Ooencyrtus pitosina (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae)-A natural enemy of Samoan swallowtail butterfly Papilio godeffroyi (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)

Andrew Polaszek; John S Noyes; Elena B Lugli; Mark A Schmaedick; Robert W Peck; Paul C Banko; Lucian Fusu

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0288306

Ooencyrtus pitosina (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae)-A natural enemy of Samoan swallowtail butterfly Papilio godeffroyi (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)

PLoS One. 2023 Aug 9;18(8):e0288306. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0288306. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Andrew Polaszek¹, John S Noyes¹, Elena B Lugli², Mark A Schmaedick³, Robert W Peck⁴, Paul C Banko⁵, Lucian Fusu⁶

Affiliations

¹ Natural History Museum, London, England, United Kingdom.
² Core Research Laboratories, Natural History Museum, London, England, United Kingdom.
³ Division of Agriculture, Community and Natural Resources, American Samoa Community College, Pago Pago, American Samoa.
⁴ Hawai'i Cooperative Studies Unit, University of Hawai'i at Hilo, Hilo, Hawai'i, United States of America.
⁵ U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center, Kilauea Field Station, Hawai'i, United States of America.
⁶ Research Group in Invertebrate Diversity and Phylogenetics, Al. I. Cuza University, Faculty of Biology, Iasi, Romania.

Abstract

A new species of encyrtid wasp, Ooencyrtus pitosina Polaszek, Noyes & Fusu sp. n., (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae: Encyrtinae) is described as a gregarious parasitoid in the eggs of the endemic Samoan swallowtail butterfly Papilio godeffroyi (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) in the Samoan archipelago. It is described here because it is an important natural enemy of this butterfly, and to facilitate identification for future work with this parasitoid and its host.

Copyright: This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Butterflies*
Eggs
Hymenoptera*
Wasps*

Grants and funding

AP and EBL were supported through an award from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS contract #140G0322P0086). MAS was supported through the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Program. PCB and RWP were supported by the Natural Resources Protection Program (NRPP), a collaboration between the USGS and the National Park Service. Additional support to PCB was provided by the USGS Wildlife Program. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. https://doimspp.sharepoint.com/sites/nps-biologicalresourcesdivision/SitePages/USGS-NRPP-Funding-Source.aspx?CT=1680899434511&OR=OWA-NT&CID=94d148c4-7802-4cc1-cd84-ed03461d8c38 USGS Wildlife Program https://www.usgs.gov/programs/species-management-research-program/science/wildlife-and-terrestrial-species USDS-NIFA Hatch Program https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/programs/capacity-grants/hatch-act-1887.