Redescription of Apanteles mimoristae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), a parasitoid of the native pyralid cactus moth Melitara cf. nephelepasa in central Mexico

Abstract

Novel trophic associations have sometimes resulted in fortuitous and significant biological control. After the invasion of North America by the South American cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg) (Pyralidae: Phycitinae), it is pertinent to characterize the assemblage of local natural enemies that could utilize this moth in new host-parasitoid associations. Herein we report on Apanteles mimoristae Muesebeck (Braconidae: Microgastrinae), a North American gregarious endoparasitoid wasp attacking the caterpillar of the phycitine cactus moth Melitara cf. nephelepasa (Dyar) (Pyralidae: Phycitinae, also known as zebra worm), also native to North America; both collected in Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. (Cactaceae) cultivated fields at rural areas of Mexico City. We provide an updated morphological account for A. mimoristae visualized with light microscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM); a fragment of its cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequence data is reported for the first time. Additionally, we analyze its taxonomical position relative to other Apanteles species from the Americas including those attacking cactus-feeding moths. Our analyses place A. mimoristae (from Mexico) in a clade with A. esthercentenoae Fernández-Triana (from Costa Rica), a parasitoid of both Cromarcha stroudagnesia Solis (Pyralidae) and Palpita venatalis (Schaus) (Crambidae) (non cactus-feeding), and in a sister clade to A. opuntiarum Martínez & Berta (from Argentina) and A. alexanderi Brèthes (from Argentina and Uruguay), parasitoids of the cactus-feeding phycitines Cactoblastis and Tucumania respectively. Finally, we provide an updated key for the identification of Apanteles species recorded parasitizing cactus moth caterpillars in the American continent.