New family-level characters for Platygastroidea

Platygastridae (Hymenoptera) is a diverse family of parasitoid wasps for which few studies of internal morphology have been conducted. The monophyly of the group is undisputed based on recently published molecular data, but based on morphology, the family is diagnosable from other platygastroids only by a combination of character reductions. In the present study we explored the mesosoma of Platygastroidea and found two new synapomorphies for Platygastridae: an externally visible anterior mesofurcal pit, which corresponds to an invagination that connects to the anterior portion of the mesofurca, and internally, a posteriorly shifted origin of the first wing flexors. The absence of a mesofurcal bridge and the exclusively mesopectal origin of the fore wing flexors are treated as synapomorphies for Platygastridae+Janzenellidae. Phylogenetic implications and evolutionary hypotheses regarding these traits are discussed.

A new species of the genus Rhaphidosoma Amyot et Serville, 1843 (Heteroptera, Reduviidae), with data on its chromosome complement

A new species, Rhaphidosoma paganicumsp. nov. (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Harpactorinae: Rhaphidosomatini), is described from the Dry Zone of Myanmar. It is the fifth species of Rhaphidosoma Amyot et Serville, 1843, known from the Oriental Region, and the first record of the genus for Myanmar and Indochina. The structure of the external and internal terminalia of the male and female is described and illustrated in detail. The completely inflated endosoma is described for the first time in reduviids. The complex structure of the ductus seminis is shown; it terminates with a voluminous seminal chamber which opens with a wide secondary gonopore and may be a place where spermatophores are formed. The new species is compared with all congeners from the Oriental Region and Western Asia. It is characterised by the absence of distinct tubercles on the abdominal tergites of the male, the presence only two long tubercles and small rounded ones on the abdominal tergites VII and VI, respectively, in the female, the presence of short fore wing vestiges which are completely hidden under longer fore wing vestiges, and other characters. In addition to the morphological description, an account is given of the male karyotype and the structure of testes of Rh. paganicumsp. nov. and another species of Harpactorinae, Polididus armatissimus Stål, 1859 (tribe Harpactorini). It was found that Rh. paganicumsp. nov. has a karyotype comprising 12 pairs of autosomes and a multiple sex chromosome system (2n♂=24A+X1X2X3Y), whereas P. armatissimus has a karyotype comprising five pairs of autosomes and a simple sex chromosome system (2n♂=10A+XY). The males of these species were found to have seven and nine follicles per testis, respectively. FISH mapping of 18S ribosomal DNA (major rDNA) revealed hybridisation signals on two of the four sex chromosomes (Y and one of the Xs) in Rh. paganicumsp. nov. and on the largest pair of autosomes in P. armatissimus. The presence of the canonical “insect” (TTAGG)n telomeric repeat was detected in the chromosomes of both species. This is the first application of FISH in the tribe Raphidosomatini and in the genus Polididus Stål, 1858.

A new species of Lonchodryinus (Hymenoptera, Dryinidae) from Upper Eocene Baltic amber

Lonchodryinus groehni sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Chrysidoidea: Dryinidae) is described from Baltic amber. The new species is close to L. balticus Olmi & Guglielmino, 2012, but it can be distinguished for the different OPL/POL ratio and 2r-rs&Rs vein of the fore wing. A key to the fossil species of Lonchodryinus and a comparison with the extant species L. ruficornis (Dalman, 1818) are presented.

Probles mikhailovi, a new enigmatic species of Tersilochinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) from Madagascar

A new species of the genus Probles Förster, P. mikhailovi sp. nov., is described from Central Madagascar. The new species possesses unique venation of the fore wing previously unknown in the subfamily Tersilochinae. The genus Probles is recorded from Madagascar for the first time.

Six new species of Handaoia Seyrig, 1952 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Phygadeuontinae): the first to be described from the New World

Handaoia Seyrig, 1952 is a small genus of Phygadeuontinae currently represented by eleven described species from Madagascar, Tanzania and Europe, and can be recognized by the combination of the distally expanded and ventrally flattened antennal flagellum, complete posterior transverse carina of the mesosternum, isolated ‘pit’ (episternal scrobe) in the mesopleuron, and a single bulla in fore wing vein 2m-cu. Most species have a distinctive combined area basalis and area superomedia on the propodeum. The following six new species from Central and South America are described and illustrated: H. cuscoensis Bordera sp. nov. from Peru, H. fritzi sp. nov. from Brazil, H. mercedensis Bordera sp. nov. from Peru, H. plaumanni sp. nov. from Brazil, H. ruizcancinoi Bordera sp. nov. from Mexico, and H. urceus sp. nov. from Brazil. A key to the New World species is provided.

Two new species of the genus Criotettix Bolivar (Orthoptera: Tetrigoidea: Scelimenidae) from Zhejiang, China

Two new species of the genus are described from Zhejiang, China in this paper. The new species Criotettix jinningensis sp. nov. is similar to Criotettix strivertexoides Zheng, Wei & Li, 2009, but differs in width of vertex narrower than diameter of eye; pronotum shorter, not reaching the end of hind tibiae; width of fore wing 1.3 times width of mid leg femur and hind wing not reaching the end of pronotum. The new species Criotettix pananensis sp. nov. is similar to Criotettix transpi-noides Zheng, Bai & Xu, 2012, it differs from latter by width of vertex narrower than diameter of eye; pronotum with parallel lateral keels and without a pair short longitudinal keels between shoulders; hind femur without projection in upper keel and hind wing extending over the end of pronotum. The type specimens are deposited in the College of Life Sciences, Hebei University, Baoding, China.

