Habitat distribution of diapriid parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera, Diaprioidea) in eastern Mozambique

Abstract

The occurrence of the genera and morphospecies of Diapriidae (Insecta, Hymenoptera) in four habitats (stands) of eastern Mozambique, was studied. The genus Miota is recorded from the Afrotropical region for the first time. Overall, diapriids were represented by 52 morphospecies from 10 genera of the subfamilies Belytinae and Diapriinae. The highest occurrence (140 specimens) and the largest taxonomic diversity (42 morphospecies from 9 genera) were found for the diapriids in the native miombo stand (Brachystegia sp.), followed by the eucalypt, Eucalyptus spp., (92 specimens, 24 morphospecies from 8 genera), the loblolly pine, Pinus taeda, (62 specimens, 19 morphospecies from 7 genera), and the wild loquat (Uapaca kirkiana) stands (40 specimens, 14 morphospecies from 7 genera). The most morphospecies-rich genera were Basalys, Coptera and Trichopria (15, 14 and 7 morphospecies respectively), with Coptera being the most specimen-rich in all samples. The same diapriid morphospecies prevailed in all studied habitats. The abundance estimators ACE and Chao1 predicted 61 (60 in Chao1) species for miombo stand, that is nearly 3.0 times richer than the 22 species estimated for wild loquat, 2.1 (2.6) times richer than the 29 (23) species estimated for loblolly pine and 1.5 times richer than the 40 (39) species estimated for eucalypt. The diapriids of the exotic eucalypt and native miombo stands were most similar, and clustered together with diapriids of the exotic loblolly pine stand.