Abstract
The Charipinae from Colombia has been recently studied. Nine Charipinae species are known to be present in this country: Alloxysta arcuata (Kieffer, 1902), Alloxysta castanea (Hartig, 1841), Alloxysta consobrina (Zetterstedt, 1838), Alloxysta hansoni Pujade-Villar, 2011, Alloxysta obscurata (Hartig, 1840), Alloxysta medinae Ferrer-Suay & Pujade-Villar, 2012, Alloxysta pilipennis (Hartig, 1840), Alloxysta torresi Ferrer-Suay & Pujade-Villar, 2012 and Phaenoglyphis villosa (Hartig, 1841). Here more Charipinae material has been studied from collections made with Malaise traps by the Humboldt Institute in several places of Colombia. In this study, two species are recorded for the first time from Colombia: Alloxysta mullensis (Cameron, 1883) and Alloxysta xanthopa (Thomson, 1862). Data of the capture of the specimens are given.
Keywords
Introduction
The Charipinae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea: Figitidae) is an important subfamily characterized being hyperparasitoids of aphids and psyllids. As hyperparasitoids they have an important impact in the aphid biological control programs. The presence of Charipinae can modify the biological control done by hymenopteran parasitoids of aphid pests in at least three ways: (i) increasing primary parasitoid mortality, (ii) increasing the growth rate of the aphid population indirectly and (iii) increasing the propensity for primary parasitoids to disperse (van Veen et al. 2001).
Members of subfamily Charipinae are very small wasps (∼1 mm of length) with a worldwide distribution, characterized by a smooth and shiny body. Concretely, Alloxysta Förster, 1869 is the most abundant and widely distributed genus in this subfamily. Nowadays, there are 101 Alloxysta species considered valid (Ferrer-Suay, person. data). This genus is also present in every biogeographical region. Recently, the fauna of charipines has been studied from collections made with Malaise traps by the Humboldt Institute in several places of Colombia (Ferrer-Suay et al. 2012a). In this study, six species were cited for the first time in this country: Alloxysta arcuata (Kieffer, 1902), Alloxysta castanea (Hartig, 1841), Alloxysta hansoni Pujade-Villar, 2011, Alloxysta obscurata (Hartig, 1840), Alloxysta pilipennis (Hartig, 1840), and Phaenoglyphis villosa (Hartig, 1841) and two more were described: Alloxysta medinae Ferrer-Suay & Pujade-Villar, 2012 and Alloxysta torresi Ferrer-Suay & Pujade-Villar, 2012. Alloxysta consobrina (Zetterstedt, 1838) was cited in Colombia in a previous work (Pujade-Villar et al. 2010).
Continuing with the Charipinae studies from collections in this country, two more species have been found for the first time in Colombia.
Alloxysta mullensis (Cameron, 1883)
Alloxysta xanthopa (Thomson, 1862)
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
Claudia A. Medina, Arturo González y Miguel Angel Torres from the IAvH (Instituto Alexander von Humboldt) for sending us the material mentioned in this study and for all their kindness shown during stay in Villa de Leiva. This research was supported by the project CGL2011-22889 of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain) and the grant AP2009-4833 of the Ministerio de Educación (Spain).