Additions to the xiphydriid woodwasp ( Hymenoptera , Xiphydriidae ) fauna of New Caledonia

Calexiphyda marystellae Villemant & Smith, sp. n., is described from New Caledonia. This is the sixth species of Xiphydriidae known from New Caledonia. A key to the six species is given, the female of C. crocea Smith is described, and a new locality for this species and for C. caledonia Smith is given.


Introduction
were the first to record Xiphydriidae from New Caledonia, a single male described as Rhysacephala novacaledonica Jennings and Austin. Smith (2008) treated five species from New Caledonia, Lissoxiphyda tripotini Smith and four species in the new genus Calexiphyda.Two of the Calexiphyda species were based on females and two on males.Because so many xiphydriids are based on single specimens and because of the extreme sexual dimorphism, it is difficult to associate sexes.Smith (2008) cited a number of unassociated males which did not fit the described species and need to await confirmed association of sexes through collections of long series or by rearing.
Three additional specimens were recently collected in New Caledonia by CV.One is an undescribed species, one is the female of a previously described species, and one was previously described but from another locality.Here, we add these discoveries to the xiphydriid fauna and give an updated key to species on the island.There are now six species known from New Caledonia, five based on females and one based on a male.New Caledonia now has the largest xiphydriid fauna of any of the Pacific islands.Three are known from New Zealand (Ward and Goulet 2011), one from Lord Howe Island (Jennings and Austin 2009), and one from Fiji (Smith 2008).The only other species of Symphyta known in New Caledonia is the introduced Phylacteophaga frottatti Riek (Pergidae), a leafminer of Eucalyptus spp.(Jennings et al. 2013).
Where known, larvae of xiphydriids are wood borers in weakened or dying limbs of woody plants.Nothing is known of the biology of the New Caledonian species (Smith 2008).Two New Zealand xiphydriids, Moaxiphia decepta (F.Smith) and M. duniana (Gourlay), are recorded from Coprosma robusta Raoul (Rubiaceae) and Nothofagus spp.(Nothofagaceae), respectively (Ward and Goulet 2011).

Materials and methods
Specimens were collected by CV in the course of the "Our Planet Reviewed" project (http://laplaneterevisitee.org/en) during the "New Caledonia 2016-2017" expedition.All are deposited in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
Insect collection was performed in November 2016 in the southeastern part of the island, where the mountains exposed to the Pacific Ocean have been little explored, hence the name of "Côte Oubliée" given to the coastal massif.Three stations, two in the mountains (Comboui and Kwakwé) and one in the Ouinné Valley, were inventoried using Malaise traps placed for ten days in five plots of every station.In addition, height groups of three yellow pan traps were set up in the Comboui station in or close to the Malaise trap sites.This station was located 12 km from the coast, near Mount Bwa Bwi (1,214 m) above a forest valley whose streams flow into the Néma River.Traps were located along a transect set up from a dense scrub habitat on the Bwa Bwi slope to a tropical high-altitude forest on the crest and a dense humid forest of low and medium altitude on igneous substrate in the forest bottom (Muzinger and Bruy, pers. com.).
The three xiphydriids collected during this mission were caught in yellow pan traps located on the crest in the dense and humid high-altitude forest.This forest, showing a typical facies with lichens, bryophytes and Hymenophyllaceae, was rather low, with a canopy about 12 m high and some emerging trees up to 15 m (Muzinger and Bruy, pers.com.).
Images were acquired through an EntoVision micro-imaging system.This system included a Leica M16 with a JVC KY-75U 3-CCD digital video camera or a GT-Vision Lw11057C-SCI digital camera attached that fed image data to a notebook or desktop computer.The program Cartograph 6.6.0 was then used to merge an image series into a single in-focus image.

Key to the Xiphydriidae of
Etymology.This species is described in honor of Mary-Stella Guelemé, a New Caledonian participant to the "Our Planet Reviewed" expedition who contributed with another manager of the Comboui camp to maintain morale of the team when bad weather conditions retained it longer than expected on the Bwa Bwi slope.
Remarks.The black head and body with only three white spots on the front of the face and one white spot laterally on tergite 1, light orange tibiae and tarsi, and faint, irregular, longitudinal sculpture of the mesonotum (Fig. 3) will distinguish this species.Description.Female.Length, 7.0 mm.Head black with lower inner orbits narrowly white and two pale orange stripes on vertex (Figs 8,10,11); antenna black with antennomeres 1-3 orange (Figs 8,10,12).Legs with coxae and trochanters white, rest of legs orange (Fig. 7).Abdomen black with white spot at base of tergum 1, indistinct white spots laterally on tergites 8 and 9, and apical white spot on 8 th tergite.Wings uniformly hyaline, veins and stigma black.Head: Antenna (Fig. 12) 2.1× head width, with 17 antennomeres; lengths of scape, pedicel, and first flagellomere as 1.0: 0.8:1.2;pedicel more than 2× longer than broad, flagellomeres 2 to apex 2× or more longer than broad.Frons finely rugose to just above ocelli; vertex and gena shiny.Lower interocular distance 1.1× eye height; in front view, eyes slightly diverging below (Fig. 10).Head, in dorsal view, long and strongly narrowed behind eyes (Fig. 11); length behind eyes about half eye length.Genal carina distinct to top of eyes (Fig. 8).Labial palpus with 4 palpomeres, maxillary palpus with 7 palpomeres.Thorax: Propleuron shiny, finely rugose anteriorly and dorsally.Pronotum shiny, with central, diagonal groove, finely rugose in groove; posterior lateral corners rounded, without carinae.Anteromedian part of mesonotum shiny, finely rugose at extreme posterior portion; lateral lobes with fine longitudinal carinae on inner third, shiny on outer portions; axillae finely rugose with faint longitudinal carinae; mesoscutellum shiny, finely rugose; metascutellum rugose; notauli deep, broad, with distinct deep pits (Fig. 9).Mesepisternum smooth and shiny, mesepimeron with cross carinae; metapleuron shiny with fine microsculpture.Hind tarsal claw with small inner tooth near base, fore and mid tarsal claws with long inner tooth, more than half length of outer tooth, near center.Abdomen: Shiny.Tergum 1 1.3× length of tergum 2. Length of sheath to basal plates as 1.0:1.8.

Calexiphyda crocea Smith
Male: Length 6.5 mm.Color and structure similar to female (see Smith 2008).Specimen examined.Female, "Nouvelle Calédonie, Province Sud, Thio, Comboui, 1037 m (21.77742S, 166.29495E)NC-COM-YPT-3, 12-18.XI.2016, yellow pan trap, C. Villemant rec." Remarks.Although descriptions of unassociated males are discouraged, Smith (2008) described C. crocea because of its unusual shiny appearance and stated that association with the female should not be difficult.The characteristics of this female are so similar to the male described as C. crocea that it must be the female of the species.The shiny appearance, long antennae, rounded pronotum, deep, broad notauli with deep punctures, and the long first tergite, 1.3× length of the second tergite, are characters common to both sexes.