Annotated Catalog of Vespid Hosts (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) of Tachinidae (Diptera), with Description of a New Species of Ophirion Townsend from Brazil

Although tachinids parasitize a wide variety of insects, vespid wasps are not commonly recorded as hosts. Three lineages of Tachinidae are parasitoids of larvae of eusocial Vespidae, namely the Old World tribe Anacamptomyiini and some Neotropical species of the Blondeliini genera Ophirion Townsend and Lixophaga Townsend. The taxonomy of anacamptomyiine species has been improved and clarified in the last decades, but Neotropical species of Ophirion and Lixophaga are still difficult to identify, preventing further studies in the group. I present here an annotated catalog of vespid hosts of Tachinidae, with an overview of host use and oviposition strategies of their parasitoid species. Moreover, I describe a new host record for O. lenkoi sp. nov. Gudin and L. punctata (Townsend), reared from a nest of Polybia (Myrapetra) scutellaris (White) in Nova Europa, São Paulo, Brazil. Ophirion lenkoi sp. nov. is described and L. punctata is redescribed, with two new junior synonyms proposed: L. fitzgeraldi (Curran), syn. nov., and L. dubiosa (Thompson), syn. nov. I also include illustrations of type material and discuss the most relevant diagnostic characters for species of both genera. Lastly, I argue that the biology of Lixophaga species may be a suitable model to understand how tachinids were able to explore eusocial vespid hosts.

Large Flies Overlooked: the Genus Hermetia Latreille, 1804 (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) in the Neotropics, with 11 Synonyms and a New Species to Brazil

Hermetia Latreille, 1804 is currently globally distributed, with ~ 80 species, but is especially diverse in tropical regions. Hitherto, 52 species occur in the Neotropics. However, apart from H. illucens (Linnaeus, 1758) and a few other common species, the group is still poorly studied. One of the main persistent problems is the limited knowledge about the identity of most species, resulting in difficulties regarding species determination and discovery of new taxa. In our efforts to revise this genus, we address several of these issues and propose the following 11 synonyms after examination of 17 type specimens: H. ampulla James, 1938 syn. nov. and H. panamensis Greene, 1940 syn. nov. of H. aurinotata Lindner, 1935; H. burmeisteri Lindner, 1949 syn. nov. of H. cornithorax (Lindner, 1928); H. fimbriata (Lindner, 1931) syn. nov. of H. crabro Osten Sacken, 1886; H. geniculata Macquart, 1855 syn. nov. of H. illucens; H. coarctata Macquart, 1846 syn. nov. and H. scutellata Macquart, 1855 syn. nov. of H. pulchra Wiedemann, 1830; H. reinhardi James, 1935 syn. nov. of H. relicta Osten Sacken, 1886; H. tincta (Walker, 1851) syn. nov. of H. rufitarsis Macquart, 1846; and H. mitis Curran, 1934 syn. nov. and H. nana Lindner, 1935 syn. nov. of H. teevani Curran, 1934. Moreover, a new striking species with a pattern of abdominal coloration resembling social wasps of Brachygastra Perty, 1833 is described from Brazil-H. brachygastropsis sp. nov.-and two species are removed from the Brazilian fauna: H. aeneipennis Giglio-Tos, 1893 and H. sexmaculata Macquart, 1834.

Morphological, morphometrical, and molecular characterization of Metarhabditis amsactae (Ali, Pervez, Andrabi, Sharma and Verma, 2011) Sudhaus, 2011 (Rhabditida, Rhabditidae) from India and proposal of Metarhabditis longicaudata as a junior synonym of M. amsactae

A new population of Metarhabditis amsactae from India is morphologically, morphometrically, and molecularly characterized. This material is characterized by having 0.65 to 1.14 mm length, lips rounded, and grouped in pairs, stoma with metastegostoma bearing setose denticles, pharynx with metacorpus slightly swollen and fusiform, nerve ring, and excretory pore located at isthmus level, female reproductive system didelphic-amphidelphic with vulva equatorial, female tail conical-elongate with acute tip, male tail conical with large and robust posterior filiform part, spicules free with hooked manubrium slightly bent ventrad, gubernaculum with narrow corpus, bursa open leptoderan with eight genital papillae and phasmids posterior to the GP8. Molecular studies based on 18S and 28S rDNA genes are provided for the first time for the species. In addition, integrated morphological, morphometrical, and molecular characters are compared with other previous records of the species. According to our analysis, Metarhabditis longicaudata and other material described as different species are proposed as new junior synonyms of M. amsactae.

The comparison of molecular and morphology-based phylogenies of trichaline net-winged beetles (Coleoptera: Lycidae: Metriorrhynchini) with description of a new subgenus

Separate morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses are presented and the classification of trichaline net-winged beetles is revised. The clade, earlier given a subfamily, tribe or subtribe rank, is a terminal lineage in Metriorrhynchina and contains DiatrichalusKleine, 1926, EniclasesWaterhouse, 1879, Flabellotrichalus Pic, 1921, Lobatang Bocak, 1998, Microtrichalus Pic, 1921, SchizotrichalusKleine, 1926, and TrichalusWaterhouse, 1877. Maibrius subgen. nov. is proposed in Flabellotrichalus with the type-species Flabellotrichalus (Maibrius) horaki sp. nov. Unlike previous studies, Lobatang is included in the trichaline clade. Further, SpinotrichalusKazantsev, 2010, stat. nov. is down-ranked to the subgenus in Lobatang Bocak, 1998 and a new combination, Lobatang (Spinotrichalus) telnovi (Kazantsev, 2010) comb. nov., is proposed. The morphology does not provide a sufficient support for robust phylogeny due to the intrageneric variability of most phenotypic traits and the limited number of characters supporting deep relationships. Most morphological generic diagnoses must be based on the shape of male genitalia. Other characters, such as the shapes of pronotum and antennae are commonly variable within genera. The fronto-lateral pronotal ridges of Eniclases + Schizotrichalus resemble the ancestral condition in Metriorrhynchini and they re-evolved in the terminal clade and do not indicate the early split of Eniclases + Schizotrichalus from other trichaline genera. The evolution of morphological traits and the conflict in the morphological and molecular phylogenetic signal are discussed in details. We suggest that the general appearance is affected by the evolution of mimetic complexes, the patterns of elytral costae by their strengthening function, and the presence of flabellate antennae by their role in sexual communication. Then, similar phenotypic traits evolve in unrelated lineages. The results demonstrate that phylogenetic classification must be based on all available information because neither morphological traits nor DNA data robustly support all recovered relationships.