The Newsletter of the International Society of Hymenopterists

Volume 6, Issue 1 — 23 February 2015 Hamuli The Newsletter of the International Society of Hymenopterists

In this issue...

Collecting in Chile (Santos) … 1

How much we forget (Shaw) … 4

Bombus specimens needed (Hines) … 4

Taxonomy and biology work- shop (Jeffs and Polaszek) … 5

Dunes in all the wrong places (Kimsey) … 6

Announcements … 6

Next ICH in Japan (Whitfield) … 8

Hamuli Update (Deans) … 9

Author’s Instructions … 9

Membership Information … 9

Tree house in Pucón and its view of Lake Villarica at sunset.

Collecting in Chile getaway but a short rest after two weeks of intensive fieldwork. My hands are full of By: Bernardo F. Santos, Richard Gilder bruises and scratches, my knees hurt and Graduate School, American Museum of and my neck and arms have been suffering Natural History, USA; [email protected] sunburns incessantly since the beginning of this trip. As I start to write this story, I am staring As a Ph.D. student at the American Mu- at a breathtaking sunset over Lake Villar- seum of Natural History, I am used to see rica, comfortably sat on the mattress of my colleagues depart in well-organized, the little treehouse that is my bedroom large scale and often multi-institutional in Pucón, the lovely lakeside village that field trips. In contrast, I decided to come to is one of the major tourism destinations Chile by myself, having only my girlfriend, in Chile. However, this isn’t a vacation Babi Lassance, as a companion. My main

1 Hamuli (ISSN 2224-2791) is published by the International Society Collecting in Chile ... Continued of Hymenopterists. goal was to collect cryptine wasps fieldwork. Contact: Andrew R. Deans (Ichneumonidae, Cryptinae) for my thesis As a field site, La Campana National Department of Entomology Pennsylvania State University project. For my phylogenetic work on the Park was problematic. Numerous cows 501 ASI Bldg tribe Cryptini, I have been able to amass roam inside the park; they have some University Park, PA specimens from all over the world, thanks serious mountain skills and reach abso- 16802 USA. to the support and help from dozens of lutely all places, rendering the whole area Fax: +1 814 865 3048 Ph: +1 814 865 1895 curators and researchers from institutions covered by cow dung. Visitors also take [email protected] worldwide. However, I still lacked material their dogs to the park, which helps to from the highly endemic Chilean fauna. President: Surely enough, the AMNH has thousands James B. Whitfield [email protected] of specimens of Hymenoptera from Chile, but most of the material is decades old Treasurer: and all pinned. The best way to get fresh Craig Brabant specimens for DNA sequencing was to go [email protected] after them myself. Secretary: After much thinking I decided to con- Lars Krogmann centrate efforts in only two National Parks. [email protected] First, I went to La Campana National Park, Webmaster/Archivist: about 60 km east of Viña del Mar. The park Katja Seltmann is part of the Chilean Matorral ecozone, [email protected] with a Mediterranean climate and vegetation mostly composed of woodlands and Editor, Hamuli: Andrew R. Deans scrubs. The area is home to one of the last Cows at La Campana park. [email protected] forests of the Chilean Wine Palm (Jubaea chilensis). The park also has historical im- further alter the environment. In addition, Associate Editors: portance for a naturalist: Charles Darwin the whole region seems to be experiencing Robert Longair István Mikó climbed Cerro La Campana during his a prolonged drought (“tres años de sequía”, HMS Beagle voyage. a local woman told me) – definitely too Art Director: The park did not have lodging for re- dry for ichneumonids, though invasive Nick Sloff searchers, other than camping sites, so we yellowjackets (Vespula vulgaris) and paper Articles appearing herein should not be decided to stay in a hostel in Viña del Mar. wasps (Polistes dominula) seem to be doing considered published for the purposes The drive between the places was about just fine. I did get some material in my yel- of zoological nomenclature.. Find us on one hour long, and the very long summer low pan traps, but the Malaise trap samples the Web: days meant I could still sit by the beach were very meagre even after 17 days in http://hymenopterists.org and enjoy a pisco sour after returning from the field. I did have one very nice catch in the park – check out the yellow pan trap on the next page – but I would not recommend it as a sampling site to other hymenopterists. I did find naturalists’ gold, however, after driving 850 km south to Conguillío Na- tional Park, in the Araucanía region. The park has an increadible scenic beauty: the Conguillío Lake sits between two volcanos, Llaima and Sierra Nevada. The former is one of the most active volcanos on the planet, and its eruption in 2008 left an im- pressive landscape of ash and volcanic rock in one of the sides of the park. The vegetation is a mixed forest of several Nothofagus species and Araucarias; the dark, somber look of these lush forests led the producers of the BBC show Walking with Dinosaurs to choose the park as one of their

