capturing phylogenetic signal from a massive radiation can be daunting. The superfamily Chalcidoidea is an excellent example of a hyperdiverse group that has remained recalcitrant to phylogenetic resolution. Chalcidoidea are mostly parasitoid wasps that until now included 27 families, 87 subfamilies and as many as 500,000 estimated species. We comb...

The phylogeny of gall wasps (Cynipidae) and their parasitic relatives has attracted considerable attention in recent years. The family is now widely recognized to fall into thirteen natural lineages, designated tribes, but the relationships among them have remained elusive. This has stymied any progress in understanding how cynipid gall inducers ev...

Nothofagus obliqua (Nothofagaceae) is a native tree to Chile, which hosts at least seven gall morphotypes, two of them induced by Hymenoptera, Pteromalidae. The life cycle of these pteromalids, particularly the feeding activity of their larvae, has a high impact on host plant tissues toward new shapes and functions, leading the gall formation. The...

Hymenoptera evolved structures on the legs which are able to remove particles from their antennae through grooming behaviour. The antenna cleaner (strigil) consists of an apical and modified protibial spur (calcar, composed of a trunk and a velum) and a modified basitarsus including a fine comb made up of setae and a notched inner surface. In "Tere...

A new genus, Prokius Nieves Aldrey, Medianero & Nicholls, gen. nov., and two new species of oak gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), Prokius cambrai Medianero & Nieves-Aldrey sp. nov. and Prokius lisethiae Medianero & Nieves-Aldrey sp. nov., are described from adults reared from galls on Quercus bumelioides Liebm (Fagaceae, sect. Quercus,...

The host range of parasitoids varies greatly among species: Some only parasitize one to a few hosts (specialists), while others parasitize multiple species or a variety of host types (generalists). The direction of most host range shifts in parasitoid groups, that is from generalist to specialist or, alternatively, from specialist to generalist, is...

Las avispas inductoras de agallas o cinípidos integran una de las relaciones planta animal más complejas y fascinantes por su capacidad de inducir estructuras morfológicas anormales en las plantas, cuya formación está controlada por el insecto y representan una extensión de su propio fenotipo. En esta charla haremos un recorrido por más de 40 años...

M.D. Zerova, J. L. Nieves-Aldrey, H. Ghahari, G. A.P. Gibson, V.N. Fursov. Chapter 14. Family Ormyridae Förster, 1856 - pp. 278-284 - In Book: H. Ghahari, G. Gibson, G. Viggiani (Eds.). "Chalcidoidea of Iran (Insects: Hymenoptera)". - CABI International, 2021, 432 pp.

The success of invasive species largely depends on the resistance offered by the native communities. Dryocosmus kuriphilus is a cynipid native from China that is a serious pest of chestnuts worldwide. This species recruits natural enemies in the areas of introduction; nevertheless, their role in regulating pest population is frequently questioned,...

1. Parasites are one of the main actors in host–parasite interactions. Still, their role as a prey and the related consequences for such interactions and in other respects, such as food webs, are frequently overlooked. 2. This paper analyses predation pressure on a ubiquitous avian ectoparasitic fly, Carnus hemapterus, identifies their main natural...

The monophyly and taxonomic validity of some currently accepted genera of gall wasps in the Cynipini (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) are being challenged by recent systematic studies. Here we used morphological and molecular data to re-describe and revise the taxonomic limits of the monotypic genus Kokkocynips Pujade-Villar & Melika, previously recorded o...

Se presenta la revision y una lista anotada de ocho de las doce especies paleárticas de Eupelmus (Macroneura) que se conocen de la Península Ibérica, Islas Baleares y Macaronesia (Canarias, Madeira y Azores). Se aportan para cada especie las citas en cada ámbito geográfico, incluyendo nuevos datos biológicos, como los de sus insectos y plantas hosp...

Diplolepis (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) are gall wasps that induce conspicuous galls on Rosa spp. (Rosaceae). These species are distributed globally and in Europe some are especially common and are founder organisms of biological communities composed of different insects. However, the ecological niches of these species have not been studied in detail....

