Biology and phylogenetic placement of a new species of Lasiokapala Ashmead from Argentina (Hymenoptera: Eucharitidae)

JAVIER TORRÉNS; J. HERATY; E. MURRAY; P. FIDALGO

SYSTEMATIC ENTOMOLOGY (PRINT)

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2016

0307-6970

Within the ant-parasitic wasp family Eucharitidae (Hymenoptera), theKapala clade is a monophyletic group attacking Ectatomminae and Ponerinae. Membersoften express extreme phenotypic features, especially in the morphology of the pairedfrenal spines. Although the means of attack and developmental history of the eucharitidwaspswithin the ant nest are very similar, themeans by which they oviposit and optimizeencounters of their active first-instar larvae with ants is highly variable. The relationshipsand life-history strategies of Lasiokapala Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Eucharitidae) andrelated taxa within the Kapala clade are discussed based on phylogenetic analysesof morphological and molecular data. Descriptions are provided for the adults (bothsexes), eggs and planidia of Lasiokapala spiralicornis sp.n. from Santiago del Estero(Argentina). Females deposit their eggs on the underside of leaves of Sida cordifolia L.(Malvaceae) and the likely host is postulated to be the genus Ectatomma (Formicidae:Ectatomminae). Even within a closely related group of genera, there is extremeindependent divergence in morphology of scutellar spines, antennae and other features,but the larvae and larval biology are highly conserved across a much larger group ofEucharitidae.