Four new species of Gasteruption Latreille from NW China, with an illustrated key to the species from Palaearctic China (Hymenoptera, Gasteruptiidae).

Jiang-Li Tan,Qing-Qing Tan,Cornelis Van Achterberg,Xue-Xin Chen

doi:10.3897/zookeys.612.9751

Abstract

Four new species of the genus Gasteruption Latreille, 1796 (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Gasteruptiidae: Gasteruptiinae) are reported from NW China: three from Shaanxi province and one from Ningxia province. The new species (Gasteruption bicoloratum Tan & van Achterberg, sp. n., Gasteruption huangshii Tan & van Achterberg, sp. n., Gasteruption pannuceum Tan & van Achterberg, sp. n., and Gasteruption shengi Tan & van Achterberg, sp. n.) and three newly recorded species (Gasteruption sinepunctatum Zhao, van Achterberg & Xu, 2012, Gasteruption boreale (Thomson, 1883) and Gasteruption oshimense Watanabe, 1924) are keyed and fully illustrated. In total, seven species are known from Shaanxi province, which is approximately half of the expected number. The East Palaearctic specimens provisionally identified as Gasteruption tournieri Schletterer, 1885, by Zhao et al. (2012) are included under Gasteruption oshimense Watanabe, 1924.

Highlights

The family Gasteruptiidae is a small group of wasps comprising about 500 described species in two subfamilies, Gasteruptiinae (Macedo 2009, 2011; Zhao et al 2012) and Hyptiogastrinae (Jennings and Austin 2002)
Adults are free-living insects normally feeding on nectar from flowers with accessible nectar, but likely at least some Gasteruption species feed on both nectar and pollen (Jennings and Austin 2004)
Gasteruptiidae are known by their hovering inspection flight in front of bee nests

Summary

Introduction

The family Gasteruptiidae is a small group of wasps comprising about 500 described species in two subfamilies, Gasteruptiinae (four genera) (Macedo 2009, 2011; Zhao et al 2012) and Hyptiogastrinae (two genera) (Jennings and Austin 2002).

Results

Conclusion