Abstract
A new species of Microgastrinae, Cotesia icipe Fernández-Triana & Fiaboe, sp. n., is described from eastern Africa. It was reared in Kenya as a solitary parasitoid from two major amaranth pests, Spodoptera littoralis (Boisduval, 1833) and S. exigua (Hübner, 1808); study of specimens in collections also revealed its presence in four other countries in the Afrotropical region (Madagascar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Yemen). Morphological, molecular and biological characters are used to describe the new species and to distinguish it from all 12 previously described species of Afrotropical Cotesia. Cotesia icipe shows potential in the biological control of key Lepidopteran pests in small scale farming conditions in Africa.
Highlights
The subfamily Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) is the single most important group of parasitoid wasps attacking caterpillars, with many species used or being considered as biocontrol agents against Lepidopteran pests in agriculture and forestryCopyright Komi K.M
This paper describes a new species of Cotesia from Kenya, which has been found to be important in the biological control of two major amaranth pests, Spodoptera littoralis and S. exigua (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae)
The description of the new species contains ratios commonly used in taxonomic studies of Microgastrinae; we provide the raw measurements of morphological structures as they allow for additional ratios to be explored in the future, if needed
Summary
The subfamily Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) is the single most important group of parasitoid wasps attacking caterpillars, with many species used or being considered as biocontrol agents against Lepidopteran pests in agriculture and forestry. While we agree that specimens previously identified as “Cotesia plutellae” might comprise a complex of morphologically cryptic species –as is the case with many other species of Microgastrinae (e.g., Fernández-Triana 2010, Fernández-Triana et al 2014, Kaiser et al 2017), without further study, especially of the type specimens involved, there is no real basis for raising that name from synonymy It is clear from both papers (Rincon et al 2006, Rousse and Gupta 2013) that those authors never studied the pertinent material, and at present there is no sound evidence for a conclusion as to which type specimens (if any) are associated with their segregates. The new species is compared to the other 12 species of Cotesia previously recorded from the Afrotropical region, and diagnostic characters to recognize it are provided
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