Glyptapanteles niveus, Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin, 2022

Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P., McCLELLAND, Alana R., Bird, Andrew J., Giannotta, Madalene M., Bradford, Tessa M. & Austin, Andrew D., 2022, Systematic revision of the parasitoid wasp genus Glyptapanteles Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) for Australia results in a ten-fold increase in species, European Journal of Taxonomy 792 (1), pp. 1-116 : 18-20

Glyptapanteles niveus species group

The G. niveus species group can be separated from the other described Glyptapanteles from Australia by having the gena without a pale spot, T1 and T2 dark, propodeum coarsely rugose and the anteromesoscutum with very sparse deep punctures, always with some smooth areas larger than the diameter of punctures, face strongly punctured and T1 not wedge-shaped. All the described species also have a vividly white fore coxa, mid coxa, hind trochanter and anterior metasomal sternites. The species group currently contains three described species: G. bradfordae Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., G. cooperi Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov. and G. niveus Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov. All three species also have larger eyes (and consequently, smaller malar spaces) than most other species of Glyptapanteles from Australia. This species group is currently only known from eastern QLD, from Kuranda (northern QLD) and from near Brisbane (southern QLD) ( Fig. 4F ).

Unplaced species of Glyptapanteles from Australasia

There are several species of Glyptapanteles from Australasia which we do not place within a species group, either because they do not form a monophyletic group with other species with which they share a clear morphological character, or because they are previously described species without molecular data and/or without clear morphological affinities to any of the assigned species groups. This includes G. afiamaluanus (Fullaway, 1941) , G. artonae (Rohwer, 1926) , G. aucklandensis (Cameron, 1909) , G. baylessi Fagan-Jeffries, Bird &Austin sp. nov., G. deliasa Austin & Dangerfield, 1992 , G. drioplanetus Fagan-Jeffries & Austin, 2021 , G. fullawayi Austin & Dangerfield, 1992 , G. kurandaensis Fagan- Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., G. operculinae (Fullaway, 1941) , G. phytometrae ( Wilkinson, 1928) and G. taylori ( Wilkinson, 1928) . Of these unplaced species, only G. baylessi sp. nov., G. deliasa , G. drioplanetus and G. kurandaensis sp. nov. are found in Australia.

Figures

Fig. 4. Distribution of species groups of Glyptapanteles Ashmead, 1904 in Australia. A. G. albigena species group. B. G. arcanus species group. C. G. austini species group. D. G. eburneus species group. E. G. mouldsi species group. F. G. niveus species group. G. Unplaced species of Glyptapanteles in Australia.