Abstract
The genus Leptodrepana Shaw was described in 1983, but prior to the current study only one Neotropical species had been described from Mexico and none were named from Costa Rica. In this paper twenty-four new species are described and named from Costa Rica: L. alexisae Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. atalanta Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. conda Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. conleyae Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. demeter Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. eckerti Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. gauldilox Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. hansoni Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. kimbrellae Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. lorenae Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. munjuanae Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. ninae Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. pamelabbas Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. ronnae Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. rosanadana Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. schuttei Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. scottshawi Dadelahi, sp. n., L. shriekae Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. sohailae Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. sorayae Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. soussanae Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. stasia Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., L. strategeri Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n., and L. thema Dadelahi & Shaw, sp. n. A key to Costa Rican species of Leptodrepana is provided. The flagellum of all female Leptodrepana described in this work is reduced to only 17 flagellomeres. This character state is also found in two North American species described by Shaw (1983), L. opuntiae Shaw and L. oriens Shaw. It is hypothesized that a female antenna with 17 flagellomeres is a synapomorphy for a species-group comprising all the Costa Rican Leptodrepana species as well as two of the Mexican and North American species, L. opuntiae and L. oriens.
Highlights
The braconid subfamily Cheloninae is large and cosmopolitan with more than 1500 described species (Shaw 1997, Yu et al 2012, Kittel and Austin 2014)
The flagellum of all female Leptodrepana described in this work is reduced to only 17 flagellomeres. This character state is found in two North American species described by Shaw (1983), L. opuntiae Shaw and L. oriens Shaw
American species described by Shaw (1983): L. opuntiae, and L. oriens
Summary
The braconid subfamily Cheloninae is large and cosmopolitan with more than 1500 described species (Shaw 1997, Yu et al 2012, Kittel and Austin 2014). A taxonomic study of Ascogaster, resulted in the discovery of the genus Leptodrepana (Shaw 1983). Leptodrepana is separated from Ascogaster based on 13 diverging morphological characters (Shaw 1983). The flagellum often consists of 17 segments, the apical flagellomeres tend to be longer than wide, and the ventral cavity is as long as the carapace. The best characters for distinguishing between the two genera are the shape of the ocellar triangle, shape and number of flagellomeres in the female, and degree of convexity in the scutellar disc. Despite these noticeable character differences the generic designation of Leptodrepana is still debated. Due to the unique efforts of the Malaise Network in place in Costa Rica, the country is especially well-sampled and a surprising number of Leptodrepana, normally rare species, have been collected (see Materials and methods)
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