Resolving the Taxonomic Status of Potential Biocontrol Agents Belonging to the Neglected Genus Lipolexis Förster (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae) with Descriptions of Six New Species

Abstract

Lipolexis is a small genus in the subfamily Aphidiinae represented by one species in Europe (Lipolexis gracilis Förster) and by four in Asia (Lipolexis wuyiensis Chen, L. oregmae Gahan, L. myzakkaiae Pramanik and Raychaudhuri and L. pseudoscutellaris Pramanik and Raychaudhuri). Although L. oregmae is employed in biological control programs against pest aphids, the last morphological study on the genus was completed over 50 years ago. This study employs an integrative approach (morphology and molecular analysis (COI barcode region)), to examine Lipolexis specimens that were sampled worldwide, including specimens from BOLD database. These results establish that two currently recognized species of Lipolexis (L. gracilis, L. oregmae) are actually a species complex and also reveal phylogenetic relationships within the genus. Six new species are described and a global key for the identification of Lipolexis species is provided.

Three new species of the genus Aphidius (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae) from South Korea

“…Important biocontrol agents, aphidiine parasitoids in particular remain a largely unexplored group. In the last decades, through an integrative approach including DNA barcoding, there has been a rapid increase of knowledge about aphidiine diversity and cryptic species (Tomanović et al 2018;Čkrkić et al 2019;Kocić et al 2020).…”

Sizing the Knowledge Gap in Taxonomy: The Last Dozen Years of Aphidiinae Research

“…Revision of the world Monoctonina Mackauer, 1961, is the only revision on the subtribe level, and included all available species [53,57]. Several genera with fewer species were also reviewed: Monoctonia Starý, 1962 [42], Lipolexis Foerster, 1862 [55], Areopraon Mackauer, 1959 [49], Pseudopraon Starý, 1975 [49], Paralipsis Foerster, 1862 [44,51],…”

“…In the last dozen years, there were 40 papers published in which the authors provided identification keys for Aphidiinae genera and species. The studies can be divided according to subject into several groups: (1) identification keys for Aphidiinae from specific (local) areas: from the Middle East and North Africa [86], Iran [33,86 and references therein], Malta [115], Argentina [116], Pakistan [117,118], Australia [78], Costa Rica [119], Serbia [69], and China [120]; (2) identification keys for species within tribes [120], subtribes [53], genera [16,42,44,47,[49][50][51][52]55,108,112,121], and species complexes [111]; and (3) identification keys for Aphidiinae species related to specific aphids [30], plants [32,36,[122][123][124][125][126][127], and habitats [128].…”

“…Currently, we lack identification keys even for areas that are relatively well explored. There are several very usable keys that cover European species of a specific subtribe or genus, e.g., [50,51,53,55]. We are still lacking keys for some of the most difficult and problematic genera (Aphidius, Praon, Pauesia, and Trioxys).…”

Sap-Sucking Pests; They Do Matter

“…New tools are constantly being developed to assist the role of biological control agents in pest control. For example, geometric morphometrics and molecular analysis (COI barcode region) have recently shed light on the accurate identification of parasitoid species, especially those belonging to multiple complexes [ 12 , 13 ]. Such tools are of significant importance in optimizing the management of sap-sucking pests.…”