DNA Barcoding Unveils New Species of the Sexually Dimorphic Genus <i>Anteon</i> Jurine (Hymenoptera, Dryinidae) from China

oleh: Huayan Chen, Massimo Olmi, Frode Ødegaard, Leonardo Capradossi, Jingxian Liu

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2023-12-01

Deskripsi

Species of <i>Anteon</i> Jurine, 1807 are a large group of parasitoids attacking leafhoppers, which are important insect pests. Despite their great potential in pest biological control, the taxonomy and biology of these parasitoids are far from clear. Sexual dimorphism is extreme in <i>Anteon</i> species and has hampered the taxonomy of these parasitoids, resulting in many species described based on a single sex. In this paper, we employed an integrated taxonomic approach for delimitating species, combining morphological examinations with DNA barcoding, to investigate <i>Anteon</i> species from China. In total, 53 COI sequences representing 29 species of <i>Anteon</i> were obtained and analyzed. On the basis of both morphology and DNA barcoding, five new species of <i>Anteon</i> were discovered and described: <i>A. clariclypeum</i> sp. nov., <i>A. maguanense</i> sp. nov., <i>A. parafidum</i> sp. nov., <i>A. shaanxianum</i> sp. nov., and <i>A. shandonganum</i> sp. nov. The neotype of <i>A. claricolle</i> Kieffer is designated. The sexual association of six species was confirmed by DNA barcoding, which led to the synonymy of <i>Anteon liui</i> Xu, Olmi & He 2010, new syn., under <i>Anteon meifenganum</i> Olmi, 1991. Keys to species of <i>Anteon</i> from the Oriental and Eastern Palaearctic are updated to contain the five new species. Our study demonstrates that DNA barcoding is a potent tool for tackling the taxonomic challenges in parasitoids with extreme sexual dimorphism.