James B. Woolley’s research while affiliated with Texas A&M University and other places

A survey for parasitoids of Lopholeucaspis japonica Cockerell (Hemiptera: Diaspididae), an exotic scale of woody ornamentals, resulted in the discovery of 3 species of aphelinid parasitoid wasps, Pteroptrix chinensis (Howard), Aphytis hispanicus (Mercet), and Marlattiella prima Howard. This serves as the first report of these parasitoids reared from a host in the state of Tennessee, USA. Despite routine pesticide applications in the surveyed nursery and directed treatments of the infested plants to control the scale outbreak, the percentage of parasitized scale in privet and euonymus shrubs averaged 7.0% and 7.9%, respectively. These parasitoids may be useful in the natural or managed control of this pest in the United States, but additional research is needed to understand how these parasitoids contribute to the control of L. japonica in the landscape and how nursery production practices can be modified to promote parasitoid populations.

Diaphorencyrtus aligarhensis (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) is herein reported for the first time from Colombia based on specimens collected in the municipality of Palmira, department of Valle del Cauca. Adult male and female wasps of this endoparasitoid are diagnosed based on published literature and character states taken from specimens collected in the present study. The adult parasitoids were extracted from parasitized nymphs (mummies) of the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Liviidae). Information is provided on the differences in the morphology of parasitized nymphs of D. citri with exit holes made by the two main primary parasitoids, i.e., Tamarixia radiata (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and D. aligarhensis. Rates of parasitization on D. citri ranged from 1.5 to 24.2 % for T. radiata and 0.3 to 1.0 % for D. aligarhensis. With the present study, the presence of D. aligarhensis in Colombia becomes the second confirmed report of the species in South America, after Ecuador.

Capturing phylogenetic signal from a massive radiation can be daunting. The superfamily Chalcidoidea is an excellent example of a hyperdiverse group that has remained recalcitrant to phylogenetic resolution. Chalcidoidea are mostly parasitoid wasps that until now included 27 families, 87 subfamilies and as many as 500,000 estimated species. We combined 1007 exons obtained with Anchored Hybrid Enrichment with 1048 Ultra-Conserved Elements (UCEs) for 433 taxa including all extant families, over 95% of all subfamilies and 356 genera chosen to represent the vast diversity of the superfamily. Going back and forth between molecular results and our collective morphological and biological knowledge, we detected insidious bias driven by the saturation of nucleotide data and highlighted morphological convergences. Our final results are based on a concatenated analysis of the least saturated exons and UCE data sets (2054 loci, 284,106 sites). Our analyses support a sister relationship with Mymarommatoidea. Seven of the previously recognized families were not monophyletic, so foundations for a new classification are discussed. Biology appears potentially more informative than morphology, as illustrated by the elucidation of a clade of plant gall associates and a clade of taxa with planidial first-instar larvae. The phylogeny suggests a shift from smaller soft-bodied wasps to larger and more heavily sclerotized wasps. Deep divergences in Chalcidoidea coincide with an increase in insect families in the fossil record, and an early shift to phytophagy corresponds with the beginning of the “Angiosperm Terrestrial Revolution”. Our dating analyses suggest a Middle Jurassic origin of 174 Ma (167.3-180.5 Ma) and a crown age of 162.2 Ma (153.9–169.8 Ma) for Chalcidoidea. During the Cretaceous, Chalcidoidea underwent a rapid radiation in southern Gondwana with subsequent dispersals to the Northern Hemisphere. This scenario is discussed with regard to knowledge about host taxa of chalcid wasps, their fossil record, and Earth’s paleogeographic history.

During a study carried out to determine the prevalence of mealybugs in pineapple (Ananas comosus) orchards conducted in the department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia, the parasitoid wasp Hambletonia pseudococcina Compere, 1936 (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) and the predatory fly Pseudiastata sp. (Diptera: Drosophilidae) were found in association with the pineapple mealybug Dysmicoccus brevipes (Cockerell, 1893) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae). These two natural enemies are briefly diagnosed and illustrated. This is the first record of the genus Pseudiastata in Colombia.

Diaphorencyrtus aligarhensis (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) is herein reported for the first time from Colombia based on specimens collected in the municipality of Palmira, department of Valle del Cauca. Adult male and female wasps of this endoparasitoid are diagnosed based on published literature and character states taken from specimens collected in the present study. The adult parasitoids were extracted from parasitized nymphs (mummies) of the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Liviidae). Information is provided on the differences in the morphology of parasitized nymphs of D. citri with exit holes made by the two main primary parasitoids, i.e., Tamarixia radiata (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and D. aligarhensis. Rates of parasitization on D. citri ranged from 1.5 to 24.2 % for T. radiata and 0.3 to 1.0 % for D. aligarhensis. With the present study, the presence of D. aligarhensis in Colombia becomes the second confirmed report of the species in South America, after Ecuador.

