Cotesia rubecula ( Marshall, 1885 )

Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P. & Austin, Andrew D., 2020, Synopsis of the parasitoid wasp genus Cotesia Cameron, 1891 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) in Australia, with the description of seven new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 667 (667), pp. 1-70 : 44-45

Cotesia rubecula ( Marshall, 1885)

Figs 7B , 23 C–D

Apanteles rubecula Marshall, 1885: 175 (holotype, ♀, NHMUK).

Cotesia rubecula – Mason 1981: 113 (transferred from Apanteles s.l.).

For a full bibliography, see Shenefelt (1972: 615), Yu et al. (2016) and Fernández-Triana et al. (2020).

Diagnosis

T1 consistently broadening posteriorly, often with a middle patch of rugosity on posterior smooth band of scutellum (under scutellar triangular disk); scutellar disk with only shallow punctures; mesosoma not dorsoventrally flattened; hind coxa and metasoma dark; ocelli normal sized, OOL/posterior ocellus diameter <2.4; fore wing vein r normally longer than, occasionally of similar length to 2RS; distal quarter of hind tibia darkened, including in lateral view.

Material examined

AUSTRALIA • 3 ♀♀, 7 ♂♂; South Australia, Urrbrae ; 27 Feb. 1987; M.A. Keller leg.; on broccoli ex. cocoon; Apanteles rubecula det A. D. Austin 1987; WINC • 2 ♀♀; South Australia, Adelaide ; reared in culture; 1 Aug. 1989; M.A. Keller leg.; “ Cotesia rubecula ”; WINC .

Distribution

Europe (type). Introduced into Australia and New Zealand (Wilson 1960; Cameron & Walker 2002). For global distribution, see Fernández-Triana et al. (2020).

Host

Pieris rapae (Pieridae) . Solitary. Record from original description. See Shenefelt (1972: 615) and Yu et al. (2016) for extra-limital host records.

Remarks

This species forms a distinct clade in the COI phylogeny ( Fig. 1 ) using sequences available on BOLD from outside of Australia. No Australian specimens were sequenced in this study.

Figures

Fig. 7. A. Cotesia ocellata sp. nov., head in dorsal view (holotype, SAMA 32-44404). B. C. rubecula (Marshall, 1885), head in dorsal view (WINC).

Fig. 23. A–B. Cotesia philoeampa (Cameron, 1911), lectotype, ♀ (NHMUK 3.c.997). A. Fore wing. B. Habitus in dorsal view. C–D. C. rubecula (Marshall, 1885), ♀, Urrbrae (WINC). C. Fore wing D. Habitus in dorsal view.

Fig. 1. Map of Australia showing the collection locations of the seven newly described species of Cotesia as well as a Bayesian phylogeny of these species and the other Cotesia spp. known to occur in Australia with publically available COI data. Species listed in black are those treated in this study, whilst those in grey are not treated due to being represented by single specimens, or are BOLD sequences that fall outside the rest of that species clade and are therefore possible misidentifications. BOLD codes for these single specimens are given at the end of the label in the tree. Symbols on the map correspond to the symbols on the phylogeny. Bayesian posterior probability values of ± 95 are represented by *, whilst those of 90–94 inclusive are represented by °. The number of sequences in collapsed clades are given in brackets (n = x). Outgroups have been removed for simplicity.