The author, collecting wasps in La Campana National Park, Chile.

2 Collecting in Chile ... Continued

filming sites, and the area indeed has a prehistoric look. Lodging in the park is outsourced to a private company, which manages both camping sites and a cozy, charming cabin lodge. The cabins are a bit steep, but I received a generous researcher discount from the administration. They are a good option for researchers as we need a bit more infrastructure than can be found in a camping site – storage space, light to sort our samples at night, kitchenware... not to mention they have barbecue grills and wooden heated baths outside! Besides, they are conveniently located in the heart of the park; lodging options outside the park would require driving at least half an hour on dirt roads to get to the sampling sites.

Collecting a Malaise trap sample in Araucaria forest at the Conguillío park.

One of my best catches in the park: a pompilid wasp and its spider prey, captured in the same yellow pan.

The insect fauna made justice to the beauty of the area – both Malaise and yellow pan traps were packed with insects day after day of hard work. I was able to sample the various landscapes that the park has to offer – from dry, open areas with sandy soils, to Araucaria forests so dense they are always dark, as well as garden-like areas with abundant understory. The fun and success of the trip were only interrupted by our poor car choice. Driving 3,780 km in the Chilean summer inside a tiny Chevy Spark was not the best idea, especially because the car had no air Another picture from our days resting in Pucón. conditioning (“just get the cheapest option”, I thought; “it will be just fine”) and longings. We had stopped at a restaurant to office, watching snow flakes fall over the UV radiation levels were at their peak. To have dinner, and made the terrible mistake AMNH building and gardens. The air is make things worse, we had a series of car- of leaving a field bag and backpack inside filled by the smell of ethanol plus insect related incidents: a battery breakdown in the car – which by the way had no alarm. grease that we all know so well, and I’m Viña del Mar; a flat tire at the Conguillío; Most importantly, though, the specimens having the greatest time sorting countless and one night in Temuco, someone broke were safe in the fridge of our hotel room! wasps from my samples. All is well. • into our car and stole many valuable be- I finish writing this in the peace of my

