Resurrection of Neocardiochiles Szépligeti, 1908 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Cardiochilinae)

Monday, November 14, 2022

8:36 AM – 8:48 AM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 110

Presenting Author(s)

IK

Ilgoo Kang (he/him/his)

Postdoctoral Research Associate
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Co-Author(s)

JW

James Whitfield

Professor Emeritus
University of Illinois
Champaign, Illinois
BO

Brittany Owens

Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Junyan Chen (he/him/his)

Research Assistant
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The taxonomic status of the Heteropteron-related genera in Cardiochilinae Ashmead, 1900, Heteropteron Brullé, 1846, Neocardiochiles Szépligeti, 1908, and Wesmaelella Spinola, 1851 have been frequently fluctuated. In this project, we re-evaluated the relationships of those three genera based on morphology-based phylogenetic data. Neocardiochiles has been resurrected to the genus-level, and Wesmaelella has been confirmed as the most plesiotypic genus of Cardiochilinae. In addition, five new species of Neocardiochiles from the Neotropical region have been described based on morphological and/or molecular data, and four species formerly included in Heteropteron have been transferred to Neocardiochiles. The traditional and interactive identification keys to species of Neocardiochiles in the New World have been constructed with detailed images. As a result, nine species of Neocardiochiles are recorded in the world.