Source: UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING submitted to
STUDIES OF PARASITOID WASPS OF FOREST ECOSYSTEMS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1002869
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
WYO-530-14
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Apr 21, 2014
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2018
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Shaw, SC.
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
1000 E UNIVERSITY AVE DEPARTMENT 3434
LARAMIE,WY 82071-2000
Performing Department
Ecosystem Science and Management
Non Technical Summary
Specimen-based studies will examine the diversity, abundance, taxonomy, ecology, and basic biology of forest-associated beneficial parasitic wasps, especially those of the insect family Braconidae. These minute wasps are beneficial insects that feed as specialized predators on various kinds of plant-feeding (potentially destructive) insects, suppressing their populations, and providing natural insect control.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
21506121130100%
Goals / Objectives
The goal of this CRIS project is to continue to build on my previous two decades of research in Wyoming forests by continuing sampling, specimen preparation, discovery, and documentation of Braconidae wasp species from forest ecosystems.The specific objectives of this research will be:1. prepare and deposit museum voucher specimens of Braconidae species,2. record new species and new biological host association data,3. discovery and publication of new species of Braconidae.
Project Methods
Braconidae wasp specimens will be sampled using a variety of methodologies including ground-based Malaise traps, canopy Malaise traps hoisted into trees, yellow bowl traps, black light traps, rearing from host insects, and by-hand collecting with nets and aspirators. Continuing research will focus on beetle-infested sites in the Medicine Bow National Forest near Laramie, to reduce the need for travel funding. Extraction and preparation of specimens from previously-sampled bulk insect samples will also continue to add new specimens to this research. Sampling methods and specimen-preparation methods are described in Wharton et al. (1997) and Shaw (2006). Methodology and terminology for description of new species will follow that of Wharton et al. (1997), Marsh and Shaw (1999, 2001), Shaw (1992, 2007), and Shaw et al. (2006). No additional facilities or equipment are currently needed.

Progress 04/21/14 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Forest entomologists, ecologists, biological control workers, forest managers, and students. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Students and research associates gained training and professional development with manuscript preparation, specimen preparation, museum methods, and auto-montage microscopy and photography of microscopic insect specimens. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Via publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Although this project number is ending, I will continue with the sorting and preparation of insect specimen samples from forest habitats, and the study and description of new Braconidae species(beneficial parasitic wasps).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Twelve scientific journal articles were published, which collectively included the discovery, naming, and description, of 117 new species of wasps belonging to the beneficial insect family Braconidae. All were published with illustrated identification keys, also including diagnostic features for related, but already known, insect species. Voucher specimens were prepared and deposited in the UW Insect Museum, as well as several other museum collections.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Haimowitz, L., P.M. Marsh, and S.R. Shaw. 2014. First record of the genus Caenophanes Foerster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Doryctinae) for America north of Mexico with a description of a new species from Wyoming USA. Zootaxa 390 (2): 287-293. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3900.2.9 Journal Articles 2014 Aguirre, H. and S.R. Shaw. 2014. Meteorus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) parasitoids of Pyralidae: description and biology of two new species and first record of Meteorus desmiae Zitani, 1998 from Ecuador. Journal of Natural History 2014: 1-14. doi: 10.1080/00222933.2014.909061 Journal Articles 2014 Aguirre, H. and S.R. Shaw. 2014. Neotropical species of Meteorus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Meteorinae) parasitizing Arctiinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Erebidae). Zootaxa 3779(3): 353-367. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3779.3.3 Journal Articles 2014 Shimbori, E.M, and S.R. Shaw. 2014. Twenty-four new species of Aleiodes Wesmael from the eastern Andes of Ecuador with associated biological information (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Rogadinae). Zookeys 7402: 1-81. doi:10.3897zookeys.7402.7402 Journal Articles 2014 Helmuth Aguirre, Luis Felipe de Almeida, Scott Richard Shaw, and Carlos E. Sarmiento. 