3 How much we forget ... without having to spend precious degree- days on metamorphosis (it is a surprisingly By: Mark R. Shaw, National Museums of common alternative to overwintering as a Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK free adult). And indeed Scirtetes robusta is one such species. However, in the cocoon I am often dismayed to see in a publica- of it that I opened I found a living and per- tion the claim that some observation or fectly formed male Perilampus ruficornis other is being made “for the first time” (Fabricius) (Chalcidoidea: Perilampidae) when I know full well that it has been [teste R. R. Askew], evidently performing published before, often long ago. It is, of the same trick. Although Perilampus spe- course, difficult for even the best active cies as a whole have quite a span of hosts, scientist (or perhaps especially for him or this species is a well-known “true” second- her) to keep aware of what is already in ary parasitoid of Lepidoptera caterpillars the literature in these pressured times, but through Ichneumonoidea and also Tach- I do sometimes feel that if it is not read- inidae (Diptera), contacted by its planidial ily accessible via the simplest search on larva. Nothing new there, but I was very the www, published information is far too interested to find the adult overwintering widely treated as non-existent. in this way, I believed “for the first time”. Here, anyway, is an example of my own So I asked one or two people particularly forgotten knowledge. On 16 January 2014, knowledgeable about chalcidoid biology Female Bombus melanopygus, probably(!), deep in the heart of the Scottish winter, I and behaviour, and they told me they had foraging in Idaho, USA. Photo by Phil (CC BY- was dissecting some overwintering ichneu- not heard of it either. But before writing NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/2Dc1tr. monoid cocoons resulting from a survey of my little “for the first time” note on it, I oak-feeding macrolepidoptera conducted fortunately consulted C. P. Clausen’s (1940, by Jim Connell and colleagues near Vienna reprinted 1972) wonderful compendium, Specimens needed for (Austria) during May 2013, to see at Entomophagous Insects, where I learned Color Genetics Research exactly what stage the contents were pass- (or rather re-learned, for I had read it from ing the winter. One such was a cocoon of cover to cover at least twice in the early By: Heather M. Hines, Departments of Biol- Scirtetes robusta (Woldstedt) (Ichneumoni- 1970s... and clearly ought to do so again!) ogy and Entomology, Pennsylvania State dae: Campopleginae), a univoltine species that H. S. Smith (1912: U.S. Bureau of University, University Park, PA, USA that flies early in the year and commonly Entomology Technical Series 19(4): 33-69) parasitizes larvae of the Orthosia and not had deduced as much for the N. American The Hines lab at Penn State University especially related Cosmia (both Noctui- Perilampus hyalinus Say, and Clausen him- (http://www.personal.psu.edu/hmh19/) dae) species feeding on the “spring flush” self adds “The EuropeanP. cuprinus Foerst. is currently seeking specimens for several foliage of oak and other trees over much has this habit” (without giving a reference). research projects related to color pat- of Europe (actually the Cosmia mostly eat So there we are. The observation that tern genetics. This includes bumble bees, other caterpillars). It is well known that had so interested me was not “for the first especially Bombus melanopygus males many temperate ichneumonoids that para- time” at all, at least as far as the genus is to be used for whole genome sequenc- sitize hosts available very early in the year concerned, and I am glad to have avoided ing (ethanol preserved in last 8 years or overwinter as unemerged but fully-formed claiming that it was. Come on, though, be frozen) and recently collected specimens adults in their cocoons, as this enables honest – how many of you chalcidologists in the Bombus s.s. subgenus in any state of them to be ready for action in early spring already knew, or remembered, that? • preservation (e.g., B. moderatus, B. occiden- talis, B. lucorum, B. cryptarum, B. terrestris, B. sporadicus, B. ignitus, B. hypocrita) to be used for genotyping of pigment loci. As a large undergraduate research initiative, the lab is also initiating pigment identification surveys across insects and is seeking groups of specimens of any insect of bright pigmentation. Preferably this would include at least 3 or 4 individuals. Preserva- tion is not as important, although recently collected is preferred, frozen is best, and specimens preserved in liquid may have pigments already partially leached. Please contact Heather Hines ([email protected]) if you can help with obtaining these speci- Perilampus visits flowers in France. Photo by Alain C. (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/dngo3H mens. We can pay shipping costs. •

4 Course instructor Natalie Dale-Skey (NHM) with students Siobhán Porter (Queen’s University Belfast) and Gemma Baron (Royal Holloway Course participant Dylan Hodgkiss (Royal Holloway University). Photo University). Photo by Chris Jeffs. by Chris Jeffs.

