Phylogenomic analyses reveal a rare new genus of wasp (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Cryptinae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Abstract

Within the ichneumonid wasp tribe Cryptini (Ichneumonidae, Cryptinae), Acrosnemus gen. nov. and its single species A. occultus sp. nov. are proposed, described, and illustrated. The phylogenetic placement of the new genus is tested using data from genomic ultraconserved elements in a matrix with 126 other species of Cryptini and five outgroup taxa. Phylogenetic analyses indicate the new genus is related to Melanocryptus Cameron, from which it can be distinguished by the presence of a conspicuous anterolateral tooth on the first metasomal tergite; tip of ventral valve of ovipositor with a dorsal lobe that partly encloses dorsal valve; posterior transverse carina represented only by two distinct sublateral crests; and female antenna with a distinct white band. The new genus presents a mosaic of morphological traits from various cryptine lineages, highlighting the ubiquitous morphological homoplasy among cryptines. The single species is recorded only from one Atlantic Forest fragment in south-eastern Brazil. Sampling history suggests it is naturally rare.

http://www.zoobank.org:pub:F2519AD0-9150-4207-9F17-74E72DDC4C6

Key words:

• Cryptini
• Lymeon group
• Melanocryptus
• Neotropical
• parasitoid

Acknowledgements

Janete Correa Cardoso, a former undergraduate student at the UFES laboratory, originally singled out the female of A. occultus sp. nov. from drawers of unidentified Cryptini as the ‘most interesting’ specimen in that collection, calling our attention to it. Arthur Machado Gonçalves (UFES) kindly prepared Figure 1. Phylogenetic analyses were run at the Smithsonian’s High Performance Cluster (SI/HPC-Hydra). We thank the Office of the Chief Information Officer for its constant support to Hydra users. The curators of over 20 of collections (listed in Supplemental File S1) kindly provided access to specimens used for DNA sequencing. Two anonymous reviewers contributed with careful readings and important suggestions to the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2020.1787551.

Fig. 9. Acrosnemus occultus gen. & sp. nov., male paraype (FAS2421), habitus.

Associate Editor: Paul Z. Goldstein

Additional information

Funding

This publication represents part of the results of the master’s work of FAS, financed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) [Finance Code 001]. This work was partially supported by research funds provided by a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant awarded to BFS by the National Science Foundation [Award no. 1501802]. The Global Genome Initiative (GGI) is an internal organ of the Smithsonian Institution and not registered in the Open Funder Registry, but we would still like to acknowledge it for its financial support of this research. BFS is currently supported by a Buck Global Genome Initiative postdoctoral fellowship (Smithsonian Institution).