Euura lipovskyi

120 Euura lipovskyi (D.R. Smith, 1974) Figs 134, 370 Nematus lipovskyi D.R. Smith, 1974: 205–207. Holotype ♀ (USNMENT00779742, USNM, http://n 2t.net/ark:/65665/39b4121c8-5b12-465d-998c-73ffd25da7b2), not examined. Type locality: USA, Massachusetts, Melrose Highlands. Diagnosis Extensively pale body, in dorsal view long and narrow valvula 3, and rather distinctive lancet should enable its separation from the other females of Euura. Externally it might be most similar to some species of the E. miltonota group (particularly E. sagmarius), which have a ventrally distinctly concave lancet with strongly curved sutures of basal annuli (lancet ventrally more or less straight with straight or weakly curved sutures in E. lipovskyi). Males are also extensively pale and are most similar to E. fuscodorsata and some of the E. oblita group gall-makers when the penis valves are also considered. The penis valve is much smaller in E. fuscodorsata (0.8–0.9 mm compared to 1.2–1.3 mm in E. lipovskyi) and the pseudoceps in the E. oblita group seems to be broader apically than in E. lipovskyi. Host plants Soft-leaved (deciduous) Rhododendron spp. (Macek & Šípek 2015; Apine & Piterāns 2021). Genetics COI Based on 4 specimens, maximum within-species distance is 0.91% and the nearest neighbour, diverging by a minimum of 5.78%, is Euura hypoxantha. Nuclear Based on 3 specimens, maximum within-species distance is 0% (0.09% based on haplotypes of individual females). The nearest neighbour, diverging by a minimum of 1.44%, is Euura leptostigma. Distribution and material examined Holarctic. Specimens studied are from Canada (only genetics), Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, and the USA. As already mentioned by Macek & Šípek (2015), the origin of E. lipovskyi is unknown, although the genetic variability seems to be larger in North America than in Europe. In Europe, Rhododendron luteum Sweet (one of the host plants of E. lipovskyi: Macek & Šípek 2015) is the only native soft-leaved species (growing naturally locally in Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and Slovenia), but is however mostly distributed in Turkey and Caucasus (Piórecki & Dubiel 2009).