Enicospilus melanocarpus Cameron, 1905

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 melanocarpus Cameron, 1905 Figure 28

Enicospilus reticulatus Cameron, 1902: 52; HT ♂ from Maldive Islands, NHMUK, examined; synonymised by Gauld and Mitchell (1981: 377); junior primary homonym of Enicospilus reticulatus Cameron, 1899.

Eniscospilus (sic) melanocarpus Cameron, 1905a: 122; HT ♀ from Sri Lanka, NHMUK, examined.

Henicospilus nigrinervis Szépligeti, 1906: 142; HT ♀ from New Guinea, TM, not examined; synonymised by Gauld and Mitchell (1981: 377); junior secondary homonym of Enicospilus nigrinervis Cameron, 1901.

Ophion (Henicospilus) nocturnus Kohl, 1908: 315; HT ♀ from Samoa, NM, not examined; synonymised by Gauld and Mitchell (1981: 378).

Henicospilus batavianus Szépligeti, 1910: 92; HT ♀ from Java, TM, not examined; synonymised by Gauld and Mitchell (1981: 378).

Henicospilus turneri Morley, 1912: 51; LCT ♀ from Australia, designated by Townes et al. (1961: 291), NHMUK, examined; synonymised by Gauld and Mitchell (1981: 378).

Henicospilus atricornis var. zeylanicus Morley, 1913: 392; HT ♀ from Sri Lanka, NHMUK, examined; synonymised by Gauld and Mitchell (1981: 378).

Henicospilus uncivena Enderlein, 1921: 23; HT ♀ from India, IZPAN, not examined; synonymised by Gauld and Mitchell (1981: 378).

Henicospilus crassivena Enderlein, 1921: 24; HT ♀ from Sumatra, IZPAN, not examined; synonymised by Townes et al. (1961: 281).

Enicospilus nigrivenalis Cushman, 1937: 307; HT ♀ from Taiwan, DEI, not examined; synonymised by Gauld and Mitchell (1981: 378).

Enicospilus quintuplex Chiu, 1954: 61; HT ♀ from China, TARI, examined; synonymised by Gauld and Mitchell (1981: 378).

Enicospilus (Polycorniata) brunnis Rao and Nikam, 1971: 105; HT ♀ from India, MUC, not examined; synonymised by Gauld and Mitchell (1981: 378).

Specimens examined.

Total of 217 specimens (166♀♀41♂♂ and 10 unsexed): Australia (1♀), China (1♀), India (26♀♀), Indonesia (4♀♀2♂♂ and 1 unsexed), Japan (26♀♀12♂♂ and 1 unsexed), Malaysia (1♀), Maldives (1♂), Papua New Guinea (7♀♀1♂), Philippines (7♀♀), Singapore (1 unsexed), Sri Lanka (8♀♀), Taiwan (85♀♀25♂♂ and 7 unsexed).

Type series: HT ♂ of Enicospilus reticulatus Cameron, 1902, Hulule, MALDIVE, 20.VI.1900 (NHMUK, Type 3b.1268); HT ♀ of Eniscospilus (sic) melanocarpus Cameron, 1905, SRI LANKA (NHMUK, Type 3b.1234); LCT ♀ of Henicospilus turneri Morley, 1912, Mackay, Queensland, AUSTRALIA, 1899, Turner leg. (NHMUK, Type 3b.1261); HT ♀ of Henicospilus atricornis var zeylanicus Morley, 1913, Kandy, SRI LANKA, 11.VII.1910, Green leg. (NHMUK, Type 3b.2098); HT ♀ of Enicospilus quintuplex Chiu, 1954, Shaowu, Fukien, CHINA, 8.X.1945, S.H. Chao leg. (TARI).

Distribution.

Australasian, Eastern Palaearctic, Oceanic, and Oriental regions ( Yu et al. 2016); this is a predominantly Oriental species.

JAPAN: [ Ryûkyûs] Kagoshima* and Okinawa ( Uchida 1928; Townes 1958; Shimizu 2020; present study); [Ogasawara] Tôkyô ( Townes 1958; Takahashi and Shimizu 2006; present study). *New record. This is one of the most frequently encountered Enicospilus species in the Oriental region. Watanabe et al. (2012) and Shimizu (2014) recorded this species from Fukui and Niigata Prefectures, Hokuriku, Japan respectively, but these records were based on misidentifications of E. ramidulus .

Bionomics.

No host records from Japan. Gauld and Mitchell (1981) and Nikam (1990) report rearings from a disparate range of hosts in the families Erebidae , Lasiocampidae and Noctuidae , which clearly warrants investigation.

Differential diagnosis.

This species is morphologically most similar to E. sauteri , but is distinguished from it by the uniformly setose marginal cell of fore wing (Fig. 28F ) (marginal cell proximally widely glabrous in E. sauteri , as in Fig. 42F ), and oval central sclerite of fore wing fenestra (Fig. 28F ) (central sclerite linear in E. sauteri , as in Fig. 42F ). Enicospilus melanocarpus is also sometimes confused with E. ramidulus but is distinguished from it by the sculpture of the mesosoma (i.e., meso- and metapleuron punctate to punctostriate in E. melanocarpus , as in Fig. 28E , but entirely punctate in E. ramidulus , as in Fig. 39E ), shape of the sclerites (i.e., proximal and distal sclerites confluent in E. melanocarpus , as in Fig. 28F , but not confluent in E. ramidulus , as in Fig. 39F ), etc.

In Japanese collections, they are sometimes confused with E. ramidulus and E. yezoensis , as both species have a similar colour pattern (i.e., entirely testaceous body with posterior metasomal segments strongly infuscate, as in Figs 28A , 39A , and 53A ). However, in Japan E. melanocarpus is restricted to Ryûkyûs and Ogasawara (i.e., the Oceanic and Oriental regions of Japan), with E. ramidulus and E. yezoensis in the Palaearctic area of Japan. We summarise the diagnostic characters in Table 8 for E. melanocarpus , E. ramidulus , E. sauteri and E. yezoensis , all of which have testaceous bodies with the metasoma black posteriorly.

Figures

Figure 28. Enicospilus melanocarpus Cameron, 1905 ♀ 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 39. Enicospilus ramidulus (Linnaeus, 1758) ♀ 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 42. Enicospilus sauteri (Enderlein, 1921) ♂ from Taiwan 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 53. Enicospilus yezoensis (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.