Neorthostigma Belokobylskij, 1998

Peris-Felipo, Francisco Javier, Santa, Fernando, van Achterberg, Cornelis & Belokobylskij, Sergey A., 2025, Review of the genera and subgenera of the subtribe Aspilotina (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Alysiinae), with a new illustrated key, ZooKeys 1229, pp. 133-200 : 133-200

Genus Neorthostigma Belokobylskij, 1998

Neorthostigma Belokobylskij, 1998 b: 9; Fischer 2001: 65; Wharton 2002: 91 (as subgenus); Belokobylskij and Tobias 2007: 10 (as valid genus); Yu et al. 2016; Belokobylskij et al. 2019: 215; Peris-Felipo et al. 2020: 33; Dias de Oliveira and Penteado-Dias 2023: 481.

Type species.

Neorthostigma eoum Belokobylskij, 1998 (= Aspilota macrops Stelfox & Graham, 1951 ), by original designation (Figs 32 , 33 ) [synonymised by Peris-Felipo et al. 2020].

Material examined.

Holotype ( Aspilota macrops ) Ireland: • ♀, Sligo, S. shore of Lough Gill near Doonee Rock , 15. x. 1937 (AWS leg.) [ USNM # 76022 ; USNMENT 01569377 ] ( NMNH) . Holotype ( Neorthostigma eoum ( = macrops )) Russia: • ♀, Primorskiy kray, Anisimovka , forest, glades, 16. viii. 1979 (S. Belokobylskij leg.) ( ZISP) . Paratypes ( Neorthostigma eoum ( = macrops )) Russia: • 2 ♀, Primorskiy kray, Spassk-Dal’niy , forest, glades, 16 and 22–23. viii. 1995 (S. Belokobylskij leg.) ( ZISP) ; • 1 ♀, Sakhalin Island, 10 km W of Aniva , mixed forest, 15. viii. 1981 (S. Belokobylskij leg.) ( ZISP) . Japan: • 1 ♂, Fukuoka, Nogochi, Fukuoka-shi , 28. viii. 1992 (V. Makarkin leg.) ( ZISP) .

Additional studied material.

Norway: • 1 ♀, Oslo [AK], Maridalen, Dausjøen , Spruce forest, 5. vi – 16. x. 2010, 60.01234N 10.787665E, 160 m, Malaise trap, river outlet (Lars Ove Hansen leg.) ( NHMO) . Russia. Leningradskaya Province: • 1 ♀, Tolmachevo , mixed forest, 22. viii. 1960 (V. Tobias leg), “ Aspilota macrops Stelf., Tobias det. 1961 ” ( ZISP) . Primorskiy kray: • 1 ♀, 30 km E of Spassk-Dal’niy , forest, glades, 4. vi. 1984 (S. Belokobylskij leg.) ( ZISP) ; • 1 ♀, Nadezhdinskiy District, 15 km SSW of Nezhino , forest, 16–18. vii. 1993 (S. Belokobylskij leg.) ( ZISP) ; • 1 ♀, 30 km SE of Ussuriysk , forest, border of forest, 12–17. vii. 2001 (S. Belokobylskij leg.) ( ZISP) ; • 1 ♀, Vladivostok, Okeanskaya , forest, 25. vii. 2001 (S. Belokobylskij leg.) ( ZISP) ; • 1 ♀, Vladivostok, Sedanka , forest, border of forest, 30. vii. 2001 (S. Belokobylskij leg.) ( ZISP) .

Diagnosis.

Mandible small, tridentate, with very small and screwed upper tooth, with complete transverse and curved submedian carina. Paraclypeal fovea long, reaching or almost reaching inner margin of eyes. Mesoscutum always without mesoscutal pit; notauli present only in anterior half of mesoscutum; precoxal sulcus always developed; propodeum with wide and rather distinctly delineated by carina areola and with different types of sculpture but sometimes almost smooth. In fore wing, marginal cell never shortened; vein r originating from basal quarter of pterostigma; vein 2 - SR always developed; veins m-cu and cu-a postfurcal; first subdiscal cell always closed postero-apically by vein CU 1 a. Metasoma of ♀ more or less distinctly compressed. Ovipositor sheath shorter than metasoma.

Remarks.

Five described species are known: one from the Palaearctic region (widely distributed from Ireland to Japan), two from Papua New Guinea ( Peris-Felipo et al. 2020) and two from Brazil ( Dias de Oliveira and Penteado-Dias 2023). This genus is closely related to Orthostigma according to its specialised mandibles. Wharton (2002) treated Neorthostigma as a subgenus of Orthostigma . However, the combination of such important diagnostic characters such as the absence of eye-antennal socket sulcus, the large paraclypeal fovea reaching or almost reaching inner margin of eye, the usual absence of mesoscutal pit, the face and sometimes the mesoscutum entirely covered by dense setosity distinctly indicate a separate position of this taxon at the genus level ( Belokobylskij et al. 2019; Peris-Felipo et al. 2020). Its hosts are still unknown.

Figures

Figure 32. Neorthostigma macrops (Stelfox & Graham, 1951) (A, B: female, holotype of A. macrops; C – F: female, holotype of Neorthostigma eoum) A, C habitus, lateral view B habitus, dorsal view D head and mesosoma, lateral view E mandible F antenna.

Figure 33. Neorthostigma macrops (Stelfox & Graham, 1951) (female, holotype of Neorthostigma eoum) A head, front view B head and mesonotum, dorsal view C propodeum, dorsal view D first metasomal tergite, dorsal view E hind leg, metasoma and ovipositor, lateral view F fore and hind wings.