Course instructors and participants In Darwin Centre 2, NHM. Front row L-R: Tom Godfrey, Liam Crowther, Catherine Carrick , Siobhán Chrysura refulgens from Crete, photographed during the course by Porter, Nicola Prehn, Dylan Hodgkiss; 2nd row L-R: Christopher Jeffs, Thomas Ayshford. Gemma Baron, Caroline Tyler, Thomas Ayshford, Suzanne Ryder, Helen Kelly; back row L-R: David Notton, Michael Kuhlmann, Gavin Broad, Ecosystem service Natalie Dale-Skey, Andy Polaszek, Paul Williams. providers: Taxonomy and biology of parasitoids & pollinators hard-copy identification key to all apocri- include fieldwork and identification of tan superfamilies, pdfs of standard texts the specimens collected by the students By: Christopher Jeffs, Oxford University, and (e.g. the Canadian “bible”), and an online themselves. Andy Polaszek, Natural History Museum, Lucid key to European bee genera. They One participant in the course, Catherine London, UK were also given a reference collection of Carrick, a PhD student at Hull University, specimens of the major parasitoid families, said: “The course was intense, but had This training course, designed for UK as well as common European bee genera. me captivated throughout. It was very Research Council-funded PhD students Instruction covered all methods of well-organised with friendly staff, suitable involved in parasitoid and/or pollinator fo- collecting, most techniques for mounting, accommodation, tasty food, and an array cused research, lasted 10 working days and including slide-mounting of DNA-extract- of useful equipment and specimens to take covered Hymenoptera taxonomy, phylo- ed specimens. The course also covered the home. I would highly recommend this genetics and biology in depth. The course legal and quasi-legal aspects of collecting course”. focused on the aspects of Hymenoptera and exporting/importing specimens; data- Course instructors were: Andy Polas- that the instructors were uniquely placed basing and KeEMu (databasing software) zek (course organiser and coordinator); to deliver – i.e. content that cannot be were also addressed. Gavin Broad (Ichneumonoidea); Michael found in books or on the web, but comes The timing of the course precluded Kuhlmann, David Notton, Paul Williams from the instructors’ experience. fieldwork, but future courses – very prob- (bees); Sue Ryder (collections, databasing); The 12 trainees were given a variety of ably divided into separate parasitoid- and Natalie Dale-Skey (general support); John resources, including a very user-friendly pollinator-focused courses, will certainly Noyes (mounting Chalcidoidea). •

5 New JHR Editor

After 5 years of expert editing of the Journal of Hymenoptera Research, Stefan Schmidt is stepping down (thanks for your great service, Stefan!), and a new Editor is starting this Spring: Hannes Baur (above) of the Naturhistorisches Museum Undergraduate and graduate students inspect one of the Monvero Sand Dunes around Ephedra Bern. Welcome to Hannes, plants (more dunes are located on the hills shown in the distance). and we look forward to more superb publications on our Dunes in All the Wrong skeleton, which is pretty unusual for Cali- favorite groups! Places fornia. From there it’s a forced march 900 feet up a steep, slippery slope to the top of — Jim Whitfield By: Lynn Kimsey, Department of Entomolo- the ridge. Once you get to the top you’re gy, University of Califonia, Davis, CA, USA suddenly in sand dunes topped by Ephedra “trees”. At the invitation of the U.S. Bureau The geological history of the Monvero New ISH Archivist and Stu- of Land Management a group from the Dunes is also unusual. The San Joaquin dent Representative Bohart Museum of Entomology and the Valley to the east of the dunes was formed Entomology Club at the University of Cali- as an inland sea basin in front of the Sierra After a selection process this fornia, Davis, visited the Monvero Dunes Nevada Mountains and margined to the (Northern Hemisphere at in late May in 2014. We went with Mike west by an arc of islands beginning as early least!) winter, we have a new Powers from the BLM to visit and collect as the end of the Cretaceous. This inland ISH Archivist – Rebecca Kittel on the dunes. The dunes are located on the sea was rich in marine life and resulted (below; previously Student west side of Fresno County, a few miles in extensive fossil and oil deposits. By the Representative – thanks for west of the town of Mendota, between late Miocene, some 20 million years ago, your service, Rebecca!), now in 1500 and 3000 feet on top of the Mono- the region now occupied by the Monvero Japan on a postdoc with Kaoru cline Ridge, in the inner central Coastal Dunes was exposed coastal dunes on the Maeto. Range. Unlike most sand dunes these are west side of low mountains and east of an not wind deposited, they are hilltop sand island arc. Eventually, subduction of the accumulations, resulting from erosion of Pacific Plate elevated mountains to the underlying sandstones rich in kaoline clay, west of these dunes and beneath the dunes which gives the dunes an odd slippery themselves. Subduction and compression texture. formed them into sandstone deposits, It’s not easy to reach the dunes. From which are now in the process of eroding Davis you drive south on Interstate 5, exit into sand dunes again. on an obscure freeway off-ramp that goes There are several unusual features of nowhere, go through two locked farm this site. First, it is common to find marine gates, and park beneath power lines that fossils in these dunes, such as clams and are part of the Pacific DC Intertie (electric scallops, and then there are the plants. The power transmission line). Right below vegetation is an odd mixture of Mojave where we parked paleontologists had and Colorado Desert species, with those several years earlier excavated a plesiosaur more typical of the Coastal Range. The