Ormyridae is one of the smallest families of Chalcidoidea, with Noyes (2019) listing 147 valid species in three genera: the cosmopolitan genus Ormyrus Westwood (145 species) and two monotypic genera, Ormyrulus Boucek (one species described from India) and Eubeckerella Narendran (one species described from Malaysia). Doganlar (1991) divided Ormyrus...

Dryocosmus kuriphilus (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) is a global invasive gall wasp and a pest of chestnuts (Castanea spp.). A study of the Chalcidoidea parasitoid community of D. kuriphilus was undertaken over two years, from March 2017 to March 2019, at 15 sites in south and northwest Spain (Málaga and Galicia regions). More than 18,000 galls were coll...

Citation: Castillejos-Lemus DE, Oyama K, Nieves-Aldrey JL (2020) Description of three new species of oak gallwasps of the genus Amphibolips Reinhard from Mexico (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae). ZooKeys 987: 81-114. https://doi. Abstract Three new species of oak gall wasps of the genus Amphibolips Reinhard, 1865 (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) are descr...

Temporal comparisons of a site’s biodiversity depend on the availability of at least two asynchronous data sets on a bioindicator group. The Sierra de Guadarrama, a mountain range in central Spain has a high biodiversity and representative sites such as El Ventorrillo Biological Station (Madrid province) play an important role in research and monit...

The known species richness of oak gallwasps in Asia has increased tremendously in the past decade. However, the vast majority of taxa have been described from the east coast of Asia, and knowledge of oak gallwasps from Central Asia is still scant. Here we use molecular and morphological characters to describe a new genus of cynipid oak gallwasp, He...

Mating behaviour in insects is largely mediated by chemical signals emitted by one sex and recognized by the other (sex pheromones). A particular type of integumentary gland produces a sex pheromone in the antennae of male Cynipoidea (Hymenoptera), a rich and diverse wasp group consisting of species forming galls on plants, species which act as inq...

The alien cynipid wasp Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu, 1951 is a serious pest of chestnuts ( Castanea spp.) in Japan, North America and Europe, causing fruit losses while inducing galls in buds. While D. kuriphilus galls have a recognizable and roughly invariable globular shape, their size varies, reaching up to 4 cm in diameter. Among other facto...

Aim of the study: To update the distribution of Dryocosmus kuriphilus, the Asian chestnut gall wasp, focusing on the central area of the country (Sistema Central). Gall samplings of these areas were carried to obtain the first records of parasitoids on D. kuriphilus in this area. Area of study: Spain and, especially, the Sistema Central. Material...

In several groups of insects, body structures related to feeding and oviposition are known to have a hardened cuticle by incorporation of transition metals. However, a functional link between metal enrichment and ecological pressures (i.e., adaptation) has been only rarely shown, opening the possibility that in some lineages, the evolutionary histo...

The article can be read here for a limited time https://rdcu.be/b0P1v Parasitoid wasps may act as hyperparasites and sometimes regulate the populations of their hosts by a top-down dynamic. Nasonia vitripennis (Walker, 1836) is a generalist gregarious parasitoid that parasitizes several host flies, including the blowfly Protocalliphora Hough, 1899...

A new species of Mesopolobus von Rosen: Mesopolobus delafuentei sp. nov. Nieves-Aldrey & Askew (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is described from southern Spain. The new species is a parasi-toid, reared from galls of the oak gall wasp Andricus crispator Tscheck (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), a cynipid that induces galls on young offshoots of the cork oak (Qu...

Se ha llevado a cabo un estudio de impacto ambiental sobre las comunidades de cinípidos nativos en las áreas de España en que se ha liberado Toymus sinensis Kamijo para el control biológico de la avispilla del castaño Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu, principalmente en Galicia y Málaga. A lo largo de dos años de estudio se han colectado en las zonas...

Las agallas de Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatusu (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) especie invasora plaga del castaño, además de la fauna primaria de parasitoides que ha sido rápidamente reclutada por la especie invasora desde su aparición en España, albergan una rica y variada fauna secundaria que utiliza la agalla como refugio o recurso trófico. Como resul...

