Use the following type of citation: North-western Journal of Zoology 2021: e211202 1 *Handling editor: Dr. Hossein Lotfalizadeh 2 *Manuscript Domain: Entomology 3 *Manuscript code: MS-nwjz-19-EN-HL-07 4 *Submission date: 24_08_2019 5 *Revised: 6 *Accepted / Rejected: 05_11_2020 7 *No. of words: 4658 8 9 *Editors only: 10 11 12 Title of the paper: Additional review of the genus Iconella (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, 13 Microgastrinae) from Iran with the description of a new species 14 Running head: Additional review of the genus Iconella from Iran. 15 Authors: Parisa ABDOLI, Ali Asghar TALEBI, Samira FARAHANI 16 Key Words: Taxonomy, new record, redescription,accepted faunal paper checklist, identification key 17 No. of Tables: 0 18 No. of Figures: 7 North-Western Journal of Zoology 19 No. of Files: 1 20 21 22 23 24 Use the following type of citation: North-western Journal of Zoology 2021: e211202 25 Additional review of the genus Iconella (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Microgastrinae) 26 from Iran with the description of a new species 27 Parisa ABDOLI1, Ali Asghar TALEBI 1* and Samira FARAHANI2 28 1. Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, 29 I.R. Iran. 30 2. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research Education and 31 Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, I. R. Iran. 32 * Corresponding authors name and email address: Ali Asghar TALEBI, 33 [email protected] 34 35 Abstract. The genus Iconella Mason, 1981, was studied in northern Iran during 2010–2011. 36 A new species, Iconella brachyradiata Abdoli & Talebi, sp. nov. is described and illustrated. 37 Iconella lacteoides (Nixon, 1965) is recorded for the first time from Iran and it is together 38 with I. meruloides (Nixon, 1965) are redescribed. A new faunal checklist, distribution map 39 and identification key for the Iranian species of the genus Iconella are provided. 40 Key Words: Taxonomy, new record, redescription,accepted faunal paper checklist, identification key. 41 Running title: Additional review of the genus Iconella from Iran. 42 North-Western Journal of Zoology 43 Introduction 44 The Microgastrinae Foerster, 1863 is a large and diverse subfamily with more than 2700 45 described species worldwide (Yu et al. 2016). This subfamily is one of the most important 46 groups of parasitoids in terms of both species richness and economic importance (Rodriguez 47 et al. 2012). Iconella Mason is a small genus of Microgastrinae that includes solitary 48 endoparasitoids of microlepidopteran larvae (e.g., Pyralidae Latreille, 1809, Tortricidae 49 Latreille, 1802, and Crambidae Latreille, 1810) (Segarra Carmona & Barbosa 1988, Yu et al. Use the following type of citation: North-western Journal of Zoology 2021: e211202 50 2016). 51 Mason (1981) reclassified the subfamily Microgastrinae and described Iconella using the 52 sinuated vein cu-a of the hind wing as main character, that he interpreted as plesiomorphic 53 character among Microgastrinae. Fernández-Triana et al. (2013) considered the presence of a 54 medio-longitudinal carina on the propodeum as an important support for the generic status of 55 Iconella. They noted that this character represented in all New Word species of Iconella have 56 so far been described, however, in some Palaearctic species of Iconella this carina is 57 inconspicuous or absent. Fernández-Triana et al. (2020) were moved some species without 58 medio-longitudinal carina on the propodeum from Iconella and noted further examination of 59 the type series with medio-longitudinal carina on the propodeum will be needed to clarify the 60 taxonomic position of the species. 61 So, the generic status of Iconella remains controversial. For example, van Achterberg (2002) 62 moved the species of the genus Iconella to Apanteles Foerster, because of lack of a reliable 63 suite of character-states. However, Whitfield et al. (2002), Chen & Song (2004) and 64 Fernández-Triana et al. (2013, 2020) didn’t accept that decision. For this paper we use the 65 following character-states to separate Iconellaaccepted from Apanteles paper: in Iconella the hind wing with 66 a sinuous vein cu-a (nervellus) as a plesiomorphic character (not sinuate in Apanteles); the 67 propodeum with a strongNorth-Western medio-longitudinal Journal carina (coarsely of Zoology sculptured to smooth without a 68 medio-longitudinal carina but instead with a more or less well-defined areola and costulae in 69 Apanteles); the lateral grooves of mesoscutellar disc is always parallel-sided (variable in 70 Apanteles); the scutellar lunules (posterior band of mesoscutellum) is always large and 71 triangular (variable in Apanteles). 