Sistemática de Kapala Cameron, 1884 (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Eucharitidae).

Abstract

Kapala Cameron, 1884 is widespread throughout the Neotropical region, except for Chile and a disjunct species is found in Central Africa and Madagascar. The need for a review of the Kapala species was observed from their original descriptions, which are extremely succinct, resulting in many misidentifications. The vast majority of descriptions mention coloration, which is extremely variable; the presence of two long spines, flabellate antennas in males and mesoscuto high and convex. These characteristics are common to all species making identification of their species almost impossible. Despite this, the greatest difficulty found within the group is its high intraspecific variation, but at the same time highly conserved. This is the first attempt to revise known species, to describe new taxa, and to establish a baseline for genus taxonomy. In addition, a new phylogenetic proposal for Kapala is provided. In Chapter I, based on the examination of the species-type and complementary material, we redescribe the type species of the genus and establish the limits of valid species; four synonyms were performed, K. atrata (Walker, 1862) n. syn. and K. surgens (Walker, 1862) n. syn. was synonimized with K. flabellata (Fabricius, 1804), K. striaticeps (Cameron, 1913) n. syn. was synonymized with K. inexagens (Walker, 1862) and K. sulcifacies (Cameron, 1904) n. syn. was synonymized with K. romandii (GuérinMeneville, 1845); three lectotypes were designated: K. cynipsea (Walker, 1862) pres. desig., K.inexagens(Walker, 1862) pres. desig. and K. terminalis (Ashmead, 1892) pres. desig., and seven species had males associated with females. Seven new species are described: K. confusa n. sp., K. corcovata n. sp., K. genistriata n. sp., K. gracilispina n. sp., K. haplospinosa n. sp., K. jalisca n. sp. e K. spinaepplanata, and an identification key for all species is provided. In Chapter II, a phylogenetic study based on morphological and molecular data was performed with the objective of testing Kapala monophyly and the relationships among its species. For this purpose, 61 characters related to external morphology were analyzed. For the molecular analyzes, parts of five gene regions were amplified: 18S, 28S-D2, 28S-D3-D5, COI-nj and COII. As a result, it was verified in all morphological and molecular analyzes that Kapala is paraphyletic, divided into three species complexes, which in turn are divided by groups of different genera. In chapter III, the iridicolor species complex was reviewed, as well as a molecular phylogeny based on 5 genes, 3 nuclear and 2 ribosomal genes. Six species were recognized within the iridicolor complex, including K. iridicolor described by Cameron (1904) and five new species: K. cavicornis n. sp., K. ceciliae n. sp., K. ipa n. sp., K. longicornis n. sp. and K. parairidicolor n. sp. In addition, a diagnosis of the K. iridicolor complex is provided, as well as an identification key for the species. In chapter IV, a review of the furcata species complex and a molecular phylogeny was performed, with three new species being recognized: K. deltalis n. sp., K. parafurcata n. sp. And K. quasimodo n. sp. In addition, a diagnosis for the furcata complex is provided, as well as a key identification for its species. In Chapter V, as a basis in morphological and molecular phylogeny, two new genera are described for the family Eucharitidae, Ecarinata n. gen. and Torquata n. gen. A revised and updated key is provided for the Neotropical genera of Eucharitidae.