Integrative Taxonomic Study of Chinese Anastatus (hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) Based on Morphology and COI Barcoding, with Description of Eleven New Species

Thirty-two Chinese Anastatus species (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Eupelmidae) are studied, comprising 20 previously described species and 11 new species. Ten of the new species belong to the subgenus A. (Anastatus): A. (Anastatus) nozdormusp. nov., A. (Anastatus) kryptos sp. nov., A. (Anastatus) napoleonissp. nov., A. (Anastatus) yalini sp. nov., A. (Anastatus) battutai sp. nov., A. (Anastatus) beagleisp. nov., A. (Anastatus) neltharionsp. nov., A. (Anastatus) tigrinussp. nov., A. (Anastatus) huijuanaesp. nov., A. (Anastatus) ashrafisp. nov. One belongs to the subgenus A. (Cladanastatus): A. (Cladanastatus) alexstraszasp. nov. One additional species is newly recorded from China: A. (Anastatus) mantoidae Motschulsky rec. nov. A new synonymy is also proposed: A. (Anastatus) flavaeratus Peng & Tang, 2020 syn. nov. under A. (Anastatus) gastropachae Ashmead, 1904. Morphologically similar species were assigned to three informal species groups (formosanus, fulloi, and japonicus groups) based on morphology. Of the already-described species of the Chinese Anastatus, 15 were newly recorded from different provinces of China; this was true for all species except A. colemani, A. bifasciatus, A. polikiarkoudus, A. taibaiensis, and A. zdenekbouceki. Molecular analyses based on the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene were conducted on a total of 34 species (26 species derived from the specimens collected from China and eight species’ sequences downloaded from the BOLD and NCBI). Multivariate morphometric analyses (PCA, LDA, MANOVA) were employed to distinguish morphologically similar species. A comprehensive diagnostic key to all Chinese Anastatus species is also provided, accompanied by photographs of diagnostic characters.