Lamachus Förster, 1869

Khalaim, A. I., Ruíz-Cancino, E., Coronado-Blanco, J. M. & Castañeda-Vildуzola, Á., 2019, First record of the genus Lamachus Förster, 1869 (Hymenoptera: Ctenopelmatinae) from Mexico, with description of two new species, Russian Entomological Journal 28 (2), pp. 169-179 : 169-170

The genus Lamachus Förster, 1869 ( Ctenopelmatinae ) is almost exclusively Holarctic, with 20 species in

How to cite this article: Khalaim A.I., Ruíz-Cancino E., Coronado-Blanco J.M., Castañeda-Vildózola Á. 2019. the Palaearctic and Oriental regions, and six native species in the Nearctic region [ Yu et al., 2016]. It is one of 25 currently recognized genera of the tribe Mesoleiini , which is also almost exclusively Holarctic in distribution [ Gauld, 1997; Yu et al., 2016]. Seventeen mesoleiine genera have native representation in North America [ Carlson, 1979; Gauld, 1997], but only one, Alexeter Förster, 1869 occurs in Central America, being represented by two species described from Costa Rica [ Gauld, 1997], and none genus of Mesoleiini was recorded hitherto from Mexico [ Yu et al., 2016].

Species of Lamachus are common parasitoids of sawflies of the family Diprionidae , primarily the genera Diprion Schrank, 1802 , Gilpinia Benson, 1939 and Neodiprion Rohwer, 1918 , whose larvae develop on coniferous plants [ Oehlke, 1966; Townes, 1970; Yu et al., 2016].

In addition to six native species of Lamachus occurring in North America, in the 1930s and 1940s several species were shipped from Europe (e.g. L. coalitorius ( Thunberg, 1822) and L. eques ( Hartig, 1838)) , and Japan ( L. albopictus Cushman, 1937 ), and released in Eastern Canada and Northeastern USA [ Finlayson, Reeks, 1936; Finlayson, Finlayson, 1958; Carlson, 1979] for the control of the European spruce sawfly Gilpinia hercyniae (Hartig) and the European pine sawfly Neodiprion sertifer (Geoffroy) , but none of these species was established there [ Finlayson, Finlayson, 1958; Carlson, 1979].

The aims of this study are to describe new species of Lamachus reared from a new diprionid host from Mexico and provide a checklist of Nearctic species with detailed data on their distribution and hosts.