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Vol. 63, 2024
(update: 2024.11.11)
Global Geographical Patterns on
the Historical Species Description Process of Fig Wasps (Agaonidae)
Xerach
Hernández-Aguiar1 , Antonio Rodríguez2, Jose-Luis Nieves-Aldrey3, Carlo Polidori4, Jose F. Gómez1, and Diego Gil-Tapetado1,4,*
doi:10.6620/ZS.2024.63-27
1Universidad
Complutense de Madrid. Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Departamento de
Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución C/ Jos?Antonio Nováis 12, 28040
Madrid, Spain. E-mail: xeracher@ucm.es (Hernández-Aguiar);
jofgomez@ucm.es (Gómez)
2Universit?Clermont Auvergne, INRAE, VetAgro Sup,
UREP, Clermont- Ferrand, France. E-mail:
antonio.rodriguez-hernandez@inrae.fr (Rodríguez)
3Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Calle
Jos?Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain. E-mail:
mcnna38@mncn.csic.es (Nieves-Aldrey)
4Universit?Degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di
Scienze e Politiche Ambientali. Via Celoria 26, 20133, Milan, Italy.
*Correspondence: E-mail: diego.gil@ucm.es (Gil-Tapetado)
E-mail: carlo.polidori@unimi.it (Polidori)
(Received 25 January 2023 /
Accepted 10 April 2024 / Published 11 November 2024)
Communicated by Y. Miles Zhang
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
temporal patterns that have influenced the agaonid distribution as well
as the species description record of this family are yet unknown. Here,
we aim to study the taxonomical and nomenclatural knowledge status of
Agaonidae (following Burks et al. 2022) in each biogeographical region
and globally. We analyse taxonomic factors, such as the number of
described species or the amount of non-valid binominals, together with
their historical description process. By retrieving and analysing all
available geographical and nomenclatural data in fig wasps of the
Universal Chalcidoidea Database, we have found that the diversity of
Agaonidae is underestimated, exhibiting a high potential dark
biodiversity, especially in the tropical areas where the highest
diversity is observed. The species richness of Agaonidae varies
depending on the biogeographical region, being more unknown in the
Neotropical region, and higher and better represented other tropical
areas such as the Afrotropical or Oriental realms. Our results indicate
that there is a strong need for increasing sampling efforts and
research for a better understanding of Agaonidae diversity and
interspecific relationships, as well as inventory revisions to correct
potentially redundant binominal names.
Key words: Agaonidae, Ficus, Binominal name, Distribution
Citation: Hernández-Aguiar X, Rodríguez A,
Nieves-Aldrey J, Polidori C, Gómez JF, Gil-Tapetado D. 2024. Global
geographical patterns on the historical species description process of
fig wasps (Agaonidae). Zool Stud 63:27.
doi:10.6620/ZS.2024.63-27.
Supplementary
materials: Table S1丨Table S2丨Fig. S1
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