The hymenopteran parasitoid complex (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Eulophidae, Pteromalidae) of the pine bark beetle Cryphalus fulvus Niisima, 1908 (Curculionidae, Scolytinae) in South Korea

The subfamily Alysiinae is a relatively large group within the family Braconidae, comprising more than 2,440 valid species worldwide. It is divided into two tribes, Alysiini and Dacnusini and is characteried by koinobiont endoparasitoidism of dipteran larvae. In South Korea, 286 species from 21 genera have been recorded to date. Despite this diversity, genus Mesocrina have not previously been reported from the Korean Peninsula. Mesocrina includes species are parasitoids of cyclorrhaphan Diptera inhabiting fungi, while Alloea species are known as parasitoids of Lonchoptera species. For the genus Alloea, only one species has been recorded in Korea. These genera can be distinguished by specific morphological traits, such as wing venation and shape of mandible. Mesocrina indagatrix Foerster, 1863 is recorded for the first time from Korea, and the genus is recorded new for Korea. In addition, Alloea veles Belokobylskij,1997 is recorded for the first time in Korea, which represents the first record of Alloea veles outside from Russia and the second record of Alloea from Korea. The barcode region of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) was also analyzed for the species. Also, we provide an identification key for the Alloea species recorded from Korea.

The phylogenetic position of Pentactina Nakai, one of only six endemic genera in the Korean peninsula, has been elusive and difficult to determine due to inaccessibility of plant materials. In this paper, we were able to obtain material from the one and only living collection of Pentactina outside of its native range in North Korea and determined its phylogenetic relationship relative to the other genera within the tribe Spiraeeae (Rosaceae). This paper presents the first molecular phylogeny of the genus Pentactina using both nuclear ribosomal ITS regions as well as chloroplast DNA trnL-trnF intergenic spacers to conduct phylogenetic analyses (maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood) of the Spiraeeae. The ITS and combined data set trees suggest that Pentactina shares its most recent common ancestor with Petrophyton, a small western North American genus, while cpDNA suggests close relationships to Kelseya, Sibiraea, and Petrophyton. Therefore, based on the present molecular sequence data, we suggest that the rare Korean monotypic endemic genus Pentactina possibly has a close relationship with the small western North American genus Petrophyton, although receiving a weak support. In addition, our current study suggests that Pentactina is not part of the large genus Spiraea as previously hypothesized by Hutchinson. Pentactina possess combinations of several morphological features within the Spiraeeae such as an erect shrub habit, simple serrate leaves, and raceme inflorescences, and recognition as a distinct endemic genus in Korea is warranted.

Two new genera of Pteromalidae namely Kumarella and Narendrella, with type species K. angulus and N. nilamburensis respectively are described from India. Miscogasteriella Girault is reported for the first time from India by describing a new species, M. jayasreeae from Kerala.

Egg load of newly emerged adult parasitoids of the southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), was examined. Infested bark was collected from D. frontalis infestations in southwestern Arkansas (Clark and Montgomery counties; 1995), the Bankhead National Forest in Alabama (1999), and the Talladega National Forest in Alabama (1998–2000) between June and September of each collection year. Newly emerged parasitoid females were dissected and numbers of mature and immature eggs counted. There was no significant difference in number of eggs within a species and between parasitoids from the Bankhead National Forest compared with those from the Talladega National Forest in Alabama in 1999. There were differences in number of eggs within a species between years at the same location. Dendroctonus frontalis parasitoids in the family Pteromalidae (Hymenoptera) had the most mature eggs, followed by Braconidae (Hymenoptera) and Eurytomidae (Hymenoptera). Within the D. frontalis parasitoids in the family Pteromalidae, Dinotiscus dendroctoni (Ashmead) and Heydenia unica Cook and Davis had more mature eggs than did Roptrocerus xylophagorum Ratzeburg. Within the D. frontalis parasitoids in the family Braconidae, Meteorus hypophloei Cushman females contained the most mature eggs, followed by Dendrosoter sulcatus Muesebeck, Spathius pallidus Ashmead, and Coeloides pissodis (Ashmead). These data constitute a foundation for defining baseline egg load of the D. frontalis parasitoid complex.

