A new species and new records of the family Mymaridae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from Saudi Arabia

Abstract

A new species of mymrid wasp, Lymaenon brara Zeya, Anwar & Ahmad, sp. nov. is described from Saudi Arabia. Two known species, L. taizensis Zeya & Amer, 2019, and Gonatocerus longicornis Nees, 1834, are newly recorded from Saudi Arabia. Additionally, four other species–Lymaenon aureus (Girault, 1911), L. delhiensis Narayanan & Subba Rao, 1989, L. litoralis (Haliday, 1833), and Gonatocerus aegyptiacus Soyka, 1950–are newly recorded from various provinces of Saudi Arabia. The male of L. taizensis is newly described.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D20CCF8C-FAC3-42C2-86C9-EE371495B98B

Keywords:

• Biodiversity
• taxonomy
• biological control
• Arabian Peninsula

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Chairman, Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh for providing research facilities. They are grateful to Dr. J. T. Huber for critically reviewing the manuscript. S. K. Ahmad is grateful to the Director of the Center for Environmental Research Studies, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia, for proving the research facilities during his research period at the Jazan University. F. R. Khan is thankful to the Deanship of Scientific Research, Qassim University for encouragement. The curator of Chalcidoidea, N. Dale-Skey (NHMUK) is thanked for providing illustrations of the holotype of L. breviterebratus. The first author greatly acknowledges the Science and Engineering Research Board, New Delhi for financial assistance.