The systematics of the European species of Eupelmus (Eupelmus) Dalman (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) belonging to the 'urozonus-complex' is elucidated through combined molecular and morphological characterization. One mitochondrial gene fragment (Cytochrome oxidase I) and one nuclear protein-coding gene fragment (Wingless) were sequenced and the results compared with those of a detailed morphological study of the specimens from an extensive sampling. Knowledge of the biodiversity of Eupelmus in the Western Palearctic Region is significantly improved through the separation and description of 11 new species: E.

This paper is an addendum for the availability of the names of 11 new species proposed in Al khatib et al. (2014).

BackgroundThe ecological differentiation of insects with parasitic life-style is a complex process that may involve phylogenetic constraints as well as morphological and/or behavioural adaptations. In most cases, the relative importance of these driving forces remains unexplored. We investigate here this question for the “Eupelmus urozonus species group” which encompasses parasitoid wasps of potential interest in biological control. This was achieved using seven molecular markers, reliable records on 91 host species and a proxy of the ovipositor length.ResultsAfter using an adequate partitioning scheme, Maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches provide a well-resolved phylogeny supporting the monophyly of this species group and highlighting its subdivision into three sub-groups. Great variations of both the ovipositor length and the host range (specialist versus generalist) were observed at this scale, with these two features being not significantly constrained by the phylogeny. Ovipositor length was not shown as a significant predictor of the parasitoid host range.ConclusionsThis study provides firstly the first evidence for the strong lability of both the ovipositor’s length and the realised host range in a set of phylogenetically related and sympatric species. In both cases, strong contrasts were observed between sister species. Moreover, no significant correlation was found between these two features. Alternative drivers of the ecological differentiation such as interspecific interactions are proposed and the consequences on the recruitment of these parasitoids on native and exotic pests are discussed.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-015-0571-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.