Also chosen was our new Stu- dent Representative, Katherine Nesheim (above), currently in Norm Johnson’s lab at the Ohio State University. Thanks (and Surveying under the Mormon tea (Ephedra californica) shrubs. congratulations) to both Re- becca and Katherine . We look dunes are home to some of the largest of food plants including Dock (Rumex forward to implementing your individual Desert Tea (Ephedra californica) hymenocephala), which are still growing ideas this year in ISH! plants I’ve ever seen with trunks up to 7 in the dunes, and left behind stone tools, or 8 inches in diameter. This is one of the flints and other materials. — Jim Whitfield northwestern-most locations of the spe- May is usually well into the dry sea- cies. Other woody shrubs include several son and collecting becomes difficult. species of Eriogonum nudum var. indictum, Although it was already quite dry (and E. fasciculatum var. politofolium and E. ves- hot) we collected 38 species of insects ISH at ICE 2016 titum, Gutierrezia californica, and Atriplex some of which have been identified at this spinifera. point, including species of Andrenidae We plan to hold an ISH sympo- A number of protected species occur (Perdita), Bethylidae, Braconidae, Chalci- sium during the 25th Interna- on these dunes including the blunt-nosed didae, Chrysididae (Holopyga, Parnopes), tional Congress of Entomology leopard lizard (Gambelia sila) and the San Crabronidae (Bembix, Microbembix, in Orlando, Florida: Joaquin woolly-threads plant (Monolopia Philanthus, Tachysphex), Platygastridae, congdonii), San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes Pompilidae and Sphecidae (Ammophila). http://ice2016orlando.org/ macrotis mutica) and the Ciervo aegialian We plan to go back in early spring scarab beetle (Aegialia concinna). The this year, and will be setting up one or If you have a proposal for a hy- dunes had never been surveyed for insect more Malaise traps and monitoring them menoptera-related symposium taxa other than beetles until we visited late throughout the rest of the spring and that you would like to organize last spring. summer. So if you have an interest in any please contact our president This site was also used extensively by family let us know! • ([email protected]) and tribal people. They planted a number president-elect (A.Polaszek@ nhm.ac.uk) as soon as possible but not later than 28 Feb 2015. Please send a symposium title, list of speakers and preliminary titles for oral presentations.

Heading back to the vehicles (and shade and ice water).

7 Next International modation, from luxury to budget, caters largest city on Shikoku and the capital of Conference in Japan! to all needs. Even participants staying in Ehime Prefecture. At the heart of the city the lower cost accommodation can expect stands Matsuyama-jo, an original castle By: Jim Whitfield, Department of Entomol- spotlessly clean rooms with excellent facili- built in 1854. Dogo Onsen Hot Spa, one ogy, University of Illinois, USA ties. Moreover, Matsuyama is surrounded of Japan’s oldest hot spring resorts with an by mountains of altitude over 1000m old-fashioned public bath house, located After a selection process this winter, an with natural forests, and there are many on the northeastern outskirts of the city. application from Japan has been selected secondary lowland forests in the city. It is Matsuyama in which the famous haiku as the next site of the ISH Quadrennial easy to access subtropical broadleaf forest, poet, Shiki Masaoka, lived has much to Conference: Matsuyama, Japan (Ehime summergreen mixed forest and subalpine offer in the way of curious literary and University). Some details follow below coniferous forest from Matsuyama City. cultural assets. (courtesy Kazuhiko Konishi). We will be in Access to hymenopterous collections.— touch as further details develop. Ehime University, where the congress Local organizers and support network: Reasons for location.—The past eight will be held, houses Tachikawa Collection Kaoru Maeto, Chair, Kobe University international congresses have been held (Encyrtidae and Bethylidae). Some other Kazuhiko Konishi, Ehime University twice in North America, twice in Europe, important hymenopteran collections in Kenzo Yamagishi, Meijo University once in Australia, once in Africa, once in Japan can be visited before or after the Yoshihisa Abe, Kyushu University South America and once in Asia. The last congress: Uchida Collection (mainly Yoshimitsu Higashiura, Yamaguchi congress in Asia was in Beijing in 2002 Ichneumonidae), Watanabe Collection Prefectural Agriculture & Forestry and then more than 10 years have passed. (mainly Braconidae), Kamijo Collection General Technology Center The next congress is the turn of Asia. In (Chalcidoidea) in Hokkaido University in Rikio Matsumoto, Osaka Museum of the recent two congresses, the number of Sapporo, Hokkaido; Shinohara Collection Natural History participants from Japan was the highest (Symphyta) in National Museum of Nature Kyohei Watanabe, Kanagawa Prefectural among Asian countries. Thus, the next and Science, Tsukuba; Yasumatsu Collec- Museum of Natural History congress should be held in Japan. tion (mainly Aculeata) Hirashima Collec- Kazunori Matsuo, Tokushima Agricul- Matsuyama is a local city located in tion (bees), Tadauchi Collection (Andreni- ture, Forestry, and Fisheries Tech- southwestern Japan. This city is suited as dae) in Kyushu University in Fukuoka. nology Support Center a venue of the international congress. The General hymenopterous collections in facilities of Ehime University, which is National Institute for Agro-Environmental Potential registration and meeting costs in Matsuyama City, are available for use. Sciences, Tsukuba and Meijo University, US$400 / person or less. • The potential venue is Nanka Kinen Hall Nagoya are also important. of this university. A wide range of accom- Location appeal.—Matsuyama is the

