New Wasp Species Research Articles

A peculiar case of parasitisation with two new species of wasps parasitizing the rice leaf-roller Pelopidas mathias (Fabricius, 1798) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) from southern India.

Paddy, Oryza sativa L. (Poales: Poaecea) is infested by a series of lepidopteran, coleopteran, hemipteran, and acarine pests in India. Of the long list, the species Rice Leaf-Roller Pelopidas mathias (Fabricius, 1798) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) is one of most encountered defoliators on paddy. Here we record and describe with illustrations, a new parasitic complex comprising of two new species of parasitic wasps, viz. Brachymeria eastwoodi Binoy, sp. nov. and Sympiesis eastwoodi James & Santhosh, sp. nov. on the pupae of P. mathias from southern India. The parasitoid complexes on P. mathias are also augmented.

A unique record of the Late Cretaceous of East-Central Europe: The first fossil wasps (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae, Spathiopterygidae) from the ajkaite amber (Bakony Mts., western Hungary)

The recently re-discovered, unique amber named ajkaite, coming from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian) Ajka Coal Formation is an unexpectedly rich source of arthropod inclusions. The present paper describes three new species of wasps from ajkaite, namely Ajkanesia harmincipsziloni Szabó & Brazidec gen. et sp. nov. (Bethylidae: Pristocerinae), Amissidigitus belae Szabó & Brazidec gen. et sp. nov. (Bethylidae: Scleroderminae) and Spathiopteryx soosi Szabó, Brazidec & Perrichot sp. nov. (Spathiopterygidae). Hymenopterans were already reported from the Miocene and Pliocene of Hungary as adpression fossils, but these have only remained identified at higher taxonomical rank. Therefore, the three new ajkaite taxa are the first formally described fossil hymenopteran species from Hungary. The three ajkaite wasps greatly improve our knowledge on the Cretaceous fossil record of their respective (sub)families, which is otherwise very poorly documented. The suggested paleoenvironmental preferences of the new hymenopteran taxa accord with the forested, swampy to lacustrine ecosystem, in which the Ajka Coal has been deposited. Further ajkaite hymenopterans are likely to be stored in Hungarian museum collections.

Two new species of wasps parasitizing the rare gelechid defoliator Coconympha iriarcha Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) on Cocos nucifera Linnaeus from India

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera L. (Arecales: Arecaceae), is infested by a series of lepidopteran, coleopteran, hemipteran, and acarine pests in India. Of the long list, the species Coconympha iriarcha Meyrick 1931 (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is one of the least encountered defoliators on coconut. Here we record and describe with illustrations, two new species of parasitic wasps, viz. Pediobius coconymphagus Binoy & Sureshan, sp. nov. and Goniozus coconymphagus Santhosh sp. nov., attacking the pupae and larvae of C. iriarcha from India.

Vespids from the mid-Cretaceous with club-shaped antennae provide new evidence about the intrafamiliar relationships of Vespidae

Abstract Three new species of wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar (Burmese) amber, with club-shaped antennae, are assigned to Archaeovespa gen. nov. and provide morphological information for new phylogenetic analyses of Vespidae. Phylogenetic results suggest that Archaeovespa has more affinities with Masarinae than with Protovespinae and, along with Masarinae, composes the sister clade to Polistinae, Eumeninae, Vespinae and Stenogastrinae. New findings indicate that the antennal morphologies of Vespidae diversified significantly during or before the mid-Cretaceous.

Two new species of Rhogadopsis Brèthes (Braconidae: Opiinae) as solitary <br />parasitoids of Merochlorops species complex (Diptera: Chloropidae) from India

During surveys for the potential biocontrol agents Merochlorops species complex (Diptera: Chloropidae), to control the invasive weed Hedychium gardnerianum Sheppard ex Ker Gawl. (Zingiberaceae), two new species of Rhogadopsis Brèthes (Braconidae: Opiinae) viz., R. gratia Gupta van Achterberg, sp. n. and R. macrusa Gupta van Achterberg, sp. n. were reared as solitary larval-pupal parasitoids of Merochlorops in the stems of H. gardnerianum. Interestingly, both wasp species have very different ovipositor lengths, in addition to other characters for species delimitation. Perhaps parasitism by the respective wasp species depends on the thickness of the stem harbouring the chloropid larvae. In the present study, both these new species of wasps are described and illustrated, together with notes on their biology. For the first time the genus Rhogadopsis has been found associated with Chloropidae; earlier records concern Agromyzidae.

Two New Wasps (Hymenoptera: Stephanoidea: Ephialtitidae) from the Middle Jurassic of China

AbstractTwo new species of wasps belonging to the family Ephialtitidae, Praeproapocritus flexus sp. nov. and Proapocritus parallelus sp. nov., from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of southeastern Inner Mongolia, China, are described and illustrated. Praeproapocritus vulgates Rasnitsyn & Zhang, 2010 and six species of Proapocritus, P. densipediculus, P. sculptus, P. longantennatus, P. formosus, P. atropus, and P. elegans, all described by Rasnitsyn and Zhang in 2010, are first record from the Middle Jurassic of China. These two new findings supplement the morphological understanding of ephialtitids in the Middle Jurassic of China and broaden the diversity of ephialtitids in their by‐gone ecosystems.

Descriptions of new species of wasps in the collections of the United States National Museum

Descriptions of new species of wasps in the collections of the United States National Museum

Descriptions of new species of wasps with notes on described species

Descriptions of new species of wasps with notes on described species