Abstract
Currently only two Neotropical species are known for Parapanteles Ashmead (1900): Parapanteles aletiae (Riley), described from the U.S., Cuba and Puerto Rico, and P. paradoxus (Muesebeck), described from Costa Rica. In the present paper we describe 14 new species from the New World (Parapanteles complexus n.sp., P. continua n.sp., P. em n.sp., P. lincolnii n.sp., P. mariae n.sp., P. nephos n.sp., P. noae n.sp., P. polus n.sp., P. rarus n.sp., P.scotti n.sp., P. sicpolus n.sp., P. tessares n.sp., P. thrix n.sp., P. tlinea n.sp.) and provide an illustrated key for the world species. In addition, we present a synopsis of the ecology of species in the genus using new rearing records and previously published host records. Eighteen species in 11 lepidopteran families are known to be hosts for Parapanteles species, and these hosts feed on plants from 21 families totaling at least 43 species.References
Ashmead, W.H. (1900) Classification of the Ichneumon-flies, or the superfamily Ichneumonoidea. Proceeding of the U.S. National Museum 23, 1–220.
Austin, A.D. & Dangerfield, P.C. (1992) Synopsis of the Australasian Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), with key to genera and description of new taxa. Invertebrate Taxonomy, 6, 1–76.
Banks, J.C. & Whitfield, J.B. (2006) Dissecting the ancient rapid radiation of microgastrine wasp genera using additional nuclear genes. Molecular Phylogenetic and Evolution, 41, 690–703.
Čapek, M. (1970) A new classification of the Braconidae (Hymenoptera) based on the cephalic structures of the final instar larva and biology. The Canadian Entomologist, 102, 846–875.
Finlayson, T. (1960) Taxonomy of cocoons and puparia, and their contents, of Canadian parasites of Neodiprion sertifer (Geoff.) (Hymenoptera: Diprionidae). The Canadian Entomologist, 92, 20–47.
Harris, R.A. (1979) A glossary of surface sculpture. Occasional Papers of the Bureau of Entomology of the California Department of Agriculture, 28, 32 pp.
Huber, J.T. & Sharkey, M.J. (1993) Structure, Chapter 3. In: Goulet, H. & Huber, J.T. (Eds.), Hymenoptera of the world: An identification guide of families, Agriculture Canada Publication 18894/E, Ottawa, pp 13–59.
Jacobson, N.L. (1991) Parasitoids and larval food plant records for the three Peruvian moths (Arctiidae, Saturnidae). Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society, 45 (2), 173–175.
Mardulyn, P. & Whitfield, J.B. (1999) Phylogenetic sugnal in the COI, 16S, and 28S genes for inferring relationships among genera of Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae); evidence of a high diversification rate in this group of parasitoids. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 12, 282–294.
Mason, W.R.M. (1981) The polyphyletic nature of Apanteles Foerster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae): a phylogeny and reclassification of Microgastrinae. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada, No. 115, 147 pp.
Muesebeck, C.F.W. (1922) A revision of the North American ichneumon-flies, belonging to the subfamilies Neoneurinae and Microgastrinae. Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, Vol. 6, Art. 15, pp 1–75.
Muesebeck, C.F.W. (1958) New Neotropical wasps of the family Braconidae (Hymenoptera) in the U.S. National Museum. Proceeding of the U.S. National Museum, 58, 483–576.
Riley, C.V. (1869) Notes on North American Microgasters, with descriptions of new species. Transactions of the St. Luis Academy of Science, 4, 296–315.
Sharkey, M.J. & Wharton, R.A. (1997) Morphology and terminology. In: Wharton, R.A, Marsh P.M. & Sharkey, M.J. (Eds.), Manual of the New World Genera of the Family Braconidae (Hymenoptera), Special Publication of the International Society of Hymenopterists, No. 1, pp 19–37.
Smith, M.A., Rodriguez, J.J., Whitfield, J.B., Deans, A.D., Janzen, D.H., Hallwachs, W. & Hebert, P.D.N. (2008) Extreme diversity of tropical parasitoid wasps exposed by iterative integration of natural history, DNA barcoding, morphology, and collections. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105, 12359–12364.
Shaw, S.R. (1995) The Braconidae, In: Hanson, P.E. & Gauld, I.D. (Ed), The Hymenoptera of Costa Rica, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 431–463.
Schuh, R.T. (Ed.) (1989) The Torre-Bueno Glossary of Entomology (revised edition). The New York Entomological Society, New York, 849 pp.
Townes, H. (1969) The genera of Ichneumonidae, Part 1; Ephialtinae to Agriotypinae. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute, 11, 1–300.
Valerio, A.A., Whitfield, J.B. & Kole, M. (2005) Parapanteles rooibos, a new species of the genus Parapanteles Ashmead (Braconidae: Microgastrinae): the first record of Parapanteles from Africa. Zootaxa, 855, 1–8.
Wahl, D. (1984) An improved method for preparing exuviae of parasitic Hymenoptera. Entomological News, 95(5), 227–228.
Walker, A.K., Kitching, I.J. & Austin, A.D. (1990) A reassessment of the phylogenetic relationships within the Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Cladistics, 6, 291–306.
Wharton, R.A, Marsh, P.M. & Sharkey, M.J (Eds.) (1997) Manual of the New World Genera of the family Braconidae (Hymenoptera). Special Publication of the International Society of Hymenopterists, No. 1, 420 p.
Whitfield, J.B. (1997) Subfamily Microgastrinae. In: Wharton, R.A, Marsh, P.M. & Sharkey, M.J (Eds.), Manual of the New World Genera of the family Braconidae (Hymenoptera). Special Publication of the International Society of Hymenopterists, No. 1, pp. 333–364.
Whitfield, J.B., Mardulyn, P., Austin, A.D. and M. Dowton (2002) Phylogenetic relationships among microgastrine braconid wasp. genera based on data from the 16S, COI and 28S genes and morphology. Systematic Entomology, 27, 337–359.
Whitfield, J.B., Marquis, R.J. and J. Le Corff (1999) Host associations of braconid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) reared from Lepidoptera feeding on Oaks (Quercus sp.) in the Missouri Ozarks. Entomological News, 110 (4), 225–230.
Williams, D.J.M. (1985) The New World genus Lathrapanteles n. gen.: phylogeny and placement in the Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Cotesiini). Candian Journal of Zoology, 63, 1962–1981.