Nealiolus Mason, 1974

Shimbori, Eduardo M., Wengrat, Ana P. G. S., Savaris, Marcoandre, Galvão, William B., Nanini, Frederico, Garcia, Sarah S. P. & Corrêa, Alberto S., 2020, Two new species of Nealiolus Mason (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Brachistinae) reared from pest weevils (Coleoptera, Curculionidae), Zootaxa 4729 (1), pp. 116-126 : 118-119

Genus Nealiolus Mason, 1974

Nealiolus Mason, 1974 . Proc. Entomol. Soc. Washington 76(3): 241. Type species: Sigalphus curculionis Fitch, 1859 ; by original designation.

Diagnosis. Body length 3‒6 mm. Head: ventral margin of clypeus without median tooth; occipital carina complete and meeting hypostomal carina ventrally; second flagellomere longer than first. Legs: tarsal claws with large basal lobe. Metasoma: carapace-like with articulated T1/T2 and more or less distinct transverse groove between T2/T3; laterotergites 2 and 3 completely fused, both are sharply separated from median tergite, laterotergite 3 strongly re- duced; ovipositor usually longer than metasoma, except for N. crassipes (slightly shorter). Other characters agree with the detailed diagnosis for Aliolus presented by Martin (1956).

Included species. Nearctic: Nealiolus acutulus ( Martin, 1956) ; Nealiolus auriculatus ( Martin, 1956) ; Nealiolus collaris (Brues, 1907) ; Nealiolus crassipes ( Martin, 1956) ; Nealiolus mexicanus (Cresson, 1872) ; Nealiolus rufus (Riley, 1871) . Neotropical: Nealiolus chayohtli Wengrat & Shimbori sp. n.; Nealiolus jaboticaba Shimbori & Wengrat sp. n. New World: Nealiolus curculionis (Fitch, 1859) (= inaratus Martin, 1956; tibiator Cresson, 1872)

Biology. Host are known for five of the nine species. Those that have been reared are solitary parasitoids in beetles of the family Curculionidae (Coleoptera) ( Shaw 1995).

Comments. Nealiolus is very similar to Aliolus , in having a carapace-like metasoma, the carapace formed by three segments and articulated between T1/T2, but also with distinct transverse sulcus indicating line between T2/ T3. This features separate both genera from the remainder of Brachistini . The two genera, one endemic to the New World, and the other mainly Holarctic, are distinguished by the fusion of laterotergites 2 and 3, and strong reduction of laterotergite 3 in Nealiolus , being distinctly separate and not reduced in Aliolus .

Distribution. New World.