Revision of New World Spalangiinae (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae)

Abstract

Spalangia Latreille and Playaspalangia Yoshimoto, the only two genera classified in Spalangiinae (Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae) are revised for the New World. Thirty-one species of Spalangia and a single species of Playaspalangia, P. rothi Yoshimoto, are recognized from the New World. One further name, Spalangia tarsalis Brèthes, is treated as a nomen dubium. European species of Spalangia not yet known from the New World are also discussed and illustrated relative to regional species, but are not treated formally. The following new synonymies are proposed: Spalangia erythromera brachyceps Bouček under Spalangia erythromera Förster n. syn., Spalangia bakeri Kieffer under Spalangia chontalensis Cameron n. syn., and Spalangia lanaiensis Ashmead under Spalangia impunctata Howard n. syn. Spalangia simplex Perkins is newly recorded from the New World and the following 13 species are described as new: Spalangia alyxia n. sp., Spalangia flavicrus n. sp., Spalangia imitator n. sp., Spalangia innuba n. sp., Spalangia leiopleura n. sp., Spalangia masneri n. sp., Spalangia nigroides n. sp., Spalangia noyesi n. sp., Spalangia plaumanni n. sp., Spalangia rugosifrons n. sp., Spalangia stictocephala n. sp., Spalangia stictocyla n. sp., and Spalangia xanthoscapa n. sp. The 2 genera and the 32 regional species of Spalangiinae are keyed, described and illustrated, and regional hosts and distributions are summarized for each species. Distribution maps document the known range of each of the species in the New World. For purposes of comparison of morphologically similar species, 7 informal species groups are recognized in Spalangia to include 29 of the 31 New World species: the attae-group (S. attae Burks, S. rugosifrons, S. stictocyla and S. stictocephala), the cameroni-group (S. cameroni Perkins, S. longepetiolata Bouček and S. gemina Bouček), the drosophilae- group (S. bethyloides Bouček, S. drosophilae Ashmead, S. flavicrus, S. impunctata, S. innuba, S. leiopleura and S. plaumanni), the endius group (S. endius Walker and S. nigripes), the nigra-group (S. alyxia, S. chontalensis, S. masneri, S. nigra Latreille, S. nigroides and S. nigroaenea Curtis), the noyesi-group (S. noyesi and S. xanthoscapa), and the subpunctata-group (S. erythromera, S. fuscipes, S. haematobiae Ashmead, S. imitator and S. subpunctata Förster).