Andrew Polaszek

Elizabeth Murray is the Principal Investigator in the Murray Lab at Washington State University (WSU), and Director of WSU’s entomology museum, the M. T. James Entomological Collection. Her current...

The wood-boring endoparasitoid beetle genus Wroughtonia Cameron (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Helconinae) is quite diverse in the Oriental region, yet its equatorial fauna remains poorly understood. In this study, the genus is reported for the first time from Borneo. Three new species from Brunei are described and illustrated: Wroughtonia vermiculata Yan & Polaszek, sp. nov ., W. belalongensis Yan & Polaszek, sp. nov . and W. variivena Yan & Polaszek, sp. nov . A key to the species of Wroughtonia from Borneo is provided.

The first checklist of bees (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) of the Arabian Peninsula is presented. 343 species and 61 genera are included. A further 23 morphospecies and 7 doubtful records are noted. The checklist adds 76 new country records. The United Arab Emirates presently has the richest fauna with 175 species followed by Saudi Arabia (157), Oman (150), Yemen (119), Kuwait (22), Qatar (14), and Bahrain (8). The Arabian fauna shows a clearer overlap with that of North Africa rather than other eastern arid faunas.

Aphelinids are minute parasitoids belonging to the wasp superfamily Chalcidoidea. Typical hosts of Aphelinidae include soft-bodied Hemiptera, such as aphids, scale insects, and whiteflies, but some species are oophagous or hyperparasitic on other parasitoids. The family currently contains 37 genera and approximately 1,500 species, although the latter is a gross underrepresentation of their true diversity. The bionomics of Aphelinidae was last reviewed 40 years ago. Since then, phylogenomic analyses and high-quality taxonomic works have clarified relationships between and within different lineages of Aphelinidae, and knowledge of their interactions with their environment and hosts has increased considerably. In this review, we summarize this research, with an emphasis on the recognition, morphology, systematics, biology, genomics, and economic importance of aphelinids as biological control agents. Finally, we present future issues regarding this important family of parasitoids.

The tribe Apantelini sensu Mason is the largest tribe within the subfamily Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). It consists of parasitoids that attack a wide range of families of Lepidoptera and have potential significance for biological control. However, genera (and species‐groups) included in this tribe often overlap, and due to the large number of species, they have never been tested extensively at a large scale, such as across the whole mitogenome. This study examined the mitogenomes of 25 species, including 21 newly sequenced species, representing four genera ( Apanteles Foerster, Dolichogenidea Viereck, Parapanteles Ashmead, and Pholetesor Mason) traditionally regarded as Apantelini in China. Phylogenetic relationships among these species were inferred using MrBayes and IQ‐TREE based on four data matrices (PCG123, PCG123 + RNA, PCG12, and AA). The average A + T content of the sequenced mitochondrial genomes was relatively high (86.5%), and gene rearrangements were evident, especially in the ater and taeniaticornis groups of the genus Apanteles . The phylogenetic analysis among these Chinese species revealed key relationships among major species‐groups and genera. The genera Apanteles and Dolichogenidea were clearly separated, but A. mycetophilus was identified as a transitional group and very likely represents a different genus. Major species‐groups, such as A. ater and D. ultor , were confirmed to be monophyletic. However, the A. taeniaticornis group is no longer supported as a distinct species‐group based on the results of the current study, and their members actually belong to the ater ‐group. And we propose a new combination, Dolichogenidea hyposidrae comb. nov. (Wilkinson, 1928), based on the molecular data from this study, which cluster the species within the ultor ‐group. Additionally, the relationships between Dolichogenidea , Parapanteles , and Pholetesor are discussed.

In this study, the invasive orange spiny whitefly (“OSW”; Aleurocanthus spiniferus) and a species of Encarsia parasitising its puparia were studied in three different areas of the province of Modena (Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy): a pear orchard in Bomporto, an organic pear orchard in Carpi, and the semi-natural botanical garden “La Pica” in San Felice sul Panaro. The material of both species was collected for taxonomic and molecular studies. The abundance of OSW and parasitoid activity were surveyed in whitefly puparia, with a focus on the botanical garden. A total of 1800 leaves of Malus domestica, Pyrus communis and Vitis vinifera were sampled to assess whitefly infestation. The results showed a significant variation in the abundance of A. spiniferus puparia, with the highest infestation observed in V. vinifera. Morphological and molecular analyses, including mitochondrial COI and rRNA 16S for whiteflies and COI and 28S for parasitoids, confirmed the identity of A. spiniferus and identified the parasitoid as Encarsia nipponica. Molecular data also revealed the presence of three haplotypes of A. spiniferus, including a haplotype from China, new to Europe. The parasitisation rate by E. nipponica was low (0.015%). Our results provide the first European record of E. nipponica and new genetic data on the invasion pathways of A. spiniferus. Collectively, these findings offer a critical baseline for monitoring their ecological interactions and developing future pest management strategies.

The rare braconid subfamily Dirrhopinae van Achterberg is formally recorded for the first time from the Afrotropical region. Three new species of Dirrhope Foerster: D. albobasalis Liu & Polaszek, sp. nov. , D. nixoni Liu & Polaszek, sp. nov. and D. ocellimacula Liu & Polaszek, sp. nov. are described, and an illustrated key to these species is provided.