Galls are plant tissues whose development is induced by another organism for the inducer's benefit. 30,000 arthropod species induce galls, and in most cases the inducing effectors and target plant systems are unknown. Cynipid gall wasps are a speciose monophyletic radiation that induce structurally complex galls on oaks and other plants. We used a...

The diversity of insect antennal structures involved in communication is still poorly known because of the limited number of comparative studies and as such studies often exclusively focus on one sex. Within Cynipoidea, a recent study on female gall-wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) and some of their non-gall associated relatives (Ibaliidae and Figiti...

Las avispas parasitoides suelen ocupar el tercer nivel de la mayoría de los sistemas multitróficos, actuando así como hiperparásitos y, en ocasiones, regulando las poblaciones de sus hospedadores mediante una dinámica top-down. Nasonia (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) es una avispa parasitoide gregaria y generalista capaz de parasitar pupas de varias mo...

Nasonia vitripennis is a generalist gregarious parasitoid wasp that parasitizes several host blowflies, which, in turn, parasitize vertebrates. Protocalliphora azurea is one of the host of this parasitoid, whose larvae are hematophagous parasites of bird nestlings. We studied the prevalence of N. vitripennis in P. azurea puparia parasitizing wild p...

El género Torymus (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Torymidae) es un grupo de parasitoides con problemas taxonómicos y nomenclaturales, debidos a la dificultad de su estudio. Este grupo presenta diversos grados de rango de hospedador, resultando las más especialistas idóneas en programas de control biológico de su enemigo natural como especie plaga. Un e...

Por primera vez se efectúa una revisión completa de la sistemática de un grupo de pteromálidos ancestrales muy poco conocidos: el de los géneros y especies asociados a agallas en especies de Nothofagus de América del Sur. Mediante el estudio de materiales colectados y observaciones de campo efectuados en Chile en 5 años diferentes no consecutivos,...

The Asian chestnut gall wasp Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) is a global pest of chestnuts (Castanea). After being reported by the first time from Spain in 2012, the species has rapidly spread over the distribution area of wild and cultivated chestnuts in the Iberian Peninsula. Since the invasion D. kuriphilus has recruited...

We compiled literature data and unpublished qualitative and quantitative information on the parasitoid community (Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea, Cynipoidea) of gall wasps (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Aylacini) on Papaver species (Papaveraceae). The host-gall community is composed of five cynipid species inducing galls on seed capsules, flowers and stems of...

We compiled literature data and unpublished qualitative and quantitative information on the parasitoid community (Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea) of herb gall wasps (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, ”Aylacini”) inducing galls on different species of plants of the family Lamiaceae. The host gall community is composed of 4 cynipid species inducing galls on stems, l...

Le genre Ormocerus WALKER, 1834 et ses ·deux especes européennes: O. latus WALKER, 1834 et O. vernalis WALKER, 1834 sont citées pour la premiere fois de la Péninsule Ibér1que. On décrit pour la premiere fois le mi\le de O. vernalis. On apporte des données sur la biologie des deux especes associées de forme spéci· fique aux galles de cynipides des c...

The chestnut gall wasps, Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), a species native of China, has been introduced accidentally in many countries and it is now considered as a major pest of Castanea species worldwide. After being detected for the first time in Spain in 2012, the species spread very quickly and its is now present in e...

Se estudia por primera vez la abundancia y diversidad de Hymenoptera, y se presenta un inventario preliminar de este grupo de insectos, en el área de “Huinay” perteneciente a la Fundación San Ignacio del Huinay en el fiordo Comau de la X región de Chile (Los Lagos) en el norte de la Patagonia chilena. Se efectuaron muestreos en dos periodos de dos...

En este trabajo se sintetiza la historia de la Estación Biogeológica de El Ventorrillo, estación científica enclavada a 1450 metros de altitud en el corazón de la Sierra de Guadarrama, en la vertiente sur del Puerto de Navacerrada, que forma parte esencial de la historia de la investigación entomológica madrileña y española. La estación, actualment...

