A new species of Aleiodes ( Hymenoptera , Braconidae , Rogadinae ) from Brazil , with biological notes

Aleiodes Wesmael is the most diverse rogadine genus, with koinobiont endoparasitic development in Lepidoptera caterpillars resulting in mummification of the host remains. Aleiodes japi sp. nov. is described and illustrated. Type specimens of the new species were reared from Physocleora grosica and Ischnopteris sp. (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Ennominae) larvae. Host larvae were collected on Alchornea triplinervia (Euphorbiaceae) at the Reserva Biológica Municipal da Serra do Japi, Jundiaí, São Paulo, Brazil. This is the second species of circumscriptus/ gastritror group described from Brazil.

Rogadinae is a cosmopolitan subfamily of koinobiont endoparasitoids of Lepidoptera (Shaw, 1983;Shaw, 1997), well represented in the New World, with hundreds of important species due to its possible usage as biological controllers (Shaw, 2006).Although some of Rogadinae genera are very common, there are few studies developed in the Neotropical region (Shaw, 1997).All Rogadinae induce the hardening of the host larva before pupation, producing a "mummy" which conceals the parasitoid pupa.Within Rogadinae, Aleiodes Wesmael, 1838 is the most common and speciose genus worldwide.It is known to attack almost exclusively exposed-feeding macrolepidopterans, especially the superfamilies Noctuoidea and Geometroidea, and to a lesser extent, Sphingoidea and Papilionoidea (Shaw et al., 1997;Shaw, 2006).In most cases, the mummified host associated with Aleiodes species can provide useful information about their hosts (Janzen et al., 1998;Stireman et al., 2005).
In the Neotropical region there are 89 described species of Aleiodes, 41 of them with host records (Fortier, 2009;townSend & Shaw, 2009;Shimbori & Shaw, 2014).The first division of Aleiodes into species-groups (Shaw et al., 1997) accounts for fifteen different groups.After phylogenetic analyses three additional groups were proposed (Fortier & Shaw, 1999).townSend & Shaw (2009) found the species of the closely-related gastritor and circumscriptus groups in Ecuador to be difficult to separate, and recommended treating these as one single group for Neotropical fauna.The circumscriptus/gastritor species-group is defined by the following combination of characters: sinuate vein RS of hind wing, enclosing a marginal cell that is narrowest at middle; absence of comb of flattened setae at inner apex of hind tibia; ocelli moderate sized; metasomal tergite III sculpturing not smooth; antenna longer than body; medial length of pronotum relatively short (Shaw et al., 1997;Fortier & Shaw, 1999).The hosts for Neotropical circumscriptus/gastritor species are mainly Geometridae and Noctuidae caterpillars, with only one species reared from Pyralidae (townSend & Shaw, 2009).In the present study a new Aleiodes species of the circumscriptus/gastritor species-group is described.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Specimens for this study were collected at Reserva Biológica Municipal da Serra do Japi (REBIO), Jundiaí, São Paulo State, Brazil.The REBIO vegetation is composed mainly by seasonal semideciduous montane forest (Leitão-FiLho, 1992;CardoSo-Leite et al., 2005) Caterpillars were sampled by walking through trails, beating plants over a circular white cloth.Caterpillars were collected in clear plastic pots with their food plant, assigned identification codes, and transported to the rearing laboratory at Universidade Federal de São Carlos.Emerging parasitoid adults were preserved in alcohol and point mounted for identification.
Wings (Fig. 5).Forewing: vein r about 0.5 times longer than vein 3RSa; vein RS+Mb about 0.7 times vein r; vein 1CUa 1.35x longer than 1CUb, and about 3x vein 1cu-a.Hind wing: vein RS slightly sinuate, marginal cell narrowest at middle; vein r-m about 0.6x vein 1M; vein M+CU about as long as vein 1M; vein m-cu present and pigmented.
Metasoma (Fig. 15).Tergum I about as long as apical width; apical width about 1.6x width at base; terga I and II costate, with complete longitudinal carina; tergum III costate with median longitudinal carina on basal 2/3.
Variation.No considerable variation in the paratype, very similar to holotype.Female.Unknown Distribution.Known only from the type locality.
Biology.The specimens of Aleiodes japi sp.nov.were obtained from lepidopteran larvae of Ennominae (Geometridae) (Figs 6-9), feeding on Alchornea triplinervia Spreng (Euphorbiaceae).The holotype emerged from Physocleora grosica (Schaus, 1901) larva, and the paratype from Ischnopteris sp.larva.The parasitoid cuts a circular hole for emergence at the dorso-posterior region of the host mummy.Time span from host mummification until adult emergence was one week.
Comments.The morphology of Aleiodes japi sp.nov.fits well in the recent proposed circumscriptus/gastritor species group, e.g. the relatively large ocelli (diagnostic for gastritor) and the color of the metasoma (diagnostic for circumscriptus).There are only two species in this group recorded from Brazil.Aleiodes gossypii (Muesebeck, 1960), reared from Alabama argilacea (Hübner) and Anomis sp., both noctuid.It is likely that Aleidoes laphygmae (Viereck, 1912) occurs in Brazil; however, the only record in literature is not accurate, since moLina-oChoa et al. (2003) cite results from Cruz et al. (1997), which do not mention this species in their results.Therefore, A. japi sp.nov. is the second species of the group recorded from Brazil.It can be distinguished from A. gossypii and A. laphygmae by the mostly blackish dorsal body, which is entirely yellowish in A. gossypii and A. laphygmae, and the smooth central disc of mesopleuron, compared with finely granular in A. gossypii and A. laphygmae.
In the keys to species from Eastern Ecuadorian Andes (townSend & Shaw, 2009 ;Shimbori & Shaw, 2014), which contains all other previously described Neotropical species in circumscriptus/gastritor species-group, the new species will run to Aleiodes speciosus Townsend, 2009.The new species can be distinguished from A. speciosus mainly by the color pattern.Face, vertex except ocellar triangle and occiput are entirely yellowish in A. japi sp.nov., while presenting black stains in A. speciosus.The tergite I is dark brown in A. japi sp.nov., as compared with whitish in A. speciosus.The number of antennal segments is larger in A. japi sp.nov.than in A. speciosus (45 vs. 42 respectively).A. japi sp.nov.also has relatively larger ocelli, the ocell-ocular distance being about 0.3x diameter of lateral ocellus, as compared with 0.6 x in A. speciosus, and propodeum sculpturing granulate medially, while smooth with scattered punctuation in A. speciosus.Diagnostic characters in common to A. japi sp.nov.and A. speciosus includes the dorsally interrupted occipital carina, the smooth central disc of mesopleuron, vein 1CUa of forewing 1.35 times longer than 1CUb, and hind wing M+CU as long as 1M.