Scientific name

Doddifoenus burksi Gupta, Sankararaman & Hemanth sp. n.

Taxonomic position

Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae: Leptofoeninae

Diagnosis

Antenna without white flagellomeres. Mesoscutellum without mesal channel. Metasomal tergites without white spots. Parastigma of forewing without a sclerotized spur at origin of basal vein. Profemur without ventral spine. Second protarsomere longest, not longer than apical three tarsomeres combined. Third metasomal tergite shortest and sixth metasomal tergite longest.

 Head & Pronotum
 Antenna
 Forewing
 Mesosoma
 Metasoma

Image

 Female - Holotype  Female - Paratype  Male - lateral view

Distribution

India (Karnataka).

Biology / Hosts

Members of Doddifoenus are presumed to be parasitoids of wood-boring insects (Krogmann and Burks 2009). The female wasps of D. burksi sp. n. were observed penetrating the ovipositor inside the bark of wood logs. The site of oviposition was marked and later the cerambycid larva was manually removed after scraping the bark. The adults of Clytocera sp. (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), one of the most probable hosts of D. burksi sp. n. were noticed near the wood logs. The mating pair was observed where the female carries the male on its body. As in the case of D. wallacei, D. burksi sp. n. also possess morphological adaptations found in hymenopteran parasitoids of endoxylous hosts.

References

  • Bouček, Z. (1988). Australasian Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). C.A.B. International, Wallingford, UK, 832 pp.
  • Dodd, A.P. (1927). Notes on parasitic Hymenoptera from Australia, with descriptions of new species. Mem Queensl Mus 9:63–66.
  • Gupta, A., Gowda, H.K.H.M. & Sankararaman, H. (2022). First report of the genus with first host record and description of an enchanting new species of Doddifoenus Bouček (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae: Leptofoeninae) from India. Biologia.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-022-01133-4
  • Krogmann, L., Burks, R.A. (2009). Doddifoenus wallacei, a new giant parasitoid wasp of the subfamily Leptofoeninae (Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae), with a description of its mesosomal skeletal anatomy and a molecular characterization. Zootaxa, 2194: 21–36.
  • LaSalle, J., Stage, G.I. (1985). The chalcidoid genus Leptofoenus (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Systematic Entomology, 10:285–298.

Credits

Images and factsheet prepared by Dr. Ankita Gupta, Scientist, NBAIR. Web content added by Lavanya G, 29-06-2022.