Aximopsis gabrielae sp. nov.: a gregarious parasitoid (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae) of the skipper Quadrus cerialis (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) feeding on Piper amalago in southern Mexico

ABSTRACT

Aximopsis gabrielae Zhang, Gates and Campos sp. nov. is described from southern Mexico in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. This species is a koinobiont gregarious larval-pupal endoparasitoid of the caterpillar of Quadrus cerialis (Stoll) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) feeding on the shrub Piper amalago L. (Piperaceae) in the semi-evergreen forest. This is the first record of Aximopsis parasitoids on Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera). Morphological, biological, ecological and geographical data are integrated to delineate the new species.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:3226C193-88FB-45EA-BFCB-5C752B3C5E46

KEYWORDS:

• endoparasitoid
• koinobiont
• natural history
• tritrophic interaction
• Yucatan Peninsula

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to CONAFOR for access to the research area, Noemi Salas (specimen processing), Humberto Bahena-Basave, Eric Tepe and Lourdes Chamorro (photography). We also thank two anonymous reviewers, who provided valuable feedback that has greatly improved the manuscript. Collecting was carried out under permit FAUT-0119 (insect specimens) and SGPA/DGGFS/712/1591/18 (plant samples) from SEMARNAT (Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales – Direccion General de Vida Silvestre) granted to CP and DC, respectively.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología in Mexico [CONACYT grant numbers 621974, 824833]; and by the US National Science Foundation [grant numbers DEB1442075, DEB1442103, DEB1542103].