Seven New Species of <i>Anastatus</i> Motschulsky (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Eupelmidae) from China Identified Based on Morphological and Molecular Data.

Abstract

<i>Anastatus</i> is the second-largest genus in the family Eupelmidae, with 150 species found worldwide and fourteen known species in China. Most species in this genus are the primary parasitoids of insect eggs, particularly those of Lepidoptera and Hemiptera, and several species have been used for the biological control of various insect pests. In this paper, seven new species of <i>Anastatus</i> Motschulsky, 1859 (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) from China are described, of which <i>A</i>. <i>caeruleus</i> Wang and Peng n. sp. and <i>A</i>. <i>garygibsoni</i> Zhou and Peng n. sp. were reared from the eggs of <i>Tessaratoma papillosa</i> (Hemiptera: Tessaratomidae), while <i>A</i>. <i>daiyunensis</i> Wang and Peng n. sp., <i>A</i>. <i>makrysourus</i> Zhou and Peng n. sp., <i>A</i>. <i>polikiarkoudus</i> Wang and Peng n. sp., <i>A</i>. <i>taibaiensis</i> Wang and Peng n. sp., and <i>A</i>. <i>zdenekbouceki</i> Zhou and Peng n. sp. were collected by malaise traps or sweeping. The new species are all described and illustrated based on female specimens, and the key to all 21 Chinese <i>Anastatus</i> species, based on females, is provided. Partial <i>COI</i> sequences of <i>A</i>. <i>caeruleus</i> n. sp., <i>A</i>. <i>garygibsoni</i> n. sp., and <i>A</i>. <i>taibaiensis</i> n. sp. are provided, and a phylogenetic reconstruction based on maximum likelihood analyses, while showing similar results at high taxonomic levels to our morphological feature classification results, provides additional information on the placement of <i>Anastatus</i> at the species level.