[B] Taxonomy, Morphology, Histology

[B-28] Rediscovery of Amitus hesperidum variipes (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) in Japan after more than 90 years of disappearance

◯Eko Andrianto¹, Yasushi Sato², Jessica Adelaide Kapojos², Norihide Hinomoto¹ (1. GSA, Kyoto University, 2. NIFTS, NARO)

Amitus hesperidum is one of the prominent natural enemies of Aleurocanthus woglumi whitefly while Am. hesperidum variipes is a typical parasitoid of Al. spiniferus. This species had been reported in Kyushu in the 1930s. However, since then, no cases of parasitism have been documented, even when Al. camelliae has been extensively invaded Japan since 2004. Hence, the disappearance of this species led The MOKUROKU database (2^nd Ed., Tadauchi and Inoe 1999) to doubt their existence in Kyushu. Field survey on three Prefectures i.e., Kyoto, Shizuoka, and Miyazaki from May to November 2023 found evidence of parasitism of this parasitoid again in Al. camelliae and Al. spiniferus. To clarify the identity of the parasitoid, morpho-molecular analysis has been conducted targeting COI, 28S-D2 &18S genes. The current Amitus was identical to Am. hes. variipes morphologically instead of Am. hesperidum. And it was supported by a distinct clade among those parasitoids. It suggests that Am. hes. variipes is perhaps a valid species as cataloged by Vlug in 1995 as Amitus variipes rev. stat.