Braconidae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea) from Mount Desert Island and Schoodic Peninsula areas of Acadia National Park, including a new species of Clinocentrus Haliday (Rogadinae)

Authors: KING, KENDALL - Smithsonian Institute; Mottern, Jason; SHIMBORI, EDUARDO - University Of Wyoming; Kula, Robert

Submitted to: Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/17/2018
Publication Date: 7/1/2018
Citation: King, K., Mottern, J.L., Shimbori, E., Kula, R.R. 2018. Braconidae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea) from Mount Desert Island and Schoodic Peninsula areas of Acadia National Park, including a new species of Clinocentrus Haliday (Rogadinae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 120(3):549-567.

Interpretive Summary: Parasitic wasps attack crop and forest pests that cause billions of dollars of damage annually. Most of the parasitic wasps treated in this paper attack plant-feeding insects, including wood-boring beetles, stem- and leaf-mining flies, foliage-feeding caterpillars, and plant-sucking aphids. Some of these wasps have been reported as parasitic on pests such as pine shoot moth, pea aphid, and pecan nut casebearer. Increased knowledge of these wasps can help determine their impact as natural enemies of pest and potential pest insects. This paper provides novel diversity data for 104 wasp species in North America, including new geographic distribution records for nine species. One species new to science is described. Anatomical features unique to the new species are discussed relative to current definitions of genera, as is its placement in genera as defined currently. This paper will be useful to scientists conducting research on these wasps, personnel responsible for controlling and regulating pest insects, and conservation biologists.

Technical Abstract: Species of Braconidae from the Mount Desert Island and Schoodic Peninsula areas of Acadia National Park (ANP) are reported based on specimens from a bioblitz conducted at ANP in 2015 in combination with records reported previously. The bioblitz yielded 400 specimens of Braconidae representing 104 species in 46 genera, including one new species. A new species of Clinocentrus Haliday (Braconidae: Rogadinae) is described based on specimens from Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Virginia, and Wisconsin. DNA sequence data for the 28S rDNA expansion region D2, a 618-bp fragment of the barcoding region of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), and a fragment of cytochrome c oxidase subunit II (COII) are reported for the new species. Diagnostic morphological features for Clinocentrus and Aleiodes Wesmael (Braconidae: Rogadinae) are discussed given morphological attributes of the new species. A list of 175 species of Braconidae known from the Mount Desert Island and Schoodic Peninsula areas of ANP is provided based on species from the 2015 bioblitz and 71 species reported previously. The following species are reported from Maine for the first time: Adelius (Adelius) coloradensis Muesebeck, Alysia (Alysia) lucia Haliday, Aphaereta genevensis Fischer, Chorebus (Chorebus) harringtoni (Ashmead), Ephedrus (Ephedrus) lacertosus (Haliday), Doryctes (Doryctes) macrocaudus Marsh, Leiophron (Euphoriella) incerta (Ashmead), Meteorus politus (Provancher), and Aleiodes (Aleiodes) parasiticus Norton.