Revision of the endemic New Zealand braconid wasp genus Metaspathius: new subfamily placement, and descriptions of four new species including three with fully winged females (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Mesostoinae)

Three new species of the New Zealand endemic, Neptihormius van Achterberg & Berry (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), with diverse host records

“…Monophyly of the subfamily is currently uncertain, and in the most recent molecular investigation, the three endemic New Zealand genera of Mesostoinae ( Doryctomorpha Ashmead 1900, Metaspathius Brues, 1922 and Rhyssaloides Belokobylskij 1999) cluster as a separate, more basally derived, clade (Quicke et al . ). Other genera of Mesostoinae in New Zealand, Neptihormius van Achterberg and Berry () and Austrohormius Belokobylskij (1989), however, belong to the group comprising the Australian and Neotropical genera of Mesostoinae.…”

“…; Quicke et al . ) and their biologies may provide significant clues about the ancestral biology of the whole of the cyclostome braconid lineage. Monophyly of the subfamily is currently uncertain, and in the most recent molecular investigation, the three endemic New Zealand genera of Mesostoinae ( Doryctomorpha Ashmead 1900, Metaspathius Brues, 1922 and Rhyssaloides Belokobylskij 1999) cluster as a separate, more basally derived, clade (Quicke et al .…”

“…However, Mesostoa itself is a primary gall former on Banksia (Austin & Dangerfield ); Andesipolis is a koinobiont ectoparasitoid of Lepidoptera; the New Zealand endemic Rhyssaloides and Metaspathius are parasitoids of Coleoptera larvae (Quicke et al . ); and Neptihormius van Achterberg and Berry () was reared as a parasitoid from mines of a nepticulid moth, Stigmella sp. nov. nr progonopsis Meyrick on Gaultheria antipoda G.Forst.…”

A new micropterous, ground‐dwelling, non‐cyclostome braconid parasitoid wasp, Epigeiobracon perplexus Quicke & Ward, gen. et sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from New Zealand of uncertain relationships

“…The New Zealand braconid wasp fauna, including that of its islands, has a particularly high representation of micropterous, brachypterous and apterous species (Austin & Dangerfield ; Belokobylskij & Austin ; Quicke et al . ). Flightlessness is a common adaptation to island life but is also common among New Zealand mainland groups, e.g.…”

“…; Quicke ; Quicke et al . ), but within that lineage, they include both ectoparasitoid idiobionts and endoparasitoid koinobionts. Conversely, brachypterous, micropterous and apterous species are only known in a few subfamilies of the non‐cyclostome braconid lineage.…”