The rare hormiine genus Taiwanhormius Belokobylskij, 1988 is recorded for the first time from the Korean Peninsula. A new species, Taiwanhormius austrokoreanus sp. nov., is described and illustrated from South Korea. The photographs of the type species (paratype, male) of the genus Taiwanhormius, T. granulosus Belokobylskij, 1988, are published for the first time. A key to the known three species of this genus is provided.

Hypotrachyna (Vainio) Hale is a somewhat rare lichen genus found on the Korean Peninsula. Since it was first recorded more than two decades ago, no detailed taxonomic or revisionary study of the genus has been conducted. Thus, the present study was conducted to carry out a detailed taxonomic and revisionary study of Hypotrachyna in South Korea. This study was based on specimens deposited in the Korean Lichen Research Institute (KoLRI). Detailed taxonomic studies and a literature review confirmed the presence of seven species of Hypotrachyna from South Korea, including one new record, Hypotrachyna nodakensis (Asahina) Hale. Descriptions of each species with their morphological, anatomical and chemical characters together with a key to all known Hypotrachyna species are presented.

Time-spatial distribution of Pinus in the Korean Peninsula

BackgroundParasitic wasps in the family Braconidae are important regulators of insect pests, particularly in forest and agroecosystems. Within Braconidae, wasps in the tribe Euphorini (Euphorinae) attack economically damaging plant bugs (Miridae) that are major pests of field and vegetable crops. However, the evolutionary relationships of this tribe have been historically problematic. Most generic concepts have been based on ambiguous morphological characters which often leads to misidentification, complicating their use in biological control.MethodsUsing a combination of three genes (COI, 28S, and CAD) and 80 taxa collected worldwide, we conducted Bayesian inference using MrBayes, and maximum likelihood analyses using RAxML and IQ-Tree on individual gene trees as well as the concatenated dataset.ResultsThe monophyly of the tribe Euphorini and the two genera Peristenus and Leiophron were confirmed using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. The subgeneric classifications of Leiophron sensu lato were not supported, and the monotypic genus Mama was also not supported.DiscussionEuphoriella, Euphoriana, Euphorus, and Mama syn. n, have been synonymized under Leiophron. Mama mariaesyn. n was placed as a junior synonym of Leiophron reclinator. The generic concepts of Peristenus and Leiophron were refined to reflect the updated phylogeny. Further we discuss the need for revising Euphorini given the number of undescribed species within the tribe.

