New species of Australian arid zone chelonine wasps from the genera Phanerotoma and Ascogaster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) informed by the ‘ Bush Blitz’ surveys of national reserves Author Kittel, Rebecca N. Author Austin, Andrew D. text Journal of Natural History 2015 2015-07-31 50 211 262 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2015.1074747 journal article 21297 10.1080/00222933.2015.1074747 eadd473a-210b-4c1f-a99d-0eb373d15b12 1464-5262 3983279 054A948A-5B2F-4A23-BC77-A8F9239094C0 Genus Ascogaster Wesmael, 1835 ( Figures 2 , 4 – 7 , 15 ) http://species-id.net/wiki/ Ascogaster Type . Ascogaster instabilis Wesmael, 1835: 227 (by subsequent designation: Förster, 1862: 244 ), IRSN (examined). Ascogaster : Shenefelt 1973: 814 , Shaw 1983: 7 , Huddleston 1984: 348 , Tang and Marsh 1994: 281. For diagnosis of Australian taxa, see Kittel and Austin (2014). Figure 4. Ascogaster brevivena sp. nov. : (a) habitus, lateral, holotype, scale line = 1 mm; (b) mesosoma and metasoma, dorsal view, holotype, scale line = 1 mm; (c) head, dorsal, holotype, scale line = 0.5 mm; (d) head, anterior, holotype, scale line = 0.5 mm; (e) fore wing, paratype, scale line = 0.5 mm. Figure 5. Ascogaster ferruginegaster sp. nov. : (a) habitus, lateral, holotype, scale line = 1 mm; (b) head, anterior, holotype, scale line = 0.5 mm; (c) head, dorsal, holotype, scale line = 1 mm; (d) mesosoma dorsal, holotype, scale line = 1 mm; (e) fore wing, holotype, scale line = 1 mm. Comments Leptodrepana , described by Shaw (1983) from the New World, is accepted as a valid genus by some authors (e.g. Shaw 1997 ; Brajkovic et al. 2010 ), while others have treated it as a junior synonym of Ascogaster ( van Achterberg 1990 ; Yu et al. 2005 ). Tang and Marsh (1994) followed van Achterberg ’ s synonymy and treated the new species from China as Ascogaster , but also suggested that a comprehensive revision of the group was needed as some species showed characters intermediate between Ascogaster and Leptodrepana . Shaw (1997) discussed the difficult status of Leptodrepana , arguing for a separate genus since Ascogaster would otherwise be paraphyletic. However, no comprehensive analysis has yet been undertaken using a combined morphological and multigene approach to resolve this question. Here we treat all relevant species as Ascogaster , but point out that A. brevivena sp. nov. exhibits characters intermediate between these two genera, such as having equilateral ocelli as in Leptodrepana . Figure 6. Ascogaster prolixogaster sp. nov. : (a) habitus, lateral, holotype, scale line = 1 mm; (b) head, anterior, holotype, scale line = 0.5 mm; (c) metasoma, dorsal, holotype, scale line = 1 mm, metasomal teeth arrowed; (d) fore wing, paratype, scale line = 1 mm. Key to Ascogaster from the Australian arid zone 1. SR-1 not completely sclerotised, not extending to the margin of fore wing ( Figure 4e ); female with 22 antennomeres; ocelli equilateral ( Figure 4c )................. ................................................................................................. Ascogaster brevivena sp. nov . - SR-1 completely sclerotised, extending to the margin of fore wing ( Figure 5e ); female with 19 antennomeres; ocelli isosceles ( Figure 5c ) ......................................... 2 2. Carapace elongate with extended tip, teeth on posterior end present ( Figure 6c , arrowed)................................... ................................... Ascogaster prolixogaster sp. nov . - Carapace oval, but not elongated, posterior end rounded without teeth ( Figure 4a )......................................................................................................................................... 3 Figure 7. Ascogaster rubriscapa sp. nov. : (a) habitus, lateral, holotype, scale line = 1 mm; (b) mesosoma, dorsal, holotype, scale line = 1 mm; (c) metasoma, dorsal, holotype, scale line = 1 mm; (d) head, anterior view, holotype, scale line = 0.5 mm; (e) fore wing, holotype, scale line = 1 mm. 3. Carapace and legs orange ( Figure 5a ); notauli absent...................................................... ..................................................................................... Ascogaster ferruginegaster sp. nov . - Carapace black ( Figure 7a ), legs brown with black coxa ( Figure 7a ); notauli present................................................................................ Ascogaster rubriscapa sp. nov .