Two new species of Nealiolus Mason (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Brachistinae) reared from pest weevils (Coleoptera, Curculionidae)

Abstract

Here, we present the first two South American species of Nealiolus Mason (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), both reared from weevils damaging plants of economic value: Nealiolus chayohtli Wengrat & Shimbori sp. n. on Phymatophosus squameus feeding in stems of Sechium edule (chayote), and Nealiolus jaboticaba Shimbori & Wengrat sp. n. on Conotrachelus sp. in fruits of Plinia cauliflora (jaboticaba). This parasitoid genus is poorly studied, despite its potential importance as a biological control agent of several pest weevils (Curculionidae), including the cotton boll weevil. With the addition of the two new species, nine species of Nealiolus are known, three of them occurring in the Neotropical region. We also present an identification key to species of Nealiolus and DNA barcoding information for the new species.

Integrative taxonomy and phylogeography of Telenomus remus (Scelionidae), with the first record of natural parasitism of Spodoptera spp. in Brazil

“…Wasps collected in the field in Brazil had a low genetic distance from the Venezuela laboratory population (D < 0.002) and from other DNA barcoding sequences of T. remus obtained from online databases, confirming the identification. This integrative approach is successfully used to identify various groups of insects that are difficult to identify morphologically 45 , 46 and is a recommended strategy for accurate identification of biological control agents and their associations with their hosts 28 .…”