© Entomologica Fennica. 25 February 2011 Parasitoids (Hymenoptera) of leaf-spinning moths (Lepidoptera) feeding on Vaccinium uliginosum L. along an ecological gradient in central European peat bogs Aurel I. Lozan, Karel Spitzer, Josef Jaro, Andrey Khalaim, Maria Concetta Rizzo, Emilio Guerrieri & Ale Bezdìk Lozan,A.I.,Spitzer,K.,Jaro,J.,Khalaim,A.,Rizzo,M.C.,Guerrieri,E.& Bezdìk, A. 2010: Parasitoids (Hymenoptera) of leaf-spinning moths (Lepidop- tera) feeding on Vaccinium uliginosum L. along an ecological gradient in central European peat bogs. Entomol. Fennica 21: 243253. Parasitoids of leaf-spinning Lepidoptera associated with two isolated central Eu- ropean peat bogs were investigated. Five families of parasitoid Hymenoptera (Braconidae, Ichneumonidae, Eulophidae, Pteromalidae and Encyrtidae) were recorded. Three categories were recognised: (1) primary parasitoids, (2) faculta- tive hyperparasitoids and (3) obligatory hyperparasitoids. Ten species of Braco- nidae, five species and seven marked morphospecies among Ichneumonidae, and three species of Chalcidoidea were identified. Despite of some niche-specific (but less host-specific) parasitoids, all these hymenopterans are likely to be gen- eralists and none of them were confirmed to be habitat and/or host specialists. Unlike their eurytopic (opportunistic tyrphoneutral) parasitoids, the Lepidoptera hosts associated with peat bogs are partially highly stenotopic (tyrphobionts and tyrphophiles). The occurrence of parasitoids compared to their potential hosts was structured along an ecological (mesoclimatic) gradient, so most parasitoids were recorded from margins while stenotopic (narrow habitat adaptation) moths were mostly distributed near the centre of the bog habitat. A. I. Lozan, K. Spitzer, J. Jaro & A. Bezdìk, Biology Centre, Institute of Entomo- logy, Czech Academy of Sciences, Braniovská 31, 37005 Èeské Budìjovice, Czech Republic; E-mails: [email protected], [email protected], jaros@entu. cas.cz, [email protected] A. Khalaim, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitets- kaya nab. 1, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia; E-mail: [email protected] M. C. Rizzo, SENFIMIZO Department, Entomology, Acarology and Zoology Section, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Palermo, viale delle Scienze 13, Ed. 5, Palermo, Italy; E-mail: [email protected] E. Guerrieri, Institute for Plant Protection, the National Research Council of It- aly, Via Universita 133, 80055 Portici (NA), Italy; E-mail: [email protected] Received 26 January 2009, accepted 2 June 2010 244 Lozan et al. ENTOMOL. FENNICA Vol. 21 1. Introduction nopteran parasitoids (Braconidae), collected by light traps (Lozan 2002), were not restricted to the Parasitoids of an ecological guild of Lepidoptera bog as reported for stenotopic Coleoptera and feeding on relict boreo-montane plant Vaccinium Lepidoptera (cf. Bezdìk et al. 2006). uliginosum L., a deciduous circumboreal shrub characteristic of peaty soils of coldlands, in two isolated central European peat bogs (Spitzer et al. 2. Material and methods 2003) were studied. The moths reared from leaf spinnings belong to four families (Tortricidae, 2.1. Sites of investigations Gelechiidae, Chimabachidae and Geometridae) and include both stenotopic (tyrphobiontic and Leaf spinnings on Vaccinium uliginosum were tyrphophilous taxa), closely associated with peat collected during June 19982001 from two bogs, and opportunistic (tyrphoneutral) species montane isolated peat bogs of the core zone of the not related to the bogs. umava National Park, SW Bohemia, Czech Re- Peat bogs of central Europe, which developed public; details are given by Spitzer et al. (2003): under isolation, are true habitat islands for a unique insect diversity of highly stenotopic taxa a) Mrtvý luh near Volary (740 m a.s.l., 310 ha) (relicts) among Lepidoptera and parasitoid Hy- represents a montane oligotrophic valley peat menoptera (Spitzer & Danks 2006, Lozan et al. bog more or less closed by the forest. Open 2010). The Lepidoptera community of central treeless areas are covered by V. uliginosum European peat bogs has been well studied under (and other Vaccinium spp.), Eriophorum va- the long-term monitoring programmes, but the ginatum and Calluna vulgaris with a gradual parasitoids have not been subject of such investi- transition to dwarf forest of Pinus mugo s. lat. gations. This paper is based on previous investi- around the bog. gations of Lepidoptera (Spitzer et al. 2003) and b) Chalupská sla bog near Borová Lada (900 m aims at assessing parasitoid diversity along an a.s.l., 116 ha) is a montane oligotrophic raised ecological (mesoclimatic) gradient in two differ- bog with a central bog-lake and mountain ent peat bog systems. This mesoclimatic gradient