Matsuyama, Japan, photographed by Jeremy Hall (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/8eRWL

8 Hamuli Update Authors’ Instructions Have an article, note, opinion piece, news item, story, photo, By: Andy Deans, Frost Entomological Inscriptive Anathema, poem, joke, or other item you’d Museum, Penn State University, Uni- For the Entrance to a Shrubbery like to publish in Hamuli? Current versity Park, PA, USA members of the International Soci- If he who through this Coppice steers, ety of Hymenopterists are welcome As you may have noticed, Hamuli Should harm its native choristers, Or to submit materials for publication was a bit delayed in its publication this younglings seize, or nests destroy; at no cost. Just send your text to issue, thanks in large part to software May sylvan plagues his peace annoy. the editor ([email protected]) as issues. We use Adobe InDesign to Him may the sounding Hithornet scare .rtf or .doc files, and please send/ put this newsletter together, and file With dart and gilded coat of war; include images as separate .jpg or corruption has been a problem. We’re .tif files (i.e., not embedded in the Him may the fleet gnat slily sting exploring LaTeX now— http://www. word processing file). Make sure latex-project.org/—which is free and While dors against him dash their wing; images are of a reasonable resolu- incredibly robust. If any readers have Across his path may paddocks sprawl, tion: larger than 500 x 375 pixels, experience with this publishing envi- Around his couch let ear-wigs crawl; with a resolution of 72 pixels per ronment we’d love to get your input! His wells may water-newts infest, inch (or 28 pixels per cm). We’re also looking for more stories May screech-owls break his midnight rest, Not a member of ISH? No prob- from the field, especially if you have And should he doze at morning gray, lem! You can use the form below to become a member, or you can visit photos that rival those of Bernardo Let his shrill herald be the jay! Santos (page 1)! Contact the editors our website (http://hymenopterists. org) to join / pay dues electroni- with your ideas. • cally. Don’t want to become a member, but you still want to publish Have you paid your 2015 dues? — Thomas Park, 1759–1834 (from Sonnets and Other Small Poems in Hamuli? Or perhaps you want http://hymenopterists.org to advertise in Hamuli? Still not a (1797)) problem! Just send an email to the editor ([email protected]) for an estimate.

2015 Membership Information (visit hymenopterists.org for more options!)

[ ] $15 Student (requires signature of advisor: ______) [ ] $45 Regular [ ] $50 Family [ ] $750 Life [ ] $0 Emeritus

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Name: ______credit card #: ______Address: ______credit card type: [ ] Visa [ ] Mastercard ______security code: ______expiration date: ______signature: ______name on card: ______Phone: ______send payment to: Email: ______Craig M. Brabant, Treasurer ISH Interests: ______Department of Entomology ______University of Wisconsin-Madison 1630 Linden Drive, room 445 ______Madison, WI 53706 USA ______+1 608.262.2078 phone +1 608.262.3322 fax [email protected]