2015. An illustrated key to Neotropical species of the genus Meteorus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Euphorinae). ZooKeys 489: 33-94 (23 Mar 2015), doi: 10.3897/zookeys.489.9258 http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=4942 Journal Articles 2015 Eduardo Mitio Shimbori, Scott Richard Shaw, and Ang�lica Maria Penteado-Dias. 2015. Revision of New World Aleiodes Wesmael species of the compressor Herrich-Schaeffer species-group (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Rogadinae). The Canadian Entomologist 00: 19 (2015), doi:10.4039/tce.2015.9, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7711E7EF-4C27-4930-A35E-95DA67AB8465 Journal Articles 2015 Valerio, A.A. and S.R. Shaw. 2015. Thirteen new Costa Rican species belonging to the genus Trirhaphis Ruthe (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Rogadinae) with their host records. Zootaxa 3904 (4): 501-540. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.39904.4.2 Journal Articles 2015 Aguirre, H., L.F. de Almeida, and S.R. Shaw. 2017. Revision of the genus Centistes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Euphorinae: Centistini) of Costa Rica. Zootaxa 4216 (1): 001046. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4216.1.1 Journal Articles 2017 Shimbori, Eduardo Mitio; Gessner, Carolina da Silva Souza; Penteado-Dias, Angelica Maria; Shaw, Scott Richard. 2017. A revision of the genus Andesipolis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Mesostoinae) and redefinition of the subfamily Mesostoinae. Zootaxa 4216 (2): 101152. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4216.2.1 Journal Articles 2017 Garro, L.S., E. Shimbori, A.M. Penteado-Dias, and S.R. Shaw. 2017. Four new species Aleiodes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Rogadinae) from the Neotropical Region. The Canadian Entomologist 00: 1-14 (2017). Journal Articles 2017 Aguirre, H., S.R. Shaw, and A. Rodr�guez Jim�nez. 2017. Contrasting patterns of altitudinal distribution between parasitoid wasps of the subfamilies Braconinae and Doryctinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Insect Conservation and Diversity (2017) doi: 10.1111/icad.12265 Journal Articles 2017 Dadelahi, S, S.R. Shaw, H. Aguirre, and L.F. de Almeida. 2018. A taxonomic study of Costa Rican Leptodrepana with descriptions of twenty-four new species (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Cheloninae). Zookeys 750: 59-130. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.750.23536 Journal Articles


Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Forest entomologists, ecologists, biological control workers, forest managers, and students. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Students gained experience with specimen preparation, museum methods, and auto-montage microscopy and photography ofmicroscopic insect specimens. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Through the publication of scientific journal articles. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Work will continue with the sorting and preparation of insect specimen samples from forest habitats, and the discovery and description of new Braconidae (parasitic wasp species).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Onepaper provideda taxonomic revision for the euphorine wasp genus Centistes from Costa Rica. Twenty-three new specieswere described: C. achterbergi sp. n., C. acuticaudatus sp. n., C. auricephalus sp. n., C. auristigma sp. n., C. bicaudatus sp. n., C. cabecares sp. n., C. cartagoensis sp. n., C. chorotegus sp. n., C. compactus sp. n., C. curvicaudatus sp. n., C. gauldi sp. n., C. hansoni sp. n., C. hirsutus sp. n., C. janzeni sp. n., C. laticaudatus sp. n., C. longicaudatus sp. n., C. marshi sp. n., C. muertensis sp. n., C. ornamentum sp. n., C. pilosus sp. n., C. puntarenensis sp. n., C. sergeyi sp. n., and C. zurquiensis sp. n. A taxonomic key also includes the two previously described species C. epicaeri Muesebeck and C. gasseni Shaw, the later being a biocontrol agent of tropical leaf beetles. The Centistes species were found to exhibit their highest diversity in premontane cloud forests. In a secondpaper, four new species of wasps of the Aleiodes apicalis (Brullé) species-group from the Neotropical Region were described and illustrated: Aleiodes ambrosiae new species. from Peru, A. aquilesi new species from Costa Rica, and A. sachambrosiae new species and A. tapirape new species from Brazil. New distribution records were provided for Aleiodes molestus Cresson, from Costa Rica. With the addition of these new species, the apicalis species-group now has eleven species from the New World, six of which are recorded from Neotropical Region. In a thirdpaper we examine the phylogeneticplacement of the Neotropical genus Andesipolis Whitfield & Choi,classify itwithin the subfamily Mesostoinae, and provide