Lytopylus robpringlei Sharkey

Sharkey, Michael J., Clutts, Stephanie, Tucker, Erika M., Janzen, Daniel, Hallwachs, Winnie, Dapkey, Tanya & Smith, M. Alex, 2011, Lytopylus Foerster (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Agathidinae) species from Costa Rica, with an emphasis on specimens reared from caterpillars in Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, ZooKeys 130, pp. 379-419 : 396-397

Lytopylus robpringlei Sharkey sp. n. Figs 2526

Description.

Body length 7.5 mm sole female (5.8 - 7.2 males). Ovipositor length 5.8 mm. Gena rounded or with an obtuse angle posterolaterally. Longitudinal groov e on interantennal prominence present. Protuberances on occiput absent. Propodeum with carinae forming areolae, median areola not rounded anteriorly. Notauli well-impressed, smooth without crenulae, or with one or two crenulae restricted to extreme anterior apex along border of mesoscutum. Posterior margin of syntergum 2+3 straight. Median syntergite 2 + 3 varying from entirely striate except for smooth apex to smooth with longitudinal striae restricted to the transverse grooves. Forewing mostly or entirely infuscate. Color as in Figs 25, 26. Color variation: Mesoscutal lobes slightly melanic in one male specimen otherwise color consistent across the four examined specimens.

Molecular data.

BOLD process ID/Janzen parasitoid voucher/GenBank accession:

ASHYB1814-10/DHJPAR0039526/JN034728

ASHYE1114-09/DHJPAR0035292/JN034727

Distribution.

Alajuela Province, Costa Rica.Click here for a distribution map.

Biology.

All four rearings are from Elachistidae ( Stenomatinae ) leaf tiers feeding on rain forest Sapotaceae : 3 from Chlamydastis rhomaeopa on Chrysophyllum brenesii , and 1 elachJanzen01 Janzen35 from Pouteria 17499. These leaf tiers construct a somewhat tubular channel of silk and a few fecal pellets between two overlapping leaves that are quite tightly silked together, and then surface skeletonize the leaf and feed at the leaf edges. The ovipositing wasp would need to penetrate through the leaf from above or below, skewering the caterpillar in the process. There is no externally visible indication that there is a wasp egg or larva inside the wild-collected caterpillar. At about the time the caterpillar is prepupal (which tends to be at least 5-10 days after the caterpillar is brought in from the wild), the wasp larva feeds strongly enough to immobilize the caterpillar, and 1-2 days later emerges through the body wall to spin a white cocoon in the caterpillar pupal chamber that is a space between the two leaves silked together and in a loosely defined tubular nest of silk and fecal pellets. The cranium and pelt fragments of the caterpillar are bunched together at one end of the wasp cocoon. The pupal period of the wasp is 12-20 days.

The elachistid host caterpillars feeding on Sapotaceae are parasitized by a variety of tachinid flies, ichneumonid wasps and microgastrine braconid wasps, but (at least with this small number of rearing records) appear not to be also attacked by other agathidine wasps.

Etymology.

Lytopylus robpringlei is named in honor of Rob Pringle of Princeton, New Jersey, who has enthusiastically supported the conservation of the ACG forest occupied by this parasitoid wasp.

Material examined.

Holotype: ♀, H8019 (DHJPAR0039526) Costa Rica: Alajuela: Area de Conservación Guanacaste: Sector San Cristobal: Tajo Angeles: 11.vi.2010, 10.865N, 85.415W, 540m [AEI].

Paratypes [AEI, HIC, INBio]: Costa Rica: Alajuela: Area de Conservación Guanacaste: Sector San Cristobal: Tajo Angeles, 10.8647N, 85.4153W, 540m: ♂ H7814 (DHJPAR0041557) 8.i.2011. ♂ H6635 (DHJPAR0035292) 14.v.2009. Rio Blanco Abajo, 10.9003N, 85.3725W, 500m: ♂ H6435 (DHJPAR0015456) 14.iv.2003.