A new species, genus and tribe of cicada (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae: Tibicininae) from Chile with a list of Chilean cicada fauna

Citroriginini n. tribe. is formed for the Chilean cicada Citroriginis elongata n. gen., n. sp. Males differ from other South American Tibicininae Distant, 1905a because they lack timbal organs. The new species has fore wings that are similar in general appearance to the Nearctic Platypediini Kato, 1932 and genitalia with a superficial resemblance to the Tettigadini Distant, 1905c and the Chilean Chilecicadini Sanborn, 2014 but the new species is divergent from the both tribes in the fore wing venation, fore wing cell shape, general body proportions and male genitalia. A female exuvia is described representing the first description of a Chilean cicada exuvia. A list of Chilean cicada species is also provided with Calliopsida cinnabarina (Berg, 1879) removed from the Chilean cicada fauna.

A revision of the Aleiodes bakeri (Brues) species subgroup of the A. seriatus species group with the descriptions of 18 new species from the Neotropical Region

The Aleiodes bakeri (Brues) species subgroup of the A. seriatus species group is defined based on two previously described species, A. bakeri and A. nigristemmaticum (Enderlein), and is greatly expanded in this paper with an identification key, descriptions, and illustrations of 18 new species from the Neotropical Region: A. andinus Shaw & Shimbori, sp. nov.; angustus Shimbori & Shaw, sp. nov.; asenjoi Shimbori & Shaw, sp. nov.; bahiensis Shimbori & Shaw, sp. nov.; barrosi Shimbori & Shaw, sp. nov.; brevicarina Shimbori & Shaw, sp. nov.; coariensis Shimbori & Shaw, sp. nov.; goiasensis Shimbori & Shaw, sp. nov.; gonodontivorus Shaw & Shimbori, sp. nov.; hyalinus Shimbori & Shaw, sp. nov.; inga Shimbori & Shaw, sp. nov.; joaquimi Shimbori & Shaw, sp. nov.; lidiae Shimbori & Shaw, sp. nov.; mabelae Shimbori & Shaw, sp. nov.; maculosus Shimbori & Shaw, sp. nov.; ovatus Shimbori & Shaw, sp. nov.; santarosensis Shaw & Shimbori, sp. nov.; and taurus Shimbori & Penteado-Dias, sp. nov. It is hypothesized that the A. bakeri species subgroup is a monophyletic lineage within the larger and probably artificial A. seriatus species group (those Aleiodes with a comb of flat setae at the apex of the hind tibia), and can be distinguished from other members of the seriatus group by having the hind wing vein r present, although weakly indicated; the hind wing marginal cell suddenly widened at junction of veins RS and r; the subbasal cell of the fore wing mostly glabrous but often with two rows of short setae subapically; glabrous regions of the wings also commonly found in the first subdiscal, discal, and basal cells of the fore wing, and the basal cell of hind wing; ocelli quite large, with the width of a lateral ocellus being distinctly larger than the ocellar-ocular distance; and being relatively large Aleiodes species with body almost entirely brownish yellow or reddish brown. In addition, a new replacement name, Aleiodes buntikae Shimbori & Shaw, nom. nov., is proposed for the species formerly called Aleiodes (Hemigyroneuron) bakeri Butcher & Quicke, 2011.

Dicamptus Szépligeti (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Ophioninae) from Vietnam

A new species of Darwin wasp of the genus Dicamptus Szépligeti (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Ophioninae), D. curvus Pham, Matsumoto & Shimizu sp. nov., is described on the basis of type specimen from Lai Chau Province, northwest Vietnam. The new species probably belongs to the giganteus species group and is easily distinguishable from the other species of the group by the smaller indices of fore wing AI and CI as well as the form of sclerites. Two species, D. cantoni Gauld & Mitchell and D. reticulatus (Cameron), are recorded for the first time from Vietnam; and additional distribution records for D. nigropictus (Matsumura) in Vietnam are provided. Through the present study, a total of four Dicamptus species have been recognized in Vietnam and illustrated.

­­First description of the male of Dendrothrips karnyi (Thysanoptera, Thripidae)

Dendrothrips is one of 12 genera currently recognised in subfamily Dendrothripinae (ThripsWiki 2020). The species of Dendrothrips have the fore wing anteromarginal cilia arising ventrally behind the margin, but in contrast to species in other genera with this character state the wing apex is recurved without a terminal seta (Mound & Tree 2016). Species of Dendrothrips breed on leaves, and many have been recorded from species of plant family Oleaceae (Marullo 2003). The species of Dendrothrips are recorded from Europe to Australia, including Africa and Asia. In Iran so far, six species are known in the genus, including: D. aspersus Bhatti, D. degeeri Uzel, D. jasminum Ramakrishna & Margabandhu, D. karnyi Priesner, D. phyllireae (Bagnall) and D. saltator Uzel (Alavi et al. 2014, Minaei 2015, Mirab-balou & Dosty 2015). Recently the male of D. aspersus was described from Fars province, Iran (Minaei 2017), and the aim here is to describe the previously unknown male of D. karnyi, based on specimens collected in Ilam province, western Iran. Females of D. karnyi are recorded from Poland and northern Italy to Croatia and Turkey, but the male has remained unknown (zur Strassen 2003). Females have previously been recorded from Iran (Bagheri & Alavi 2007), but we recently collected one male with a series of females from Vitex agnus-castus, the host plant indicated by zur Strassen (2003).