Major range extensions for two genera of the parasitoid subtribe Facitorina, with a new generic synonymy (Braconidae, Rogadinae, Yeliconini)

Abstract The genera Conobregma van Achterberg and Facitorus van Achterberg are recorded from the Afrotropical region and the Indian subcontinent, respectively, for the first time, and two new species are described and illustrated: Conobregma bradpitti Quicke & Butcher, sp. n. from South Africa and Facitorus nasseri Ranjith & Quicke, sp. n. from India. Conobregma bradpitti sp. n. is intermediate between Conobregma which was described originally from the New World, and Asiabregma Belokobylskij, Zaldivar-Riverón & Maetô, which was coined for the S. E. Asian and East Palaearctic (Japanese) species described under the name Conobregma, plus more recently discovered taxa, but the differences between these genera are few and slight. Of the four previously proposed diagnostic characters for separating Asiabregma from Conobregma, the new species shares two with each, and therefore, the two genera are formally synonymised. Facitorus was previously known only from the East Palaearctic region and from S. E. Asia (Japan, Nepal, Taiwan and Vietnam).


Introduction
The Facitorini were originally described as a tribe in the subfamily Betylobraconinae Tobias, 1979 based on the genera Facitorus van Achterberg from Nepal, China and Taiwan, Conobregma van Achterberg from the USA and Dominican Republic, and Jannya van Achterberg from Colombia and Costa Rica ( van Achterberg 1995a). Despite all taxa placed in the Betylobraconinae being morphologically highly derived with robust femora, and shortened tarsi, moderately to very bulging faces, and curved fore wing vein M+CU ( van Achterberg 1995a) they have subsequently been shown not to be monophyletic (Zaldivar-Riverón et al. 2006). The morphological homoplasy of these characters even led van Achterberg (1991) to place the rogadine tribe Yeliconini in the Betylobraconinae, though this arrangement was soon dropped as a result of further consideration of biological and morphological evidence. The Facitorini were transferred to the subfamily Rogadinae as a subtribe of the Yeliconini by Belokobylskij et al. (2008) on the basis of DNA sequence data and this placement has been supported by subsequent studies (Zaldivar-Riverón et al. 2009, Butcher et al. 2014. Most recently, Butcher and Quicke (2015) formally synonymised Betylobraconinae with the Rogadinae maintaining it as a separate tribe. Unfortunately, nothing is yet known about the biology of the Facitorina though their similarity to Yelicones, which is a koinobiont larval endoparasitoid of Lepidoptera larvae concealed to some extent in silk webs, suggests that they may have similar biology.
Shortly after the original description of Conobregma, which was based on New World species, van Achterberg (1995b) added a new species from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, thus extending the apparent distribution of the genus to the Old World tropics. Discovery of additional specimens of another genus, Aulosaphobracon Belokobylskij & Long, as well as DNA sequence data led Belokobylskij et al. (2008) to coin a new genus, Asiabregma, for the Asian and East Palaearctic species that fell within van Achterberg's concept of Conobregma. However, despite their very disjunct distribution, the two genera were only separated by four, rather weak, characters (Table 1), and the new species from S. Africa is rather intermediate. We therefore synonymise Asiabregma with Conobregma, and treat the new species under the latter name.

Materials and methods
The holotype of C. bradpitti sp. n. is deposited in the Hymenoptera Institute Collection, Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. It was imaged using an Olympus SXZ16 microscope with automated multiple image capture at preset focal levels using an Olympus DP72 camera, and image combination using the Cell^D image processing system. The specimen was card-mounted and rather fragile but we successfully remounted it to enable more features to be seen.
The holotype of F. nasseri sp. n. is deposited in the Department of Zoology, University of Calicut, Kerala, India. It was imaged using an Leica M205A stereomicro-  Belokobylskij et al. (2008) to differentiate between Conobregma and Asiabregma. scope with automated multiple image capture at preset focal levels using an Leica DMC 2900 camera, and image combination using the Leica Application Suite image processing system v4.7. All images were edited using Photoshop CS6 (Version 6.1) (Adobe Inc.). Terminology follows van Achterberg (1988) except for wing venation nomenclature which follows Sharkey and Wharton (1997); see also Figure 2.2 in Quicke (2015) for comparison of wing venation naming systems. Diagnosis. Conobregma bradpitti sp. n. may be distinguished from the East Palaearctic and East Asian species (C. makiharae (Belokobylskij, Zaldivar & Maetô, 2008), C. ryukyuensis (Belokobylskij, Zaldivar & Maetô, 2008)) and C. sulaensis van Achterberg, 1995) by fore wing vein 2CUa being approximately the same length as m-cu rather than approximately twice as long. It may be distinguished from all the New World species except for C. cometes van Achterberg, 1995 by having the third metasomal tergite almost entirely smooth. It differs from C. cometes in having the mesoscutum coarsely sculptured with deep depressions at the bases of setae rather than being coriaceous, and by having the propodeum distinctly less strongly sculptured antero-laterally.

