Enicospilus laqueatus (Enderlein, 1921)

Shimizu, So, Broad, Gavin R. & Maeto, Kaoru, 2020, Integrative taxonomy and analysis of species richness patterns of nocturnal Darwin wasps of the genus Enicospilus Stephens (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Ophioninae) in Japan, ZooKeys 990, pp. 1-144 : 1

Enicospilus laqueatus (Enderlein, 1921) Figure 24

Henicospilus laqueatus Enderlein, 1921: 26; HT ♂ from Taiwan, IZPAN, not examined.

Enicospilus leetoni Chiu, 1954: 38; HT ♀ from Taiwan, TARI, examined; synonymised by Gauld and Mitchell (1981: 396).

Specimens examined.

Total of 76 specimens (48♀♀26♂♂ and 2 unsexed): India (2♀♀1♂), Japan (22♀♀23♂♂), Taiwan (23♀♀2♂♂ and 2 unsexed), Zambia (1♀).

Type series: HT ♀ of Enicospilus leetoni Chiu, 1954, Taihoku, TAIWAN, 1.IX.1925, J. Sonan leg. (TARI).

Distribution.

Afrotropical and Oriental regions ( Yu et al. 2016); new to the Eastern Palaearctic ( Hachijô-jima, Tôkyô, Kantô-Kôshin, Japan) and Oceanic (Nishi-jima, Tôkyô, Ogasawara, Japan) regions (cf. Suppl. material 1: Table S1); this is a predominantly (sub-)tropical species. This species is widely distributed from the Afrotropical to Oriental regions and Gauld (1982) suggested that it has possibly been introduced from Asia to Africa, although there is no reliable evidence to support or refute his hypotheses.

Newly recorded from Japan.

JAPAN: [ Kantô-Kôshin] Tôkyô; [ Ryûkyûs] Kagoshima and Okinawa; [Ogasawara] Tôkyô. This species is restricted to southern regions of Japan.

Bionomics.

Unknown.

Differential diagnosis.

This species resembles E. pseudantennatus , E. vestigator , and E. tripartitus on the shape of fore wing fenestra, sclerites, and venation. However, E. laqueatus is easily distinguishable from them by the outer mandibular surface morphology (i.e., outer mandibular surface with diagonal setose groove between dorsoproximal corner and base of apical teeth in E. laqueatus , but smooth or just densely punctate with stout setae in the other three species, as summarised in Table 6 ). In addition, this species morphologically resembles E. aciculatus and E. yonezawanus but is distinguished from them by its strongly pigmented central sclerite of fore wing fenestra (Fig. 24F ) (central sclerite very weakly pigmented or vestigial in E. aciculatus , as in Fig. 10F , and completely lacking in E. yonezawanus , as in Fig. 54F ).

Figures

Figure 10. Enicospilus aciculatus (Taschenberg, 1875) ♀ from Japan A habitus B head, frontal view C head, dorsal view D head, lateral view E mesosoma, lateral view F central part of fore wing.

Figure 24. Enicospilus laqueatus (Enderlein, 1921) ♀ from Japan A habitus B head, frontal view C head, dorsal view D head, lateral view E mesosoma, lateral view F central part of fore wing.

Figure 54. Enicospilus yonezawanus (Uchida, 1928) ♀ from Japan A habitus B head, frontal view C head, dorsal view D head, lateral view E mesosoma, lateral view F central part of fore wing.