Corresponding author: David R. Smith (
Academic editor: Stefan Schmidt
Food plants and information on life history are presented for six species of Argidae and four species of Tenthredinidae in Costa Rica. The Argidae include cocoons of
Two previous papers presented food plants and life history notes on twelve species of
Acronyms used are: , National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA , Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, Santo Domingo de Heredia, Costa Rica , The Natural History Museum, London, U.K.
Images 1–15 were obtained using an EntoVision Imaging Suite that included a firewire JVC KY-75 3CCD digital camera mounted to a Leica M16 zoom lens via a Leica z-step microscope stand. Multiple focal planes were merged using Cartograph 5.6.0 (Microvision Instruments, France) software. Images 16-22 are from the ACG website, cited below.
Voucher codes associated with each reared adult are expressed as, for example, “99-SRNP-4547” (year-Santa Rosa National Park-unique rearing number for that year). This code is unique for the event of finding and rearing the caterpillar, irrespective of what it produces. Full details of the voucher records and associated images may be obtained at
The format follows
Female (
Head smooth and shining, without punctures or other sculpture. Antennal length 1.3× head width. Lower interocular distance about 1.2× eye height. Distances between eye and hind ocellus, between hind ocelli, and between hind ocellus and posterior margin of head as 1.0:1.2:0.5. Clypeus with shallow central emargination. Interantennal area rounded, without carina. Malar space about 1.3× diameter of front ocellus. Postocellar area very short, almost non-existent, sloping downward just behind lateral ocelli; without lateral postocellar grooves. Forewing with 4 cubital cells, first cubital crossvein may be weak. Hind basitarsomere 0.9× length of remaining tarsomeres combined. Sheath uniformly slender in dorsal view, straight above and rounded below in lateral view. Lancet (
Male. Unknown.
Holotype female, labeled “Voucher: D. H. Janzen & W. Hallwachs, DB:
This species is named in honor of Jose Fernandez-Triana of Ottawa, Canada, in recognition of his outstanding efforts to describe and otherwise clarify the taxonomy of the many hundreds of species of microgastrine braconid wasps being reared by the same inventory that discovered this new sawfly.
All specimens of
The combination of the following characters will distinguish
The New World genus
This species was described from a single female from Cartago, Turrialba, Costa Rica. Another species,
Known only from Costa Rica.
Nine specimens from two broods were reared, with voucher codes 03-SRNP-11949, 03-SRNP-11951, 03-SRNP-11952, 03-SRNP-11953, 08-SRNP-70547, 08-SRNP-70548, 08-SRNP-70549 (
Specimens in USNM from Venezuela bear a label “caterpillar on Inya sp.” (
Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico (Chiapas, San Luis Potosi, Tabasco, Veracruz), Panama, Surinam, Venezuela (
Nine ACG specimens were reared, with voucher codes 99-SRNP-17561, 99-SRNP-17562, 01-SRNP-22641, 06-SRNP-31799, 06-SRNP-31799.1, 06-SRNP-31799.2, 06-SRNP-31799.3, 06-SRNP-317799.4, and 06-SRNP-31799.5. Larvae were feeding on foliage of
This species was reared from
Brazil (Amazonas, Mato Grosso); Colombia; Costa Rica; Guyana; Panama; Surinam; Trinidad and Tobago (both islands); Venezuela (
One ACG specimen was reared (03-SRNP-20546), feeding on very young foliage of the rain forest woody vine
This is one of the more common species of
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico (Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz), Nicaragua, Panama (
One larva (07-SRNP-40019) was found eating mature leaves of rain forest
Costa Rica is the northernmost record for this species.
Bolivia; Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Venezuela (
One larva (
Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Surinam (Smith, unpublished).
One specimen, 09-SRNP-32388, was found feeding on the foliage of an ACG rain forest fern,
Only parts of the reared adult are stored in a gelatin capsule. They are sufficient to place it in
Known only from the single specimen from ACG.
One specimen, 09-SRNP-21528, was found feeding on the foliage of a rain forest fern,
The host plants of five species of
Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Trinidad, Venezuela (Smith, unpublished)
One specimen, 09-SRNP-6456, found feeding on very young leaves of ACG dry forest
Female (
Antenna 2.0× head width, apical 4 segments longer than broad and shorter than segments 4 and 5 combined. Lower interocular distance 0.8× eye length; distances between eye and hind ocellus, between hind ocelli, and between hind ocellus and posterior margin of head as 1.0:1.0:1.0. Malar space absent. Hind basitarsomere longer than following tarsomeres combined. Sheath rounded at apex in lateral view. Lancet (
Male. Length, 7.0 mm. Similar in color to female. Male genitalia in
. Holotype female labeled, “Barro Colorado, CZ, Pan., R.C. Shannon, VII-19-23” (USNM). Paratypes: Panama, Canal Zone, Barro Colorado Is.,
Costa Rica, Area de Conservación Guanacaste, lat11.01926 long -85.40997,14 Oct 2005, 05-SRNP-33935 (1 ♀, USNM) (
This species in named in honor of Luciano Capelli of San Jose, Costa Rica, for his intense and generous efforts to publicize ACG conservation with outstanding video and photographs for the Costa Rican and international public.
One specimen, 05-SRNP-33935), was reared from
The specimen reared from Costa Rica is not complete and is not included in the type series. However, enough is present, including the lancet, to show it is the same as the specimens from Panama. It DNA barcodes as far from the other 4 species of
This species is similar to
Lancets.
Michele Touchet, Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA, Washington, DC, helped with