Skip to main content

Four new species and four newly recorded species of Omphale Haliday 1833 (Eulophidae) from China

Four new species and four newly recorded species of Omphale Haliday 1833 (Eulophidae) from China

NEWS - Researchers describe Omphale longigena, Omphale longitarsus, Omphale rectisulcus and Omphale xanthosoma as new species to science and four of their relatives (O. brevibuccata Szelényi, O. connectens Graham, O. melina Yefremova & Kriskovich and O. obscura Förster) are reported from China for the first time; and a male O. melina is reported for the first time in the world.

Omphale Haliday 1833 (Hymenoptera, Eulophidae, Entedoninae) includes 271 species worldwide, a cosmopolitan distribution and the second largest genus in Entedoninae. To date, 203 species from the Americas and Europe are divided into 18 groups.

Prior to this study, only 11 species were known from China: O. longiventris (Ling, 1994), O. pulchra (Ling, 1994), O. gibsoni Hansson 2004, O. longiseta Hansson 1996, O. masneri Hansson 1996, O. mellea Hansson 1996, O. salicis (Haliday, 1833), O. stelteri (Boucek, 1971), O. straminea Hansson, 1996, O. sulciscuta (Thomson, 1878) and O. theana (Walker, 1839). There are no further reports of Omphale from China.

O. longigena is named for its elongated gena, distributed in Shandong and Guangdong, China. This species is similar to O. litera Jamali & Zeya 2022, but differs in that the antennal torulus is located completely below the lower margin of the eye (vs. above the lower margin of the eye in O. litera).

Scape 6.3 × equal in length and width (vs. 4.2 ×), hind legs yellow, except for dark brown tarsal claws (vs. hind legs with coxa, femur at base three-quarters and last tarsomere brown). The most reliable other characteristic to distinguish the two species is the position of the antennal torulus.

O. longitarsus gets its epithet due to its elongated tarsus and distribution in Xizang, China. This species should be included in the Aetius group and can be separated from the other species by its slender antennae, flagellomeres with a markedly reduced width from F1 to F5, F1 0.9 × longer and 1.5 × wider than F2. All legs with apical tarsomeres overhanging and elongated, almost half the length of the entire tarsus.

O. rectisulcus gets its epithet due to its straight frontal sulcus, distribution in Sichuan and Jiangxi, China. This species should be included in the huggerti group and is closest to O. aperta Hansson 2004, but differs by the almost oval cliche (vs. almost semicircular in O. aperta). Forewings with 7 admarginal setae arising from MV and membrane just below MV (vs. 6), speculum closed (vs. open below), PMV distinctly longer than STV (vs. shorter). Propodeum without median carina (vs. with median carina).

O. xanthosoma gets its epithet due to yellow body, distribution in Hainan, China. This species should be included in the obscurinotata group and is similar to O. mellea Hansson, but differs by the brown longitudinal line along the median part of the mesoscutum and mesoscutellum (vs. only scutellum occasionally has a median infusate line in O. mellea).

Forewings hyaline, without infusate part (vs. hyaline, infusate close to STV). Antennae with slender flagella, F2 and F3 both almost as long as F1 (vs. more robust flagella, F2 and F3 both shorter than F1).

O. xanthosoma also appears similar to O. melina but is distinguished by a single pair of setae on the middle lobe of the mesoscutum and a narrow STV (vs. a middle lobe of the mesoscutum with two pairs of setae and an enlarged STV in O. melina).

O. xanthosoma also resembles O. ochra Hansson & Shevtsova 2012 and O. rodopiensis Yefremova, Yegorenkova & Boyadzhiev 2017, but differs by a mostly yellow and non-metallic mesoscutum, a long PMV, 1.9 × as long as the STV (vs. a mesoscutum with at least 1/2 golden green anteriorly, PMV 0.7–0.9 × as long as the STV in O. ochra and O. rodopiensis).

Original research

Li M-R, Wang J-S, Jing Z-J, Meng Q-F, Zhao H-R, Li X-P, Liu S-D, Li C-D (2024). Four new species and four newly recorded species of Omphale Haliday (Hymenoptera, Eulophidae) from China, with a key to Chinese species. ZooKeys 1215: 209-234, DOI:10.3897/zookeys.1215.130669

Dlium theDlium

Popular Posts

Elephant bell gourd (Trichosanthes tricuspidata)

Elephant bell gourd ( Trichosanthes tricuspidata ) is a plant species in the Cucurbitaceae, stems grow elongated to propagate or climb, many branches, cylindrical in shape and green in color. T. cochinchinensis has stem tips or branches that twist to attach themselves to a support or other plant. It grows to climb to cover a support, usually on another plant, up to several meters and creeps along the ground to reach another support. Arrow-shaped leaves, split base, sharp apex and two wings at an acute angle, have many veins ending at a sharp edge, green and have a long petiole. Single flower is white. The fruit is round to oval, ends with a tail, young green and turns red with maturity, thin skin, thick flesh and reddish yellow, has a short stalk and hangs. The seeds are in the middle of the fruit. Seeds are white, oval and flat. Black coated seeds. Elephant bell gourd grows wild in primary and secondary forests, agricultural land, roadsides, watersheds, especially on slopes, damp a

Dazzling rove beetle (Apecholinus speciosus) from Mangshan, Hunan, has similarity to Apecholinus imitator

NEWS - Dazzling rove beetle ( Apecholinus speciosus Sun & Liu, sp. nov.) from Mangshan, Hunan, China, has similarity to Apecholinus imitator Smetana & Hu 2019 and phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial genome showed the two species form a sister clade to Ocypus and Dinothenarus, all belonging to the Ocypus lineage. Apecholinus Bernhauer 1933 was established with Apecholinus kaiseri Bernhauer 1933 as the type species established by monotypy. So far, 7 species have been described and are found only in East Asia. Of these, 6 species are in mainland China and Taiwan, only one species is native to North Korea. They are A. aglaosemanticus (He & Zhou, 2017), A. canifer Smetana & Hu 2019, A. fraternus (Fairmaire, 1891), A. imitator Smetana & Hu 2019, A. kaiseri Bernhauer 1933, A. liui (He & Zhou, 2017) and A. septentrionalis Senda & Han 2023. Apecholinus is recognized by mandibles each having one simple tooth on the medial edge, no subdental mandibul

Soft scale insect, repens scale (Pulvinaria rhododendri), on Rhododendron spp. in Northern Europe

NEWS - Repens scale ( Pulvinaria rhododendri Kahrer & Hodgson, Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Coccidae) was discovered in Rhododendron spp. (Ericaceae) in Denmark and Norway which appears taxonomically close to P. camelicola Signoret and P. floccifera Westwood with an uncertain geographic origin, but is likely to have been introduced to northern Europe via imported live plants. P. rhododendri is distinguished from P. floccifera , P. camelicola and all other Pulvinaria species by a combination of characters-a medial band of large conical spinous setae extending from the anal plate anterior to the head and simple pores with strongly sclerotic margins present in a narrow medial band between the large conical spinous setae. The new species also differs from P. floccifera by the presence of a type III tubular canal submarginally between the lateral stigmatic clefts (vs. absent). The species is named after the genus of the host plant from which it is most commonly collected, Rhododendron