a revised definition of the subfamily. We revise the genus Andesipolis, and provide descriptions of 22 new species from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador. A key to known species is provided. The distribution of Andesipolis was found to be exclusive to high altitude or high latitude regions in South America, especially in mountain ranges along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. In a fourth paper, we examinedinsects as tropicalorganisms have narrow altitudinal ranges and therefore may be especially vulnerable to climate change. Parasitoid wasps are no exception, so baseline knowledge about their vulnerability to rising temperatures wasincluded inanalyses of their distributional ranges along elevational gradients. Using museum collections of the parasitoid subfamilies Braconinae and Doryctinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from Costa Rica, we tested two alternative hypotheses explaining altitudinal distributions of communities: (i) the Middomain effect, which states that species diversity peaks at middle elevations as a result of species' random distributions; and (ii) Rapoport's effect, which predicts that species diversity should monotonically decrease with increasing elevation. We found that for the Doryctinae, species diversity decreased monotonically with elevation, while the Braconinae showed two peaks. Species altitudinal ranges increased with elevation in the Doryctinae, as predicted by Rapoport's effect, but not so in the Braconinae. Neither of the subfamilies' distributions fit the prediction of the Mid-domain effect. The richness peak at low elevations displayed by the Braconinae and Doryctinae matches the distribution of wood-boring beetles, which are potential hosts for both taxa. The second peak described in the Braconinae at middle elevations may reflect either better access or higher availability of potential hosts in the Diptera and Lepidoptera at those elevations. Because species in the Doryctinae, on average, had altitudinal ranges that were broader and lower in elevation than species in the Braconinae,the results suggest that species in the Doryctinae might have greater resilience to future temperature increases.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Aguirre, H., L.F. de Almeida, and S.R. Shaw. 2017. Revision of the genus Centistes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Euphorinae: Centistini) of Costa Rica. Zootaxa 4216 (1): 001046. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4216.1.1
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Shimbori, Eduardo Mitio; Gessner, Carolina da Silva Souza; Penteado-Dias, Angelica Maria; Shaw, Scott Richard. 2017. A revision of the genus Andesipolis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Mesostoinae) and redefinition of the subfamily Mesostoinae. Zootaxa 4216 (2): 101152. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4216.2.1
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Garro, L.S., E. Shimbori, A.M. Penteado-Dias, and S.R. Shaw. 2017. Four new species Aleiodes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Rogadinae) from the Neotropical Region. The Canadian Entomologist 00: 1-14 (2017).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Aguirre, H., S.R. Shaw, and A. Rodr�guez Jim�nez. 2017. Contrasting patterns of altitudinal distribution between parasitoid wasps of the subfamilies Braconinae and Doryctinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Insect Conservation and Diversity (2017) doi: 10.1111/icad.12265


Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Forest entomologists, ecologists, biological control workers, forest managers, and students. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Students gained experience with specimen preparation, museum methods, and auto-montage microscopy and photography od microscopic insect specimens. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Via publications in scientific journals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Work will continue with the sorting and preparation of insect specimen samples from forest habitats, and the discovery and description of new Braconidae (parasitic wasp species).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Species of the Aleiodes compressor (Herrich-Schaeffer) species group (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Rogadinae) from the New World were revised. Two new species were described (Aleiodes mantiqueirensis new species and Aleiodes marinonii new species) and geographical range of the species group is extended into the Neotropical Region. Both new species are known only from the type locality in Brazil. Including the current descriptions, there are six species within the Aleiodes compressor species group, four of them from the New World. Some new diagnostic characters for the group were proposed such as the relative length of antenna and the shape of ovipositor sheaths. Thirteen new species belonging to the genus Triraphis Ruthe were described and illustrated: