A New Genus of Rhysipoline Wasp (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) with Modified Wing Venation from Africa and Papua New Guinea, Parasitoid on Choreutidae (Lepidoptera)

Abstract

Troporhysipolis gen. nov. with four included species is described and illustrated. The type species, Clinocentrus antefurcalis Granger, 1949, is Afrotropical with unknown biology. We additionally recognise three new species from eastern lowland of Papua New Guinea, T. brenthiaphagus sp. nov., T. markshawi sp. nov. and T. molecularis sp. nov., all three of which were reared from leaf-rolling larvae of the family Choreutidae (Lepidoptera). The genus can be distinguished by the combination of fore wing vein cu-a (nervulus) being antefurcal and the second subdiscal (brachial) cell subparallel-sided, widened and formed of mainly thickened veins. The new genus is tentatively placed in the Rhysipolinae based on the arrangement of the occipital and hypostomal carinae, and partly on molecular phylogenetic analysis using the barcoding cytochrome oxidase 1 gene fragment and the D2 variable region of nuclear 28S rDNA. T. molecularis sp. nov. hardly differs from T. brenthiaphagus sp. nov. morphologically and is distinguished primarily based on its barcoding sequence data.