The Asian chestnut gall wasp (ACGW) Dryocosmus kuriphilus has become one of the major threats to the Castanea sativa trees in most European countries, and also in Spain. In Galicia (northwestern Spain), the area with highest chestnut production of the country, it was firstly detected in 2014, being currently spread throughout the region. The intera...

Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu, 1951 (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) also known as Asian chestnut gall wasp (ACGW) is a globally invasive species which has spread from China to Japan, USA and more recently Europe, that causes severe damages in chestnut trees (Castanea spp. In Galicia (northwestern Spain) ACGW was firstly detected in 2014, being currently...

Encargo a la Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas de servicio técnico por la administración

Aim of study: The globally invasive gall wasp, Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu, 1951 (Cynipidae: Cynipini), reached Spain seven years ago and is already regarded as an important pest of chestnuts (Castanea spp.) in this country as well as worldwide. In this paper, we present comprehensive data on the establishment in Spain of Torymus sinensis Kamij...

A new species of Andricus Hartig 1840 (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) is described from Panama: Andricus barriosi sp. nov. The new species induces galls on Quercus bumelioides Liebm. and Q. insignis M. Martens & Galeotti (Fagaceae, sect. Quercus) and is the first species of the genus Andricus 'sensu lato' recorded from Panama. Andricus barriosi...

Dryocosmus kuriphilus (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), also known as the Asian chestnut gall wasp, is a non-native invasive species that has recently appeared in many regions of Europe, including the Iberian Peninsula. This species is an important pest of chestnut trees in several regions and is of concern for foresters in these areas. The results of this...

By mechanisms that are still unknown, gall wasps (Cynipidae) induce plants to form complex galls, inside which their larvae develop. The family also includes inquilines (phytophagous forms that live inside the galls of other gall inducers) and possibly also parasitoids of gall inducers. The origin of cynipids is shrouded in mystery, but it has been...

Chalcid wasps are one of the most diverse lineages of Hymenoptera also highly disparate in terms of morphologies and biologies. The evolutionary relationships among Chalcidoidea have remained virtually untested. No multilocus molecular phylogeny has been deployed heretofore towards assessing the basal tree topology with appropriate sampling. Here w...

The species of Ormyridae that emerged of 15 from 65 gall morphotypes of Cynipidae in trees of the genus Quercus reported for Panama were studied. Specimens were collected from January 2008 to December 2010 in the cloud forests of the Cordillera Central of Panama. Three species of Ormyrus; O. hegeli, O. unifasciatipennis and O. venustus ―were identi...

1. The old idea that parasitoid wasps (Ichneumonidae) show an inverse latitudinal diversity gradient has recently been challenged, but how ichneumonid species richness varies across the globe is still not well understood. We carried out field inventories in 21 sites on three continents to clarify this question, focusing on the subfamilies Pimplinae...

Se presenta un listado taxonómico comentado de las ochenta y cuatro especies de Eupelmidae que se conocen de la Península Ibérica e Islas Baleares, incluyendo nuevos datos de distribución y de especies hospedadoras. Se describe una nueva especie de Calosota, C. carmenae Askew & Nieves-Aldrey sp. n. Se describen también los machos, hasta ahora no re...

Las avispas de las agallas o cinípidos son un grupo de himenópteros, englobado en la familia Cynipidae, del que se conocen unas 140 especies en la Península Ibérica. Son insectos fitófagos especializados, capaces de inducir agallas complejas en las plantas, mayoritariamente en especies de Quercus, o de vivir como inquilinos en las mismas. Los ciníp...

Background: Gall-inducing insects make up a guild of highly specialized endophagous herbivores. The cynipids (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) are highly diversified gall-inducing wasps that are largely associated with oaks (Fagaceae: Quercus). Mexico is one of the centers of diversification for the Quercus genus with 161 described species, of whi...

p> Background. Gall-inducing insects make up a guild of highly specialized endophagous herbivores. The cynipids (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) are highly diversified gall-inducing wasps that are largely associated with oaks (Fagaceae: Quercus ). Mexico is one of the centers of diversification for the Quercus genus with 161 described species, of...