Triraphis baios sp. nov., T. balteus sp. nov., T. chinusi sp. nov., T. cortazari sp. nov., T. defectus sp. nov., T. guarusa sp. nov., T. huidobroi sp. nov., T. ikelosops sp. nov., T. melasops sp. nov., T. paraholos sp. nov., T. proxilus sp. nov., T. simphlex sp. nov. and T. willei sp. nov. The lepidopteran hosts were recorded as feeding on 17 genera of plants within 16 families. Two families of Lepidoptera were reported as new hosts for Triraphis: Acraga sp. (Dalceridae) parasitized by T. paraholos sp. nov. and Norape sp. (Megalopygidae) by T. guarusa sp. nov. Moreover, four species formerly classified as Rogas were transferred into the genus Triraphis: Triraphis areatus (Cresson) comb. n., T. fasciipennis (Cresson) comb. n., T. fusciceps (Cresson) comb. n. and T. ornatus (Cresson) comb. n.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Eduardo Mitio Shimbori, Scott Richard Shaw, and Ang�lica Maria Penteado-Dias. 2015. Revision of New World Aleiodes Wesmael species of the compressor Herrich-Schaeffer species-group (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Rogadinae). The Canadian Entomologist 00: 19 (2015), doi:10.4039/tce.2015.9, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7711E7EF-4C27-4930-A35E-95DA67AB8465
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Valerio, A.A. and S.R. Shaw. 2015. Thirteen new Costa Rican species belonging to the genus Trirhaphis Ruthe (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Rogadinae) with their host records. Zootaxa 3904 (4): 501-540. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.39904.4.2


Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:Forest entomologists, ecologists, biological control workers, forest managers, and students. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two graduate students, one undergraduate, and one post-doctoral research associate gained training and professional development with manuscript preparation, specimen preparation, and auto-montage microscopy and photography of microscopic insect specimens. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Via publications in scientific journals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Work will continue with the sorting and preparation of insect specimen samples for forest habitats, and the sorting and description of new Braconidae (parasitic wasp species).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? A comprehensive key for 75 species of Meteorus distributed across 15 Neotropical countries is presented. Eleven new species from Bolivia, Costa Rica and Ecuador are described: M. albistigma, M. carolae, M. eurysaccavorus, M. fallacavus, M. flavistigma, M. haimowitzi, M. magnoculus, M. martinezi, M. microcavus, M. noctuivorus and M. orion. Expanded range distributions are recorded for M. andreae, M. farallonensis, M. guineverae, M. jerodi, M. kraussi, M. papiliovorus and M. quimbayensis. The host of M. jerodi is reported for the first time: a noctuid larva feeding on Asteraceae. Meteorus papiliovorus is recorded attacking Papilionidae larvae in Ecuador, therefore displaying a similar host family preference as formerly documented from Costa Rica and Colombia.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Helmuth Aguirre, Luis Felipe de Almeida, Scott Richard Shaw, and Carlos E. Sarmiento. 2015. An illustrated key to Neotropical species of the genus Meteorus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Euphorinae). ZooKeys 489: 33-94 (23 Mar 2015), doi: 10.3897/zookeys.489.9258 http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=4942


Progress 04/21/14 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Forest entomologists, ecologists, biological control workers, forest managers, and students. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Two graduate students, one undergraduate,and one post-doctoral research associate gained training and professional development with manuscript preparation, specimen preparation, and auto-montage microscopy and photography of microscopic insect specimens. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Via publications in scientific journals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Work will continue with the sorting and preparation of insect specimen samples for forest habitats, and the sorting and description of new Braconidae (parasitic wasp species).