Abstract:
A Parasitodiplogaster sp. was isolated from syconia of Ficus burkei from
Pretoria, South Africa, and determined to be conspecific with P. sycophilon, originally
described by Poinar in 1979 from Harare, Zimbabwe, and also from F. burkei. Examination
of type material of P. sycophilon revealed inaccuracies in the former description necessitating
a redescription which is provided herein. Additionally, the original description lacked
molecular data, which is also provided. Originally, the stoma of P. sycophilon was described
as reduced without teeth. However, we observed a large dorsal stegostomatal tooth and an
almost equally-sized right subventral tooth which was typologically similar to the stoma of P.
laeviagata from Florida. In addition, a pore-like phasmid was observed in both males and
females just above the tail tip. Most other characters were as formerly described. Based upon
molecular inferences from sequences of the D2/D3 expansion segments of the rDNA of the
large subunit (LSU), P. sycophilon is not clearly defined relative to the neotropical
Parasitodiplogaster species that have been described and sequenced from figs in the section
Urostigma, subsection Americana (i.e., P. laevigata, P. popenema, P. citrinema, and P.
trigonema), or to P. australis from Australia ex F. virens (section Urostigma, subsection
Urostigma), or to P. maxinema from neotropical figs from the section Pharmacosycea,
subsection Pharmacosycea. Further work is needed to elucidate the molecular phylogeny of
the Parasitodiplogaster lineages that may have co-speciated with the African figs of the
section Urostigma, subsection Galoglychia.
