HIDDEN CREATURES – SYSTEMATICS OF THE EUPHORINAE Julia Stigenberg Hidden creatures – systematics of the Euphorinae (Hymenoptera) Julia Stigenberg ©Julia Stigenberg, Stockholm 2013 Front cover: Illustration modified from Curtis 1840. Zele albiditarsus (left) with Smyrinum olusatrum (Alexanders, Alexanderloka), Leiophron apicalis (right) with Lysimachia nummularia (Money wort, Penningblad) ISBN 978-91-7447-605-7 Printed in Sweden by US-AB, City 2013 Distributor: Department of Zoology, Stockholm University ABSTRACT Parasitic wasps constitute one of the last remaining frontiers in the charting of animal diversity. For instance, parasitic wasps comprise about one third of those Swedish animal species that are so poorly known that they cannot be evaluated against the red-list criteria established by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). The Braconidae is the second most spe- cies-rich family of parasitic wasps; the world fauna has been estimated at 40 000 species and the Swedish fauna is believed to include a little more than 2 000 species, 1 200 of which are currently documented. This thesis is a con- tribution to the rapidly increasing knowledge of braconid diversity. In paper I, a new gregarious parasitoid, Meteorus acerbiavorus sp. nov. (Braconidae: Eupohrinae), is described from specimens reared from the cocoons of the butterfly Acerbia alpina (Quensel) (Lepidoptera, Arctiidae) in northwestern Finnish Lapland. Based on a molecular phylogenetic analysis, the new spe- cies is shown to belong to the M. rubens species group. In the second paper, the scope is expanded to the two genera included in the euphorine tribe Me- teorini, Meteorus and Zele. More than 300 species are known, about one fifth of which occur in the Western Palearctic. The Western Palearctic fauna of the tribe is revised, seven new species are described from Fennoscandian material, and a key to the Western Palearctic species is presented. Two mo- lecular markers, 28S and COI, are used to study phylogenetic relationships in the tribe and test previously proposed species groups. The Bayesian anal- ysis of the combined molecular data showed that the Meteorini fall into four well supported clades. The results confirm the monophyly of some species groups, while others are shown to be assemblages of unrelated lineages. The results also reveal considerable cryptic species diversity in the Fennoscandi- an material. Because we were not able to find consistent morphological dif- ferences separating the 12 cryptic molecular species from their closest rela- tives, they are not formally described. The third paper deals with distribu- tional, phenological and in many cases rearing data from nearly 2 500 spec- imens (44 species) of the Meteorini in the collection of the National Museums of Scotland (NMS), Edinburgh. Patterns in the breadth of host ranges are discussed in relation to a reiterated speciation hypothesis and in the light of the molecular phylogeny presented in paper II. Paper IV exam- ines the phylogenetic relationships of the entire subfamily Euphorinae based upon four gene regions (18S, CAD, 28S D2, and COI). The data set included representatives from 43 of the 48 previously recognized extant genera. Based on the results, a revised classification of the Euphorinae is proposed that recognizes 55 genera and 14 tribes. We propose that four lineages, whose relationships have been contentious previously, should all be included as tribes in the Euphorinae: Meteorini, Planitorini, Cenocoelini and Ecnomiini. Our results necessitate the recognition of a new euphorine tribe, Pygostolini, and we show that the much-discussed genus Myiocephalus belongs in the Syntretini. With respect to host preferences, our analysis shows that early members of the Euphorinae were parasitoids of coleopteran larvae, with a host shift to larval Lepidoptera occurring early in the evolution of the Mete- orini. The sister lineage of Meteorini, producing the bulk of euphorine spe- cies, started parasitizing adult coleopterans. Some descendant lineages later shifted to adult or immature hosts in the Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Neurop- tera, Orthoptera and Psocoptera. Keywords: Parasitic wasps, Braconidae, Euphorinae, systematics, phyloge- ny, molecular taxonomy, cryptic species, evolution, host preferences, identi- fication keys. LIST OF PAPERS This thesis is based on the following papers, referred to in the text by their roman numerals: I Stigenberg, J., Vikberg, V., Belokobylskij, S.A. 2011 Meteorus acer- biavorus sp. nov. (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), a gregarious parasitoid of Acerbia alpina (Quensel) (Lepidoptera, Arctiidae) in North Finland. Journal of Natural History, 45:1275–1294. II Stigenberg, J., Ronquist, F. 2011 Revision of the Western Palearctic Meteorini (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), with a molecular characterization of hidden Fennoscandian species diversity. ZOOTAXA, 3084:1-95. III Stigenberg, J., Shaw, M.R. 2013 Western Palaearctic Meteorinae (Hymenoptera; Braconidae) in the National Museums of Scotland, with rear- ing and distributional data, including six species new to Britain, and a dis- cussion of a potential route to speciation. Entomologist’s Gazette, (In press) IV Stigenberg, J., Boring, C.A. Phylogeny of the parasitic wasp subfami- ly Euphorinae (Braconidae) and evolution of its host preferences. Manu- script. Reprints were made with permission from the respective publishers. Disclaimer: The nomenclatural acts presented in papers III and IV herein are not intended to have any effect on zoological nomenclature (§8.2, ICZN, 1999). Paper I © Thomson Reuters Paper II © Magnolia Press CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1 Important footprints - early Swedish Hymenopterists ..................................................... 2 Evolution of the Hymenoptera and the origin of hymenopteran parasitoids ................... 3 The parasitic wasp family Braconidae ............................................................................ 6 General outline of Braconidae ........................................................................................ 7 Early stages ............................................................................................................ 10 Host ranges and speciation events amongst Braconidae ....................................... 12 Adult parasitism: evolutionary origin and adaptations ............................................. 13 The Euphorinae ............................................................................................................ 14 Evolution of adult parasitism in the Euphorinae ...................................................... 14 Collecting ...................................................................................................................... 17 The Swedish Taxonomy Initiative ........................................................................... 18 Aims of the Thesis Research ........................................................................................ 19 MATERIAL AND METHODS ....................................................................... 20 DNA-workflow ............................................................................................................... 20 Phylogenetic Analyses ................................................................................................. 21 Morphological Study and Illustrations ........................................................................... 23 SUMMARY OF PAPERS ............................................................................. 24 Paper I .......................................................................................................................... 24 Paper II ......................................................................................................................... 25 Paper III ........................................................................................................................ 28 Paper IV ........................................................................................................................ 28 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................... 30 LITTERATURE CITED ................................................................................. 32 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................ 36 SVENSK SAMMANFATTNING .................................................................... 38 INTRODUCTION All life on earth is connected through common ancestry, commonly illustrat- ed as the tree of life. This implies that we, humans, share genes not only with our closest relatives, such as the gorilla, but also with the most distant of life forms, such as the bacteria (Futuyma 2009). Learning how to climb the tree of life is the difficult part. First we are required to study the tree and try and understand the relationships along the branches – this is systematics. Sys- tematics includes phylogenetics, which aids us in finding out how species are related to each other, and taxonomy, which helps us describe what is out there. Without the taxonomy (names on taxa) and systematics (the classifica- tion of taxa) we wouldn’t be able to understand the relationships of organ- isms, everything would be a profound disorder. In short, taxonomy is the naming of organisms, the identification, what classifies them. Taxonomy is governed by the rules of nomenclature.