72 Mason (1981) and Fernández-Triana et al. (2013) included two of Nixon’s species-groups 73 (sundanus-group and part of merula-group) in the genus Iconella. The sundanus-group is 74 recently placed within the genus Neoclarkinella Rema & Narendran, 1996 (Fernández-Triana Use the following type of citation: North-western Journal of Zoology 2021: e211202 75 et al., 2020). The laspeyresiella species group can be distinguished by absence medio- 76 longitudinal carina on the propodeum and hind wing vein cu-a is not sinuate. The 77 laspeyresiella group is erected by Papp (1982) as a new species group of the genus Apanteles, 78 although so far, taxonomic status of this group has been controversial. Kotenko (2007) and 79 Zargar et al. (2019) considered laspeyresiella group in the genus Iconella. However, that 80 decision has not been universally accepted (Lie et al. 2015; Fernández-Triana et al. 2013, 81 2020). 82 In more recent study, Fernández-Triana et al. (2020) reexamined the subfamily 83 Microgastrinae and placed the type species of laspeyresiella-group (e.g., A. laspeyresiella 84 Papp, 1972) within Dolichogenidea Viereck. Also they placed some species of laspeyresiella- 85 group (e.g., Iconella nagyi and I. subcamilla) in the genus Iconella, but they have noted that 86 these species do not have medio-longitudinal carina on the propodeum, one of the main 87 defining characters of the genus. In addition, some species of laspeyresialla-group were 88 placed within Apanteles (e.g., A. nephus Papp, 1974 and A. robustus Hedqvist, 1965) 89 (Fernández-Triana et al., 2020). 90 In this study, we include only some acceptedspecies of merula paper-groups in Iconella. Also, based on 91 Fernández-Triana et al. (2020), we placed I. nagyi (Papp, 1975) and I. subcamilla (Tobias, 92 1976) within IconellaNorth-Western, however, as Fernández-Triana Journal et ofal. (2020)Zoology noted, further examination 93 of the type series will be needed to clarify the taxonomic position of these species. 94 The Palaearctic species of the genus Iconella have been revised and keyed by Nixon (1965 95 1976), Papp (1982), Tobias (1986) and Kotenko (2007). In Iran, the fauna of some 96 subfamilies of Braconidae such as Aphidiinae, Braconinae, Cheloninae, Doryctinae, 97 Homolobinae, Miracinae, and Rogadinae is already catalogued (Rakhshani et al. 2007, 98 Farahani et al. 2012, 2014a,b,c, 2015, 2016, Ameri et al. 2014, 2015, Ghahari & Beyarslan 99 2017), but the Microgastrinae has been poorly studied (Farahani et al. 2014d, Gadallah et al. Use the following type of citation: North-western Journal of Zoology 2021: e211202 100 2015, Ghafoori-Moghaddam et al. 2018, Abdoli et al. 2019a, 2019b, 2019c). 101 More recently, Zargar et al. (2019) revised the Iranian species of the genus Iconella and 102 described two new species from southwestern Iran. Prior to the present study, seven species of 103 the genus Iconella were recorded from Iran (i.e., I. isus (Nixon, 1965), I. myeloenta 104 (Wilkinson, 1937), I. meruloides (Nixon, 1965), I. mongashtensis Zargar & Gupta, 2019, I. 105 nagyi (Papp, 1975), I. simila Zargar & Gupta, 2019 and I. subcamilla (Tobias, 1976)) 106 (Ghahari et al. 2011, Kishani-Farahani et al. 2012, Khajeh et al. 2014, Nobakht et al. 2015, 107 Zargar et al. 2019). However, Zargar et al. (2019) listed eight species of Iconella from Iran, 108 but as mentioned before, the species I. laspeyresiella has recently moved to the genus 109 Dolichogenidea (Fernández-Triana et al. 2020). Therefore, as a result of this study and the last 110 checklist of the subfamily Microgasterinae (Fernández-Triana et al. 2020), so far nine species 111 is registered from Iran. 112 The objective of this study is to improve the knowledge of the genus Iconella from Iran. Here, 113 a new species, Iconella brachyradiata sp. nov., is described as a part of the ongoing project 114 “Systematics and biodiversity of the Iranian parasitic Hymenoptera (Ichneumonoidea & 115 Chalcidoidea)”. In addition, we redescribedaccepted two species, paper I. lacteoides and I. meruloides, in 116 this paper because they are insufficiently described and some important characters are not 117 mentioned and illustratedNorth-Western by Nixon (1965). Journal of Zoology 118 119 Material and Methods 120 The material examined for this study comprises specimens collected under the ongoing 121 project “Systematic and biodiversity of the Iranian parasitic Hymenoptera (Ichneumonoidea 122 & Chalcidoidea)”, supported by Tarbiat Modares University (TMU). Specimens were 123 collected using Malaise traps during March to November from 2010 and 2011 in five 124 provinces in the northern Iran: Alborz, Guilan, Mazandaran, Qazvin and Tehran provinces Use the following type of citation: North-western Journal of Zoology 2021: e211202 125 (Fig. 1). The Malaise traps were placed in different habitats such as forests, rangelands and 126 orchards. The specimens were identified using the keys of Nixon (1965, 1976), Papp (1982), 127 Tobias (1986) and Zargar et al. (2019). Also, relevant type and non-type material which 128 deposited in the Insect Collection of the Department of Entomology, Tarbiat Modares 129 University, Tehran, Iran (e.g., I. meruloides Nixon, 1965; I. mongashtensis Zargar & Gupta, 130 2019; I. myeloenta (Wilkinson, 1937); I. simila Zargar & Gupta, 2019; I. subcamilla (Tobias, 131 1976)), Department of Plant Protection, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran (e.g.