Nipponodipogon Ishikawa, 1965

Loktionov, Valery M., Lelej, Arkady S. & Xu, Zai-fu, 2017, Discovery of the genus Nipponodipogon Ishikawa in the Oriental region, with description of two new species from China (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae), ZooKeys 692, pp. 103-127 : 105-106

Genus Nipponodipogon Ishikawa, 1965

Dipogon (Nipponodipogon) Ishikawa, 1965: 89. Type species: Dipogon (Nipponodipogon) iwatai Ishikawa 1965, ♀ (Japan: Honshu), by original designation.

Nipponodipogon : Lelej and Loktionov 2012a: 413; 2012b: 11; Loktionov and Lelej 2014: 153; Shimizu et al. 2015: 498.

Diagnosis.

Female. Maxillary cardo with a few thin, pale bristles, the apex of these not extending beyond the maxillary lacinia. Antenna short, stout, and thickened to ward middle of flagellum (fusiform); F1 less than 3 × its width. Supra-antennal area of frons produced anteriorly into a frontal ledge overhanging the antennal radicle. Apical margin of labrum not or slightly emarginated medially. Metapleuron strongly convex above level of lateral face of pronotum and metapleuron (dorsal view). Metapostnotum narrow and practically linear, deeply sunken between the metanotum and propodeum. Crossvein cu-a of hind wing short and almost straight, forming obtuse angle with vein 1A. Male. Antenna slightly thickened medially, usually with F3-F11 triangularly produced beneath (except for N. orientalis Loktionov, Lelej & Xu, sp. n. and N. shimizui Loktionov, Lelej & Xu, sp. n.); F1 1.3 –2.0× its width. Mandible with one subapical inner tooth. Body punctate. Exposed portion of hypopygium stick-like, compressed laterally; subbasal portion strongly widened (Figs 21, 42, 48).

Species included.

Nine species. Nipponodipogon hayachinensis (Ishikawa, 1968), ♀ (Japan: Honshu); N. iwatai (Ishikawa, 1965), ♀ & ♂ (Japan: Hokkaido and Honshu); N. kurilensis (Lelej, 1986), ♀ (Russia: Kuril Islands); N. mandibularis (Ishikawa, 1965), ♀ (Japan: Honshu); N. nagasei (Ishikawa, 1965), ♀ & ♂ (Japan: Hokkaido, Honshu and Kyushu); N. rossicus (Lelej, 1986), ♀ & ♂ (Russia: Primorskij Terr.); N. sudai Shimizu in Shimizu, Lelej & Loktionov, 2015, ♀ & ♂ (Japan: Hokkaido and Honshu) ( Shimizu et al. 2015 and Shimizu and Terayama 2016); N. orientalis Loktionov, Lelej & Xu, sp. n., ♀ & ♂ (China: Guangdong, Hainan and Yunnan); N. shimizui Loktionov, Lelej & Xu, sp. n., ♀ & ♂ (China: Guangdong and Yunnan).

Distribution.

Palaearctic Region (Russia: Primorskij Terr., Kuril Islands; Japan: Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu) and Oriental Region (new record) (China: Guangdong, Hainan, Yunnan).

Biology.

The representatives of the genus Nipponodipogon are brood parasitic wasps. Nipponodipogon nagasei and N. iwatai brood-parasitize species of Deuteragenia Šustera, 1912 (tribe Deuterageniini ), and N. iwatai brood-parasitizes species of Auplopus Spinola, 1841 (tribe Auplopodini ). Female of N. nagasei routinely lays up to five eggs on a single host spider, all of which develop into adult wasps without larval cannibalism, instead all spider wasps previously studied lay only one egg on a host spider ( Shimizu et al. 2012).