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Thirty new species of Braconidae (parasitic wasps) were described and named. This includes one new species from Wyoming (Grand Teton), and 29 from tropical forests in Ecuador and Costa Rica. These studies were based on specimens sorted, prepared, and vouchered at the UW Insect Museum. The first species of Caenophanes Foerster recorded from America north of Mexico was described: Caenophanes harlowi Haimowitz and Marsh, and a key to distinguish the two described New World species was provided. The species has not been definitively reared from a host, but is associated with bark beetle-infested pine trees. In a second paper, three new species of Meteorus wasps (parasitoids of Arctiinae caterpillars) were described: Meteorus anuae n. sp., M. juliae n. sp. and M. mirandae n. sp. The first biological record for M. cecavorum Aguirre & Shaw as well as its cocoon description was reported. A comprehensive key for the Neotropical Meteorus attacking Arctiinae was provided. A total of nine Meteorus species have been reared from Arctiinae caterpillars in the Neotropical Region. Six of them are gregarious and three solitary. The biological information about host and food plants concurs with the hypothesis of specialist parasitoids preferring "nasty" caterpillars (hairy or chemically defended). In a third paper, two new Ecuadorian wasp species attacking pyralid larvae were described: Meteorus albisericus and Meteorus pyralivorus, as well as a new Ecuadorian distribution record for Meteorus desmiae Zitani, another pyralid parasitoid, previously known from Costa Rica and Colombia. The hosts of M. albisericus were found feeding on Clibadium glabrescens S. F. Blake (Asteraceae), Diplazium costale var. robustum (Sodiro) Stolze (Dryopteridaceae), Brunellia tomentosa Bonpl. (Brunelliaceae) and Cavendishia sp.Lindl. (Ericaceae). Chusquea scandens Kunth (Poaceae) is the associated plant for M. pyralivorus hosts. Meteorus. albisericus is the first Neotropical Meteorus species with dorsopes whose biology is known. We hypothesize that the parasitism of pyraloid caterpillars has originated at least twice in Neotropical Meteorus. Aleiodes Wesmael is the most diverse rogadine genus worldwide, with specialized koinobiont endoparasitic development in Lepidoptera caterpillars resulting in mummification of the host remains. Aleiodes are important factors naturally regulating the populations of leaf-feeding caterpillars in forests. A fourth paper focuses on describing new Aleiodes species from the Yanayacu Biological Station, with special interest in those with biological information. We described 24 new species (Aleiodes albidactyl sp. n., Aleiodes albigena sp. n., Aleiodes albiviria sp. n., Aleiodes bimaculatus sp. n., Aleiodes cacuangoi sp. n., Aleiodes colberti sp. n., Aleiodes delicatus sp. n., Aleiodes dyeri sp. n., Aleiodes elleni sp. n., Aleiodes falloni sp. n., Aleiodes frosti sp. n., Aleiodes kingmani sp. n., Aleiodes longikeros sp. n., Aleiodes luteosicarius sp. n., Aleiodes marilynae sp. n., Aleiodes mirandae sp. n., Aleiodes napo sp. n., Aleiodes nubicola sp. n., Aleiodes onyx sp. n., Aleiodes shakirae sp. n., Aleiodes stewarti sp. n., Aleiodes townsendi sp. n., Aleiodes tzantza sp. n., and Aleiodes yanayacu sp. n.) from Napo Province in Ecuador, 16 of which were reared from host caterpillars. With these results 89 species of Neotropical Aleiodes are now known, with 41 of them having host records. The most commonly reared species were in the circumscriptus/gastritor species-group, and mostly associated with Geometridae hosts (six of ten species). Three species of seriatus species-group, in contrast, were each reared from a different family. One of these species (i.e. A. frosti sp. n.), reared from Notodontidae, cuts a posterior radial opening in the mummy for emergence, a unique behavior in Aleiodes, recorded here for the first time. A. luteosicarius sp. n. is the first described species from Ecuador in the pallidator species group. Differing from previously described pallidator species, which attack only Lymantriinae larvae, A. luteosicarius sp. n. attacks several species of Arctiinae larvae, being both subfamilies within Erebidae with densely setose caterpillars. We also describe new species of the gressitti and pulchripes species-groups.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Haimowitz, L., P.M. Marsh, and S.R. Shaw. 2014. First record of the genus Caenophanes Foerster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Doryctinae) for America north of Mexico with a description of a new species from Wyoming USA. Zootaxa 390 (2): 287-293. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3900.2.9
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Aguirre, H. and S.R. Shaw. 2014. Meteorus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) parasitoids of Pyralidae: description and biology of two new species and first record of Meteorus desmiae Zitani, 1998 from Ecuador. Journal of Natural History 2014: 1-14. doi: 10.1080/00222933.2014.909061
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Aguirre, H. and S.R. Shaw. 2014. Neotropical species of Meteorus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Meteorinae) parasitizing Arctiinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Erebidae). Zootaxa 3779(3): 353-367. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3779.3.3
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Shimbori, E.M, and S.R. Shaw. 2014. Twenty-four new species of Aleiodes Wesmael from the eastern Andes of Ecuador with associated biological information (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Rogadinae). Zookeys 7402: 1-81. doi:10.3897zookeys.7402.7402