Contribution au recensement de la faune cécidogène d'altitude dans le bassin de l'Ubaye (Alpes sud-occidentales françaises)

A census of cecidogen fauna at high altitudes in the Ubaye basin (french south western Alps) The guild of cecidogen organisms («plant galls makers»), in which arthropods play the major role, features great interest both at the biological and ecological levels : 1 -concerning the ecological aspect , gall-makers offer outstanding opportunities i) for quantitative assessments of the survival ratios of involved arthropods species, as a function of parasitoids attacks, and ii) for causal analysis of every events that might happen all along the former life history of indviduals, including the different causes and circumstances of premature death. Actually, galls do «fossilize » the entire anterior life history of the inducer, as early as the oviposition step, often making obvious the reasons for most of the different possible events fatal to the inducer. 2 -as concerns now the biological aspects, significant attention should be paid to the ways and means by which the gall-inducers turn away the normal morphogenetic paths in plants, monitor and thus, often strongly, modified them locally. Detailed analysis of the process might well be the source of interesting and suggestive «models» for future research in the field of to morrow development of current genetic engineering applied to plants. Thus making profit of the «million years experiments» from insects... Although some major trends are common to most of gall-making processes, a great diversity prevails in details, among the different groups and between the different species of gall-inducers. Thus, thorough comparative analysis of different gall-induction processes should reveal of great interest also. For all these reasons (in addition to patrimonial biodiversity assessment), regional census and repartition studies applied to cecidozoans look as basical pre-requisits. This is all the more necessary because much remains to be done in this respect, especially in still poorly investigated sectors such as mountains regions. As part of a general census of cecidozoans in French Alps, a preliminary list of cecidian inducers from Ubaye valley and immediate surroudings (southern part of French Alps), including a northern portion of Mercantour National Park, is proposed hereafter. A lot of 143 cecidozoan species are listed, among which nine appear to be newly quoted from France and at least one should be new for Science : Eriophyes sp. nov. on Ononis fruticosa L., inducing a fold gall on leaflets, centered along the midrib and, accordingly, quite dif¬ ferent from Aceria ononidis (Canestrini). Two new combinations are also quoted.Dans le cadre d'un recensement général de la faune cécidienne (génératrice de galles végétales) dans les Alpes françaises, nous présentons une liste préliminaire des espèces cécidogènes d'altitude pour le bassin de l'Ubaye, incluant une portion nord du Parc National du Mercantour. Un ensemble de 143 espèces a été rencontré, parmi lesquelles neuf apparaissent nouvelles pour la France et au moins une nouvelle pour la Science (Eriophyes sp. nov. sur Ononis fruticosa L.). Deux nouvelles combinaisons inducteur - hôte sont également citées.Béguinot Jean. Contribution au recensement de la faune cécidogène d'altitude dans le bassin de l'Ubaye (Alpes sud-occidentales françaises). In: Bulletin mensuel de la Société linnéenne de Lyon, 71ᵉ année, n°2, février 2002. pp. 65-74