The species of Eupelmus (Eupelmus) Dalman and Eupelmus (Episolindelia) Girault (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) in North America north of Mexico

Abstract

The species of Eupelmus (Eupelmus) Dalman and Eupelmus (Episolindelia) Girault (Chalcidoidea: Eupelmidae) in North America north of Mexico are revised. Illustrated keys are given to differentiate the three subgenera of Eupelmus and females and known males of 19 recognized species of E. (Eupelmus) and E. (Episolindelia). Five species are classified in E. (Episolindelia), including the three newly described species E. (Episolindelia) fuscipectus n. sp., E. (Episolindelia) grisselli n. sp., and E. (Episolindelia) varicauda n. sp., which are based only on females. Eupelmus rubicola (Ashmead), described originally from a unique male, is tentatively associated with females and is classified as E. (Episolindelia) rubicola n. stat. based on this association. Fourteen species are classified in E. (Eupelmus), including the four newly described species E. (Eupelmus) arizonensis n. sp., E. (Eupelmus) curticinctus n. sp., E. (Eupelmus) nitifrons n. sp., and E. (Eupelmus) pervius n. sp. Two Palaearctic species, E. (Eupelmus) stramineipes Nikol’skaya and E. (Eupelmus) microzonus Förster, are newly recorded from North America. Newly placed in synonymy under E. microzonus is E. (Eupelmus) insulae Masi n. syn. It is further suggested that E. (Eupelmus) nigricauda Nikol’skaya likely is also a junior synonym of E. microzonus. Information is also given on the identity of the Palaearctic names E. (Eupelmus) afer Silvestri, E. (Eupel- mus) martellii Masi, E. (Eupelmus) nubilipennis Förster, E. (Eupelmus) spongipartus Förster, and E. (Eupelmus) urozonus Dalman. A lectotype is designated for E. (Eupelmus) pini Taylor and under this name are placed in synonymy the Palaearctic names E. aloysii Russo n. syn., E. carinifrons Yang n. syn., E. sculpturatus Nikol’skaya n. syn., and Eupelmus suecicus Hedqvist n. syn. Four other new synonyms made are Eupelmus amicus Girault under E. (Eupelmus) cushmani(Crawford) n. syn., Eupelmus ficigerae (Ashmead) under E. (Eupelmus) dryorhizoxeni Ashmead n. syn., Eupelmus momphae Gahan under E. (Eupelmus) cyaniceps Ashmead n. syn., and Eupelmus quercus under E. (Eupelmus) cynipidis Ashmead n. syn. The subspecies Eupelmus cyaniceps scolyti Liao, described originally from China, is treated as E. (Eupelmus) scolyti Liao n. stat. and compared to E. (Eupelmus) formosae Ashmead. Eupelmus floridanus Howard is treated as a nomen dubium and the following 20 species are newly transferred from Eupelmus to other genera — Anastatus (Anastatus) ashmeadi (Melander & Brues) n. comb., Brasema aurata (Ashmead) n. comb., Brasema barda (Girault) n. comb., Brasema brevicauda (Crawford) n. comb., Brasema bruchivora (Crawford) n. comb., Brasema coccidis (Girault) n. comb., Brasema dryophantae (Ashmead) n. comb., Brasema flavovariegata (Ashmead) n. comb., Brasema fonteia (Walker) n. comb., Brasema juglandis (Ashmead) n. comb., Brasema lamachus (Walker) n. comb., Brasema limneriae (Howard) n. comb., Brasema macrocarpae (Ashmead) n. comb., Brasema neococcidis (Peck) n. comb., Brasema neomexicana (Girault) n. comb., Brasema rosae (Ashmead) n. comb., Brasema speciosa (Girault) n. comb., Brasema sphaericephalus (Ashmead) n. comb., Reikosiella (Reikosiella) biguttata (Girault) n. comb., and R. (Reikosiel- la) charitopoides (Girault) n. comb.

An integrative approach to species discrimination in the Eupelmus urozonus complex (Hymenoptera, Eupelmidae), with the description of 11 new species from the Western Palaearctic

“…Terms for sculpture follow Gibson (, , ). Here, we define some of the sculpture patterns on which the separating of most species of the ‘ urozonus ‐complex’ depends: coriaceous corresponds to a network of isodiametric cells defined by engraved edges; alutaceous is similar to coriaceous, but the engraved cells forming the network are more elongated; reticulate is a pattern of cells similar to coriaceous except that the cells forming the sculpture are defined by raised edges; imbricate or imbricate‐reticulate is a reticulate pattern except that the cells composing the network appear slightly overlapping.…”

“…The discrimination and identification of Eupelmus species is extremely difficult for several reasons, including: (i) as a genus of Eupelminae, the sexes are highly dimorphic, which might lead entomologists unfamiliar with them to classify males in a different family; (ii) because of sexual dimorphism, associating sexes of the same species correctly is difficult unless they are collected and reared from the same location and/or host species (Gibson, , , ); (iii) existing identification keys are almost entirely based only on the morphological characters of females; and (iv) the subgenus Eupelmus contains a complex of species, the ‘ urozonus ‐complex’, which are very close morphologically.…”

“…Askew & Nieves‐Aldrey () described the ‘ urozonus ‐complex’ species as an aggregate of morphologically poorly differentiated but biologically distinct forms. Gibson () also defined the complex, but based on morphological features of males (see below in the results Circumscription of the Eupelmus urozonus complex). He discussed in detail the principal features that could be useful for the recognition of the urozonus ‐species group in North America, as well as in the Palaearctic region.…”

“…There are very few recent treatments of regional faunas (Askew & Nieves‐Aldrey, ; Ribes Escolà & Askew, ), and the only Palaearctic revision (Kalina, ) is outdated. Improved systematics of Palaearctic Eupelmus and of Eupelminae in general requires broad sampling, comprehensive morphological analyses such as the revision of the Nearctic fauna of Eupelmus by Gibson (), and molecular analyses to test morphological species concepts.…”

Checklist of British and Irish Hymenoptera - Chalcidoidea and Mymarommatoidea

“…Taxonomy follows Gibson (2011); published records of E. annulatus reared from cynipid galls actually refer to E. spongipartus but E. annulatus is also present in Britain (Gibson 2011; R.R.Askew coll. )…”