Dodders (Cuscuta spp.) are widespread parasitic weeds on many plants all over the world, which can lead to considerable damage to ecosystems (Costea et al. 2011). Many Cuscuta species are recognized as class 1 designated Prohibited Noxious Weeds (Government of Canada 2016), because they can reduce the biomass of hosts and modify the structure of plant communities (Pennings and Callaway 2002). Cuscuta japonica is a hemiparasitic plant with many hosts including Araliaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Polygonaceae, Rutaceae, and Salicaceae (Chen et al. 2012; Yuan et al. 2015). Until to now, C. japonica has not been reported parasitizing hosts from gymnosperm species. In September 2019, dodder was observed parasitizing Pinus densiflora in Lushan Mountain (36°18′17.99″N, 118°5′50.27″E, elevation 662 m), Zibo City, Shandong Province, China. P. densiflora, commonly known as Japanese red pine, is an evergreen pine with a range including Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and northeastern China. It is widely cultivated due to its timber for construction, trunk for resin, bark for tannin, and needles for medicine. One individual of P. densiflora, approximately 5 m tall, was infected, and the branches and needles of the host were wrapped by the leafless stems of this dodder. The haustoria penetrating branches and needles of the host were visible to the naked eye. Uneven holes emerged on Pinus needle after removal of the dodder stem, and the tissues of Pinus needle around the holes became black. Some needles were chlorotic, wilted, and even defoliated. This dodder can be morphologically identified as C. japonica according to previous investigation records and descriptions, including slightly yellow stems with branches 1.4 to 2.6 mm in diameter, capsules globose and smooth, one style, and stigma two-lobed with elongated lobes. An area of ∼5.8 ha around the infected P. densiflora was carefully examined for this dodder, and only three infections were discovered on one individual of P. densiflora. No dodders were found on the nearby deciduous trees within the above examined area. However, this dodder was found parasitizing deciduous trees such as Ulmus pumila outside of the examined area in the Lushan mountain, so P. densiflora might not be a primary host for this dodder from the point of view of the entire mountain. Therefore, we tentatively classify P. densiflora as a rare host of this dodder. Species identification was further conducted by characterizing the whole plastome. First, total DNA was extracted from silica-dried stems of this dodder. Then the genome-skimming method was applied to generate the whole plastome as described in Qu et al. (2019). One sequence of 121,005 bp was deposited in GenBank (accession no. MN585289). BLAST analysis reconfirmed the identity of this dodder as C. japonica (99.92%, target accession no. MH780080). Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis supported this dodder as sister to C. japonica with nearly the same branch length (0.0002 versus 0.0003) with 100% bootstrap support value. Thus, this dodder observed in Zibo City was identified as C. japonica based on evidence from morphology, sequence, and phylogeny. Specimens of C. japonica on P. densiflora were collected and deposited at the herbarium of the College of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University (no. 092217A). C. japonica seems to be an extremely rare occurrence on P. densiflora. It will need more evidence to judge if it is a real infection on P. densiflora. It is probable that C. japonica is not a parasite that can threaten populations of P. densiflora at present. Therefore, C. japonica is not considered as a management concern on Japanese red pine. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of C. japonica parasitizing P. densiflora, and the only known example of C. japonica parasitizing a gymnosperm species in the world.

Background and Purpose: Despite the importance of studying the native enemy complex of the introduced and invasive leaf miner sawfly species in their native territories, few studies have been done in recent years concerning the species component and the regulating potential of their parasitoid complexes (in both native and invaded area). Heterarthrus vagans and Fenusa dohrnii are only some of the species which are native in Palearctic area, but alien invasive in North America, causing damage on forest plantations. In this short paper we provide our original data to the knowledge of parasitoid fauna associated with seven leaf mining sawflies native in Hungary. Material and Methods: For a period of four years (2011-2014), several leaf miner species were collected and placed in single mine rearings. From the leafminers, belonging to the Tenthredinidae family, a total of 809 mines made by 9 different species (Heterarthrus wuestneii, Fenusa dohrnii, Heterarthrus vagans, Fenusa pumila, Fenusella nana, Profenusa pygmaea, Metallus pumilus, Parna apicalis, Fenusa ulmi) were collected from 19 locations across Hungary. Results and Conclusion: A total of 188 specimens of 13 parasitoid species belonging to 3 families (Braconidae - 1; Ichneumonidae - 1 and Eulophidae - 11) were reared out from our samples. Parasitoid adults were obtained from 7 of the 9 species of leaf mining sawfly hosts (Fenusa dohrnii, Fenusa pumila, Fenusa ulmi, Heterarthrus vagans, Metallus pumilus, Parna apicalis, Profenusa pygmaea). From Heterarthrus wuestneii and Fenusella nana no parasitoid adults emerged.The parasitoid species presented in this work are typically associated with leaf mining sawflies. Several new host-parasitoid associations have been described.

