Abstract
More than half a million specimens of wild-caught Lepidoptera caterpillars have been
reared for their parasitoids, identified, and DNA barcoded over a period of 34 years
(and ongoing) from Area de Conservación de Guanacaste (ACG), northwestern Costa Rica.
This provides the world’s best location-based dataset for studying the taxonomy and
host relationships of caterpillar parasitoids. Among Hymenoptera, Microgastrinae (Braconidae)
is the most diverse and commonly encountered parasitoid subfamily, with many hundreds
of species delineated to date, almost all undescribed. Here, we reassess the limits
of the genus Apanteles
sensu stricto, describe 186 new species from 3,200+ parasitized caterpillars of hundreds
of ACG Lepidoptera species, and provide keys to all 205 described Apanteles from Mesoamerica
– including 19 previously described species in addition to the new species. The Mesoamerican
Apanteles are assigned to 32 species-groups, all but two of which are newly defined.
Taxonomic keys are presented in two formats: traditional dichotomous print versions
and links to electronic interactive versions (software Lucid 3.5). Numerous illustrations,
computer-generated descriptions, distributional information, wasp biology, and DNA
barcodes (where available) are presented for every species. All morphological terms
are detailed and linked to the Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology website. DNA barcodes
(a standard fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) mitochondrial gene), information
on wasp biology (host records, solitary/gregariousness of wasp larvae), ratios of
morphological features, and wasp microecological distributions were used to help clarify
boundaries between morphologically cryptic species within species-complexes. Because
of the high accuracy of host identification for about 80% of the wasp species studied,
it was possible to analyze host relationships at a regional level. The ACG species
of Apanteles attack mainly species of Hesperiidae, Elachistidae and Crambidae (Lepidoptera).
About 90% of the wasp species with known host records seem to be monophagous or oligophagous
at some level, parasitizing just one host family and commonly, just one species of
caterpillar. Only 15 species (9%) parasitize species in more than one family, and
some of these cases are likely to be found to be species complexes. We have used several
information sources and techniques (traditional taxonomy, molecular, software-based,
biology, and geography) to accelerate the process of finding and describing these
new species in a hyperdiverse group such as Apanteles.
The following new taxonomic and nomenclatural acts are proposed. Four species previously
considered to be Apanteles are transferred to other microgastrine genera: Dolichogenidea
hedyleptae (Muesebeck, 1958), comb. n., Dolichogenidea politiventris (Muesebeck, 1958),
comb. n., Rhygoplitis sanctivincenti (Ashmead, 1900), comb. n., and Illidops scutellaris
(Muesebeck, 1921), comb. rev. One European species that is a secondary homonym to
a Mesoamerican species is removed from Apanteles and transferred to another genus:
Iconella albinervis (Tobias, 1964), stat. rev. The name Apanteles albinervican Shenefelt,
1972, is an invalid replacement name for Apanteles albinervis (Cameron, 1904), stat.
rev., and thus the later name is reinstated as valid. The following 186 species, all
in Apanteles and all authored by Fernández-Triana, are described as species nova:
adelinamoralesae, adrianachavarriae, adrianaguilarae, adrianguadamuzi, aichagirardae,
aidalopezae, albanjimenezi, alejandromasisi, alejandromorai, minorcarmonai, alvarougaldei,
federicomatarritai, anabellecordobae, rostermoragai, anamarencoae, anamartinesae,
anapiedrae, anariasae, andreacalvoae, angelsolisi, arielopezi, bernardoespinozai,
bernyapui, bettymarchenae, bienvenidachavarriae, calixtomoragai, carloscastilloi,
carlosguadamuzi, eliethcantillanoae, carlosrodriguezi, carlosviquezi, carloszunigai,
carolinacanoae, christianzunigai, cinthiabarrantesae, ciriloumanai, cristianalemani,
cynthiacorderoae, deifiliadavilae, dickyui, didiguadamuzi, diegoalpizari, diegotorresi,
diniamartinezae, duniagarciae, duvalierbricenoi, edgarjimenezi, edithlopezae, eduardoramirezi,
edwinapui, eldarayae, erickduartei, esthercentenoae, eugeniaphilipsae, eulogiosequeira,
felipechavarriai, felixcarmonai, fernandochavarriai, flormoralesae, franciscopizarroi,
franciscoramirezi, freddyquesadai, freddysalazari, gabrielagutierrezae, garygibsoni,
gerardobandoi, gerardosandovali, gladysrojasae, glenriverai, gloriasihezarae, guadaluperodriguezae,
guillermopereirai, juanmatai, harryramirezi, hectorsolisi, humbertolopezi, inesolisae,
irenecarrilloae, isaacbermudezi, isidrochaconi, isidrovillegasi, ivonnetranae, jairomoyai,
javiercontrerasi, javierobandoi, javiersihezari, jesusbrenesi, jesusugaldei, jimmychevezi,
johanvargasi, jorgecortesi, jorgehernandezi, josecalvoi, josecortesi, josediazi, josejaramilloi,
josemonteroi, joseperezi, joserasi, juanapui, juancarrilloi, juangazoi, juanhernandezi,
juanlopezi, juanvictori, juliodiazi, juniorlopezi, keineraragoni, laurahuberae, laurenmoralesae,
leninguadamuzi, leonelgarayi, lilliammenae, lisabearssae, luciariosae, luisbrizuelai,
luiscanalesi, luiscantillanoi, luisgarciai, luisgaritai, luishernandezi, luislopezi,
luisvargasi, manuelarayai, manuelpereirai, manuelriosi, manuelzumbadoi, marcobustosi,
marcogonzalezi, marcovenicioi, mariachavarriae mariaguevarae, marialuisariasae, mariamendezae,
marianopereirai, mariatorrentesae, sigifredomarini, marisolarroyoae, marisolnavarroae,
marvinmendozai, mauriciogurdiani, milenagutierrezae, monicachavarriae, oscarchavesi,
osvaldoespinozai, pablotranai, pabloumanai, pablovasquezi, paulaixcamparijae, luzmariaromeroae,
petronariosae, randallgarciai, randallmartinezi, raulacevedoi, raulsolorsanoi, wadyobandoi,
ricardocaleroi, robertmontanoi, robertoespinozai, robertovargasi, rodrigogamezi, rogerblancoi,
rolandoramosi, rolandovegai, ronaldcastroi, ronaldgutierrezi, ronaldmurilloi, ronaldnavarroi,
ronaldquirosi, ronaldzunigai, rosibelelizondoae, ruthfrancoae, sergiocascantei, sergioriosi,
tiboshartae, vannesabrenesae, minornavarroi, victorbarrantesi, waldymedinai, wilbertharayai,
williamcamposi, yeissonchavesi, yilbertalvaradoi, yolandarojasae, hazelcambroneroae,
zeneidabolanosae.