A New Distinctive Darwin Wasp Represents the First Record of the Ophion minutus Species-group (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Ophioninae) from Japan and the Far East, with an Analysis of DNA Barcode-based Species Delimitation in Ophion.

Abstract

A new Darwin wasp species, Ophion kobensis Shimizu sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Ophioninae), is described using the integrated morphological and molecular species delimitation approaches. Our results indicate that the new species is closely related to European O. ventricosus Gravenhorst, 1829 of the O. minutus species-group but can be distinguished using morphological characters, such as entirely black body colour with some light-yellow marks and not inclined epicnemial carina in lateral view. This record of the new species represents the first record of O. minutus species-group from Japan and the Far East. Phylogenetic analysis indicate that the O. minutus species-group is weakly recovered as monophyletic and sister to Ophion s. str. The analysis also indicated that two clades within the O. minutus species-group (O. minutus and O. ventricosus) diverged significantly. This suggests that the species-group, as well as the two included clades, could potentially be treated as separate species-groups or genera. The present study supports previous integrative taxonomic and phylogenetic studies of Ophion and represents a first fundamental step for studies focused on the challenging Japanese and Far Eastern Ophion.