pine forest around, with large patches of V. is characterised by extreme temperatures and ex- uliginosum (including other Vaccinium spp.) pressed by local vegetation of forest-tundra and Betula pubescens (the gradient between formations between bog centres and bog margins the centre and margins is not gradual like in (including lagg, see Material and methods, and the Mrtvý luh bog). Bezdìk et al. 2006). These two central European bogs are isolated ancient habitats of distinct cli- matic and edaphic conditions close to the forest- 2.2. Sampling tundra biome with a high proportion of local cold- adapted species. For collecting the hosts, leaf-spinnings were There is an identified distinct micro-climatic sampled along an ecological gradient between the gradient from lagg (the ecotone of outer parts of outer margins, lagg (inner margins) and the cen- the bog) to margins and centres of peatbogs, in- tres of each investigated bog system. The cover of cluding intermediate zones, where we collected V. uliginosum was higher near the treeless areas our field samples for ecological analysis. The bog of the bogs and the stenotopic host taxa (i.e. habitat affinity (association or relation to bog tyrphobionts+tyrphophiles) were most abundant habitat) of both moths and parasitoids from our in the centres (edaphic tundra-like formation) samples was correlated with available reliable re- when compared with the pine forested margins cords of levels of host specialisation in order to (including the lagg ecotone, which is an integral reveal the degree of their stenotopy and eurytopy. part of the bog) of the bogs. It was not possible to Previous preliminary investigations in one of the identify exactly which parasitoid species studied peat bogs under the same ecological gra- emerged from the particular host spinning. The dient (centre versus margins) showed that hyme- attempt for host larvae identification by head cap- ENTOMOL. FENNICA Vol. 21 Parasitoids of leaf-spinning moths 245 sules was not successful and not sufficiently reli- Table 1. No. of reared specimens/species from the able. four families of leaf-spinning Lepidoptera (Chima- bachidae, Gelechiidae*, Tortricidae*, Geometridae*; include specialist/stenotopic taxa: tyrphobionts + 2.3. Lepidoptera tyrphophiles) in two peatbogs. Parasitoid family Specimens Species The complete list of moth species with quantita- reared reared tive data (species, reared specimens and leaf spinnings per site) is given by Spitzer et al. Ichneumonidae 26 12 (2003), here we supply only the list of species Braconidae 56 10 where stenotopic taxa are marked with an asterisk Eulophidae 4 1 (tyrphobionts and tyrphophiles), as follow: Pteromalidae 4 1 Encyrtidae 14 1 Diurnea lipsiella (Denis et Schiffermüller) Unidentified (Chalcidoidea) 3 ? and Dasystoma salicella (Hübner) (Chimabachi- dae); Athrips pruinosella (Lienig & Zeller)* (Ge- Total 107 25 lechiidae); Acleris laterana (Fabricius), Acleris maccana (Treitschke)*, Acleris lipsiana (Denis & Schiffermüller)*, Cnephasia stephensiana All Braconidae and Chalcidoidea specimens (Doubleday), C. asseclana (Denis & Schiffer- were identified at the species level except for müller), Argyrotaenia ljungiana (Thunberg), three damaged ones (presumably Chalcidoidea). Pandemis cinnamomeana (Treitschke), P. hepa- Most of the collected Ichneumonidae were identi- rana (Denis & Schiffermüller), Clepsis senecio- fied at the species level, some only at the genus nana (Hübner), Adoxophyes orana (Fischer von level. Röslerstamm), Apotomis sauciana (Frölich)*, Celypha lacunana (Denis & Schiffermüller), 2.5. Data analysis Phiaris bipunctana (Fabricius)*, Rhopobota naevana (Hübner) and Pammene luedersiana We used the same community data analysis (Sorhagen)* (Tortricidae); Rhinoprora (Pasiphi- scheme as in Spitzer et al. (2003). The Canonical la) debiliata (Hübner) (Geometridae). Correspondence Analysis (CCA; CANOCO ver- The rearing of a total of 19 species (18 species sion 3.12 software) by Ter Braak(1987) was used of typical leaf-spinning microlepidopteran spe- to determine the habitat preferences of parasitoids cies and one macrolepidopteran leaf-spinning in relations to the centers and the margins of the species) was conducted under laboratory condi- two investigated bogs. tions, where larvae were kept and fed on V. uliginosum in glass boxes. 3. Results A total of 107 specimens of parasitoids (Table 1) 2.4. Hymenoptera were reared under laboratory conditions from 19 species of leaf-spinning Lepidoptera feeding on All reared hymenopterans were initially pre- typical bog plant V. uliginosum in two central- served in 80% ethanol, then dried up with the help European peat bogs of the umava Mountains. of filter paper and mounted into collections. Tax- All identified parasitoid species can