Conobregma bradpitti
Description (female). Length of body 1.75 mm, and of fore wing 1.5 mm.
Head. Antennae broken. First flagellomere 1.05 × longer than 2 nd and 3 rd respectively; approximately 1.8 × longer than apically wide, expanding from base to apex. Width of head: width of face: height of eye = 1.0: 0.5: 0.42. Eyes glabrous, with distinct curving fine ridge between antennal socket and eye. Distance between posterior ocelli: transverse diameter of posterior ocellus: shortest distance between posterior ocellus and eye = 1.0: 1.0: 2.5. Frons and occiput smooth. Occipital carina complete. Mesosoma. Mesosoma 1.8 × longer than high. Propleuron largely smooth. Mesoscutum irregularly sculptured, with deep pits at bases of setae, these forming very conspicuous submarginal rows; with rugulose sculpture between notauli posteriorly. Notauli deeply impressed and strongly sculptured. Precoxal sulcus running from anterior margin to just posterior of mid-length of metapleuron, rugulose. Mesopleuron and mesosternum otherwise largely smooth. Median area of metanotum with weak mid-longitudinal ridge. Propodeum largely foveate except for pair of triangular areas anteriorly on either side of mid-line which are finely aciculate; with short mid-longitudinal carina anteriorly.
Metasoma. Second metasomal tergite with fine longitudinal striation and interconnecting transverse ridges; approximately 1.8 × longer than third metasomal tergite medially. Second suture finely crenulate. Third tergite almost entirely smooth but with traces of longitudinal striation near lateral parts of second suture. Thrid-fifth metasomal tergites distinctly arched in lateral profile. Ovipositor sheath 0.4 × length of hind tibia.
Etymology. Named after the senior author's favourite film actor Brad Pitt, whose poster adorned the wall of her laboratory during her doctoral studies.
Head. Antennae with 18 segments. First flagellomere 1.2 × as long as second and third respectively, 2.1 × longer than apically wide, distinctly expanded from base to apex. Terminal flagellomere acute, 3.1 × as long as its maximum width. Width of head: width of face: height of eye = 13.4: 6.8: 7.1. Frons and occiput smooth with long setae. Eyes glabrous, with a straight groove between antennal socket and eye margin. Distance between posterior ocelli: transverse diameter of posterior ocellus: shortest distance between posterior ocellus and eye = 13.5: 10.25: 18.8. Occipital carina complete.
Etymology. APR dedicates this species to Dr. M. Nasser for his encouragement and sharing his knowledge about the behaviour of parasitoids, and also for the fruitful discussions during the field trips.

Distribution. India (Kerala).
Host. Unknown.  van Achterberg (1985), but its characters are intermediate between those of Conobregma and the more recently described genus Asiabregma established by Belokobylskij et al. (2008). Originating from an intermediate location longitudinally, it may be not surprising that the new species displays a mix of character states between Conobregma and Asiabregma (Table 1). Differences between Conobregma and Asiabregma are in any case rather slight and probably would not normally be used to justify separate generic status had they not shown a disjunct distribution. With the discovery of the new species which shares two derived states with each nominal genus, we have to choose whether to arbitrarily assign it to one of them whilst keeping both separate though with reduced differences, creating a new genus for it based only on two small differences, or synonymising them. We have chosen the latter route because of the minimal differences, and therefore, we hereby formally synonymise Asiabregma Belokobylskij, 2008, with Conobregma van Achterberg, 1995 Facitorus nasseri sp. n. is the first facitorine recorded from Indian subcontinent. The yeliconine subtribe Facitorina consists of the genera Facitorus, Conobregma and Jannya and they share the following characters; antennal sockets closer to each other than to eyes, frons without groove, antenna situated on a shelf, fore wing vein M+CU strongly curved apically ( van Achterberg 1995a). Facitorus differs from the rest in having fore wing vein CU1a arising distinctly below the level of 2-CU1 and with comparatively large dorsope, but it shares a plesiomorphic character with Conobregma and Jannya of having a subposterior depression at the scutellum (Belokobylskij and Long 2005;Belokobylskij et al. 2008). All Facitorus species are distributed in the Oriental and South Palearctic Regions. The new species, F. nasseri is different from its closest relative F. superus (known from Nepal) in having the scutellum with the sub-posterior depression.