There are few taxonomic studies of the harpacticoid family Idyanthidae Lang, 1944 in the Pacific Ocean. As a first report of the family in this region, one species of the monotypic genus Idyellopsis Lang, 1948 and two species of the genus Idyella Sars, 1905 are described from sublittoral habitats around the Korean Peninsula. Idyellopsis orientalis sp. nov. is distinguished from the type and only species of the genus, Idyellopsis typica Lang, 1948, in the length:width ratio of the body and genital double-somite, length of caudal seta I, and structure of the female P5 baseoendopod. Idyella dolichi sp. nov. and Idyella exochos sp. nov. share the armature of the female P5 exopod with four setae with Idyella exigua Sars, 1905, Idyella major Sars, 1920, and Idyella pallidula Sars, 1905. However, the two new species differ from the three European species in the armature of the terminal segment of the P1 endopod and female P5 baseoendopod, and in the shape of the genital double-somite. The male of Idyella dolichi sp. nov. also has two distinct features: the distal two segments of the P2 endopod are completely fused, and the third segment of the antennule has a prominent outer projection. The geographical distribution of Idyellopsis and Idyella is extended by the discovery of three new species in Korean waters. We also discuss a possible phylogenetic relationship among members of family Idyanthidae at genus level.

The mid-latitude ecotone (MLE)—a transition zone between boreal and temperate forests, which includes the regions of Northeast Asia around 30°–60° N latitudes—delivers different ecosystem functions depending on different management activities. In this study, we assessed forest volume and net primary productivity changes in the MLE of Northeast Asia under different ecological characteristics, as well as various current management activities, using the BioGeoChemistry Management Model (BGC-MAN). We selected five pilot sites for pine (Scots pine and Korean red pine; Pinus sylvestris and P. densiflora), oak (Quercus spp.), and larch forests (Dahurian larch and Siberian larch; Larix gmelinii and L. sibirica), respectively, which covered the transition zone across the MLE from Lake Baikal, Russia to Kyushu, Japan, including Mongolia, Northeast China, and the Korean Peninsula. With site-specific information, soil characteristics, and management descriptions by forest species, we established their management characteristics as natural preserved forests, degraded forests, sandy and cold forest stands, and forests exposed to fires. We simulated forest volume (m3) and net primary productivity (Mg C ha−1) during 1960–2005 and compared the results with published literature. They were in the range of those specified in previous studies, with some site-levels under or over estimation, but unbiased estimates in their mean values for pine, oak, and larch forests. Annual rates of change in volume and net primary productivity differed by latitude, site conditions, and climatic characteristics. For larch forests, we identified a high mountain ecotype which warrants a separate model parameterization. We detected changes in forest ecosystems, explaining ecological transition in the Northeast Asian MLE. Under the transition, we need to resolve expected problems through appropriate forest management and social efforts.

Tree-ring width (TRW) chronologies have successfully been used as climate proxies to infer climate variabilities over the past hundreds to thousands of years worldwide beyond observational records. However, these data are scarce over parts of subtropical East Asia, and especially over the Korean Peninsula. In this pilot study, Korean red pine (Pinus densiflora Siebold and Zucc.) TRW chronologies from Mt. Mudeung and Mt. Wolchul, South Korea, were developed, and their local- to large-scale climatic responses were investigated. Mt. Mudeung TRW had a positive association with local temperature in the preceding December and April. Mt. Wolchul TRW had a positive association with local temperature in the preceding December and most of the early summer to autumn months, and with local precipitation in February and October. On a large scale, both TRWs retained meaningful temperature and monsoon precipitation signals over East Asia and sea surface temperature signals over the Western North Pacific. The results suggest that the subtropical trees from South Korea can be used to infer past long-term climate variability at both local and large scales over East Asia and the Western North Pacific, such as the East Asian summer monsoon, the Kuroshio Current, the Western North Pacific Subtropical High, and El Niño–Southern Oscillation.

The diplopod family Diplomaragnidae Attems 1907 appears to be represented in the Korean Peninsula by five genera and ten species. One genus and three species are described here as new to science: Koreagna gen. n., with the type species Koreagna obtecta sp. n., Tokyosoma bellum sp. n., and Tokyosoma phialiferum sp. n. Keys and taxonomic and distributional notes are given for all species of diplomaragnids currently known from Korea.

Current Status of Research about Insect Fauna of Natural Reserves in Korea