Chelonus (Areselonus) spinigastersp. n., (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Cheloninae) is described from India. The new species was reared from the moth species Acrocercops lysibathra (Meyr.) on Cordia latifolia Roxb.

Areselonus , Braconidae , Chelonus , Cordia latifolia , Hymenoptera , India, Parasitoids, leaf miners Acrocercops lysibathra

Leaf mining insects are considered as serious pests if leaves of crops are extensively attacked, harvests are reduced or seedling plants even totally destroyed (Spencer 1990). The majority of the leaf mining larvae belong to the Lepidoptera or Diptera, followed to a lesser degree by Coleoptera and Hymenoptera (Csoka 2003). Among the lepidopteran leaf miners, the family Gracillariidae includes several species which are considered serious pests in several parts of the world (Davis 1987). Parasitoid insects play the most important role as natural enemies of leaf miners. In some cases, they cause more than 90 % mortality and have great potential in biological pest control programs (Hawkins et al. 1993). Parasitoids of leaf miners belong exclusively to the order Hymenoptera. Among the parasitoid Hymenoptera chalcidoid wasps (superfamily Chalcidoidea), Ichneumonidae and Braconidae (superfamily Ichneumonoidea) are the most important groups associated with leaf miners.

As far as India is concerned, there is a lack of information on braconid parasitoids especially reared from leaf mining lepidopteran hosts. Wilkinson (1928) described two microgastrine parasitoids, viz., Apanteles bambusae Wilkinson and Apanteles calycinae Wilkinson of the leaf miner Cosmopteryx bambusae (Meyrick) and Acrocercops supplex (Meyrick). Subsequently, Nixon (1940) added two hormiine parasitoids to the list of lepidopteran leaf miners, viz., Parahormius jason and Paraharmius deiphobus. Chaterjee and Misra (1974) added Epicephalacha lybachma (Meyr.) to the host list of Bracon lefroyi (Dudgeon and Goughs). Recently, Walker and Huddleston (1987) and Shujauddin and Varshney (1997) described chelonine parasitoids associated with lepidopteran leaf miners in India.

The subgenus Areselonus of the genus Chelonus Panzer (Braconidae: Cheloninae) was named by Braet (1999) to accommodate species in which the carapace ends in an apical spine-like protuberance and vein SR1 of the fore wing is reduced. This subgenus contains only three described species (Yu et al. 2012). In the present article a new species is described from India and a key to the species of subgenus Areselonus is given.

This study was conducted in the vicinity of western Uttar Pradesh (North India) in order to identify parasitoids of leaf miners along the roadside at AMU campus. The parasitoids were reared in the laboratory in glass rearing jars measuring 8”× 4” at 25 °C +2 with 70 % R.H. in the insectory. The leaves with lepidopteran leaf miners were collected from the plants and transferred to the jars. A complete data set including the date of collection, locality, and name of host plant was maintained. The emerged parasitoids were preserved initially in 75 % alcohol with a few drops of glycerol. These specimens were later mounted on cards. The reared parasitoids were separated based on morphological characters. One braconid species was studied in this research. We followed van Achterberg (1993) for the terminologies of various body parts and wing venation and Eady (1968) for terminology of surface sculpture. The specimens were deposited in the Insect Collection of the Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India (ZDAMU).

The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University for funding this work through research groups program (R.G.P.1) -11/38. The second author also thankful to the Research Centre for Advance materials Science (RCAMS) for providing research assistance.