The species of Ormyridae that emerged of 15 from 65 gall morphotypes of Cynipidae in trees of the genus Quercus reported for Panama were studied. Specimens were collected from January 2008 to December 2010 in the cloud forests of the Cordillera Central of Panama. Three species of Ormyrus; O. hegeli, O. unifasciatipennis and O. venustus were identif...

As part of a wider study on the morphology and systematics of the terminal-instar larvae of Chalcidoidea parasitoids of gall wasps (Hym., Cynipidae) in Europe, a comparative study of the larval morphology of three species of Eulophidae, Aprostocetus eurytomae (Nees), Aulogymnus skianeuros (Ratzeburg) and Dichatomus acerinus Förster; and three speci...

Three new species of Neuroterus Hartig, 1840 (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) are described from Panama and Costa Rica: Neuroterus elvisi sp. n., Neuroterus pulchrigalla sp. n., and Neuroterus glandiphilus sp. n. The new species are the first of the genus Neuroterus recorded from Central America and the Neotropical region. The new species induce...

We describe a new species of Corynura Spinola, a socially polymorphic genus within the bee tribe Augochlorini (Halictidae). We present a detailed description of both sexes of Corynura (Corynura) moscosensis n. sp. González-Vaquero, images of diagnostic morphological structures and antennal sensilla, floral associations, distributional data and note...

A systematic study of the genus Ormyrus (Chalcidoidea, Ormyridae) was conducted based on the morphology and biology of the terminal-instar larvae of ten west European species that are parasitoids of gall wasps and gallflies of the families Cynipidae, Eurytomidae and Tephritidae. The first detailed descriptions are provided of the terminal-instar la...

Character states of Ormyrus larvae included in the systematic study

Characters of Ormyrus larvae used for systematic study

The inclusion of Zn in insect mandibles affects their hardness and is functional to their use during feeding or reproducing. However, little is known on the chemical/structural base of Zn enrichment. Here, we found that cathodoluminescence (CL) technique revealed two different types of CL spectra in the mandibles of Hymenoptera, depending on the Zn...

The occurrence and distribution of eumelanin and pheomelanin, the most prevalent biological pigments, has been rarely investigated in insects. Particularly yellowish to brownish body parts, which in many vertebrates are associated with pheomelanin, are visible in many insects but their chemical nature was rarely examined to a similar detail. Here,...

We provide morphological egg data of 26 species of 5 chalcidoid families associated with cynipid galls (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) from western Palaearctic, including the first egg data for the family Ormyridae. Adult chalcidoid species were reared from galls, and eggs obtained from dissected female ovaries were examined using scanning electron micros...

Assesing the environmental risk of releasement of Torymus sinensis as biological control of the chestnut gall wasp, Dryocosmus kuriphilus in Spain

Cynipids (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) induce a wide variety of complex galls on plants of different botanical families, particularly on Quercus species. Cynipid galls are well known to host large communities of insects, providing fundamental ecological niches for different animal taxa, which are organized in structured and relatively isolated communiti...

Nepeta hispanica Boiss. & Reut. subsp. hispánica es un geófito rizomatoso, ibero-magrebí, cuasi-dioica, y catalogada como Vulnerable, perteneciente a la familia Labiatae, que habita fundamentalmente en ambientes esteparios sobre suelos yesíferos o margo-yesíferos entre 200-800 m de altitud, localizados a lo largo de un gran arco geográfico básico-u...

The gall wasp genus Eschatocerus (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Eschatocerini), a cynipid genus of gall inducers on Prosopis and Acacia species (Fabaceae), endemic to southern South America, is revised. Complete descriptions of the external morphology of the genus and its three known species, illustrated with scanning electron photographs, are given for...

The biology of the 10 species of Leucophora (Diptera: Anthomyiidae) recorded in the Neotropics remains unknown. The large majority of the studied species so far are kleptoparasites of bees and wasps. Here, we report the first observations of Leucophora andicola (Bigot) and Leucophora peullae (Malloch) visiting the nests of ground-nesting sweat bees...