Neothlipsis,, 2011

Sharkey, Michael J., Parys, Katherine A. & Clutts, Stephanie, 2011, A new genus of Agathidinae with the description of a new species parasitic on Samea multiplicalis (Guenee), Journal of Hymenoptera Research 23, pp. 43-53 : 44-46

Neothlipsis, gen. n.

Type species.

Microdus cinctus Cresson, 1873, deposited in the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Type # 1718.1.

Description.

Head: Lateral carina of frons lacking ( Fig. 3b ); gena rounded posteroventrally ( Fig. 3a ); interantennal space raised to converge on single point anteromedially; antennal depressions shallow ( Fig. 3b ); labial palp with four segments, third segment reduced; apical antennomere rounded. Mesosoma: Mesoscutum with sculptured notauli ( Fig. 3b ); posteroscutellar depression absent; median areola of metanotum surrounded by well defined carinae laterally and posteriorly; propodeum areolate rugose with granulate microsculpture ( Figs 2b , 3c , 4c ); propleuron mildly convex to flat; metapleuron granulate ( Fig. 3a ); propodeal pseudosternite appearing as a narrow band separating hind coxal cavities from metasomal foramen. Legs: Fore tibial spur not elongate, fore tibia lacking pegs; tarsal claws simple or with a rounded basal lobe; midtibia with apical and subapical pegs; hind tibia with apical pegs. Wings: ( Figs 3d , 4d ): Rs+Ma vein of fore wing incomplete and not tubular throughout; second submarginal cell of fore wing reduced and triangular or absent; fore wing 3RSb straight to slightly sinuate; hind wing crossveins r and r-m absent; hind wing Cub present as nebulous or spectral vein and sometimes as a short tubular stub. Metasoma: Median tergite 1 distinctly granulate and lacking pair of longitudinal carinae ( Figs 2b , 3c , 4c ); median syntergum 2+3 weakly granulate to smooth, with transverse depression separating terga 2 and 3; ovipositor varying from length of metasoma to slightly longer than body.

Hosts and biology.

A wide range of hosts is recorded, mostly in the Lepidopteran families Tortricidae , Crambidae , Pyralidae , and Coleophoridae .

Distribution.

Widespread in the Nearctic and northern Neotropical regions.

Etymology.

From the Greek, neo (new), and thlipsis (pressure or constriction). The name refers to the sistergroup relationship with the Old World genus Camptothlipsis and the fact that it is restricted to the New World. The genus is feminine.

Phylogenetic considerations.

Members of the genus are very similar to those of Camptothlipsis . The only obvious differences are that a small second submarginal cell is present in most species of Neothlipsis and is the ground plan for the genus, whereas it is absent in all Camptothlipsis . Furthermore Neothlipsis is restricted to the New World and Camptothlipsis to the Old World.

The cladogram in Fig. 1 is produced from a subset of data from a much larger data set of 28S rDNA. We conducted analyses of numerous permutations of the data set with Camptothlipsis and Neothlipsis always obtained as sister groups. Figure 1 represents a semi-strict consensus tree of the Bayesian majority rule tree and the unique maximum parsimony tree. The trees did not contradict each other at any node; however, some branches were supported in one analysis and not the other. The granulate sculpture of the first metasomal median tergite (T1) combined with the lack of lateral longitudinal carinae on T1 are apparent morphological synapomorphies supporting the relationship. Neothlipsis parysae and Neothlipsis agathoides are unique amongst members of the genus in that their tarsal claws are simple, lacking a basal lobe. As indicated in Fig. 1 , Neothlipsis parysae is well nested within Neothlipsis . There are no obvious morphological synapomorphies for members of Neothlipsis . They share several synapomorphies with Camptothlipsis , e.g., presence of granulate sculpture on the first median metasomal tergite ( Fig. 3c ), lack of a pair of longitudinal carinae on first median metasomal tergite ( Fig. 3c ), and the reduced size of the second submarginal cell ( Figs 3d and 4d ). Since members of Camptothlipsis are restricted to the Old World, those of Neothlipsis may be distinguished from other agathidines occurring in the New World using the three aforementioned character states.

Ten described species are here transferred to Neothlipsis , i.e., Neothlipsis agathoides comb. n. for Bassus agathoides Newton & Sharkey, 2000; Neothlipsis agilis , comb. n. for Bassus agilis Cresson, 1868; Neothlipsis brevicauda comb. n. for Bassus brevicaudus Muesebeck, 1932; Neothlipsis californica comb. n. for Bassus californicus Muesebeck, 1927; Neothlipsis cincta comb. n. for Microdus cinctus Cresson, 1873; Neothlipsis coleophorae comb. n. for Bassus coleophorae Rowher, 1915; Neothlipsis discolor comb. n. for Microdus discolor Cresson, 1873; Neothlipsis nigricoxa comb. n. for Microdus nigricoxus Provancher, 1886; Neothlipsis petiolate comb. n. for Bassus petiolatus Muesebeck, 1932; and Neothlipsis taeniativentris comb. n. for Microdus taeniativentris Enderlein, 1920. All holotypes of the species listed above have been examined by the senior author.

Figures

Figure 1. Semistrict consensus tree of two trees inferred from 28 SrDNA sequence data aligned by secondary structure, one the majority rule tree using Bayesian methods and the other the unique tree produced using maximum parsimony. Bayesian analysis runtime = 2 million generations (25 % burnin). Branch support: Bayesian posterior probabilities / symmetric resampling (1,000 replicates). (-) indicates branch support below 0.5 / 50.

Figure 2. Neothlipsis parysae a Lateral habitus b Dorsal habitus.

Figure 3. Neothlipsis parysae a Lateral head and mesosoma b Dorsal head and thorax c Dorsal propodeum and metasomal terga 1 - 3 d Wings.

Figure 4. Neothlipsis agathoides a Lateral habitus of a melanic specimen b Lateral habitus of a pale specimen c Dorsal habitus d Fore wing, arrow pointing to second submarginal vein.