Molecular, Morphological and Biological Differentiation between Anagrus virlai sp. n., an Egg Parasitoid of the Corn Leafhopper Dalbulus maidis (DeLong) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) in the New World, and Anagrus incarnatus Haliday from the Old World (Hymenop

Abstract

For a long time, the common egg parasitoid species of the economically important pest of maize occurring from Argentina to southern USA in the New World, the corn leafhopper Dalbulus maidis (DeLong) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), has been misidentified as the Palaearctic species Anagrus incarnatus Haliday or its recent synonym A. breviphragma Soyka (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae). Although morphologically quite similar, besides being geographically isolated, they also do not share any hosts, the true Old World A. incarnatus being an egg parasitoid of the green leafhopper Cicadella viridis (Linnaeus) and also several genera and species of Delphacidae (Hemiptera). Using a combination of genetic and morphometric methods as well as available supporting biological information, it is demonstrated that specimens reared from eggs of D. maidis in Argentina and Mexico, described and illustrated here as a new taxon Anagrus (Anagrus) virlai Triapitsyn sp. n., are different from those of A. incarnatus from the Palaearctic region. In particular, nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence data distinctly separate these two species as does the ratio of their ovipositor length to the protibia length. Anagrus virlai is also known from Brazil, Colombia, Guadeloupe (France), and Guyana.