Noyesaphytis Polaszek & Woolley gen. nov. (type species Noyesaphytis lasallei Polaszek & Woolley sp. n. ) is described from Berenty, Tuléar, Madagascar. The genus differs from its closest relatives primarily in the structure of the female antenna, which has a single, elongate flagellum preceded by four anelli, the largest of which could be interpreted as a single anelliform funicle. This type of antenna is unknown in other Aphytini, but approaches the condition found in many Signiphoridae. Noyesaphytis possesses a character state that was until now thought to be an autapomorphy of Azotidae (sole genus Ablerus), being the groove in front of the propodeal spiracle. A second putative autapomorphy shared by Azotidae and Signiphoridae, and also Noyesaphytis, is the presence of anterior projections on the metasomal sterna. However, in Azotidae and Signiphoridae these are narrow, whereas as they are broader in Noyesaphytis. The form of the wing is consistent with Aphytini, although lacking a linea calva. The presumed male of Noyesaphytis lasallei has an antennal structure completely unknown in Aphelinidae, with a 1-segmented clava preceded by an extremely elongate single funicle, and four anelli. Differences between the female and male are discussed, some of which could indicate that the male might eventually be shown to belong to a different species, although the species are undoubtedly congeneric, despite the striking difference in antennal structure which is common in Aphelinidae. The male genitalia also suggest Aphytini. Based on a phylogenetic analysis of 50 morphological characters, we provisionally place Noyesaphytis in Aphytini pending the results of a forthcoming phylogenomic analysis. The new genus is named for its collector, John Noyes (NHM, London), and the new species is named after the late John La Salle. http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6EE6F35C-32A4-4E91-AE39-5E2C173E58BF

Sampling of crapemyrtle trees ( Lagerstroemia L.) in central Texas yielded the discovery of an invasive scale pest, Lopholeucaspis japonica Cockerell, and its parasitoid natural enemy, Marlattiella prima Howard. These discoveries expand the known range of both the scale insect and the parasitoid wasp in the United States. Marlattiella prima was not recovered in the absence of L. japonica . Of the two counties sampled, Brazos County yielded 26 M. prima individuals and Tarrant County yielded neither M. prima nor L. japonica .

Chartocerus azizaesp. nov. is described as the first known fossil from the family Signiphoridae, based on two inclusions in the same piece of Eocene Baltic amber (36.7–48.5 million years ago). Implications of the morphology of C. azizae are discussed, indicating that it should be placed in Chartocerus .

Type specimens of 11 species of Chartocerus (Hymenoptera: Signiphoridae) from Australia described by A.A. Girault, in the collection of the Queensland Museum, and one species described by W.H. Ashmead, in the United States Museum of Natural History, are redescribed and illustrated. Lectotypes are designated for Chartocerus australiensis (Girault) and Chartocerus hebes (Girault).

Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera) are a megadiverse superfamily of wasps with astounding variation in both morphology and biology. Most species are parasitoids and important natural enemies of insects in terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we present a transcriptome‐based phylogeny of Chalcidoidea; we found that poorly resolved relationships could only be marginally improved by adding more genes (a total of 5591) and taxa (a total of 65), proof‐checking for errors of homology and contamination, and decreasing missing data. Concatenation analyses consistently place Mymaridae and Trichogrammatidae sister to remaining Chalcidoidea. However, our coalescent analyses provide a different hypothesis with a grouping of (Mymaridae (((Trichogrammatidae, Eulophidae), (Encyrtidae, Aphelinidae)), remaining Chalcidoidea)). This hypothesis complicates our hypothesis of egg parasitism as being the ancestral state in Chalcidoidea. At the deeper nodes, the results uncovered a wide spectrum of gene discordance in the transcriptomic markers and identified a strong signal of functional bias in genes supporting alternative phylogenies. These deeper nodes of the phylogeny are thus strongly influenced by biased support from different functional gene complexes. Shallower nodes showed similar gene discordance, but without strong functional bias. Understanding and identifying mechanisms that result in gene tree discordance may be beneficial and even essential for elucidating deeper relationships, especially for groups that have undergone extremely rapid radiation. Concatenation and coalescent analyses recover competing backbone relationships of Chalcidoidea, which complicates our hypothesis of egg parasitism as being the ancestral state in Chalcidoidea. A wide spectrum of conflicting signal accounts for the poorly supported backbone phylogeny of Chalcidoidea. Functional bias is present in genes supporting alternative relationships at the deeper nodes of the chalcidoid phylogeny.