Dr Karl Magnacca1

1Center For Conservation Research and Training, Honolulu, United States

Biography:

Dr. Magnacca has studied the taxonomy, evolution, and conservation of the Hawaiian insect fauna for 30 years. That work has frequently led him to Australia, where many of the Hawaiian groups originated.

Abstract:

The family Bethylidae is a dark taxon worldwide, with thousands of species believed to be undescribed. The subfamily Bethylinae, which are parasitoids of microlepidoptera, are particularly poorly known. Despite a reputation as "little black wasps," they often have striking morphology. Recent work on the Austro-Pacific genus Sierola has dramatically increased the number of species known from Hawaii and other islands. However, Australia has remained mostly unstudied, with only five described species despite large numbers of specimens being documented in collections. Using a combination of museum specimens, DNA barcoding vouchers, and recent collections, I revised a morphogroup of Australian Sierola. A total of 160 species were found from across the country, spanning a morphological range much greater than that found in Asia or the Pacific islands. Many are represented by only one or two specimens, so it is expected that many remain to be discovered. Furthermore, these do not include the most common morphological form (taxa with a high, sharp clypeal carina), which in the Hawaiian fauna make up about 60% of the species. Thus, a conservative estimate is that at least 400 species will eventually be found in Australia.

An unexpected finding in this study was that the morphological characters used to distinguish Sierola from the related genus Goniozus break down in both Australia and the Americas. However, they can be easily separated using indels in the COI barcode sequence. Numerous Australian species formerly classified as Goniozus turn out to actually be Sierola; true Goniozus are present but rare.