Encarsia or Encarsiella? – redefining generic limits based on morphological and molecular evidence (Hymenoptera,Aphelinidae)

Abstract.  The genus Encarsiella ( syn.n. ) (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Aphelinidae) is synonymized with Encarsia on the basis of molecular and morphological characters. A phylogenetic analysis was conducted of the D2 expansion region of the 28S ribosomal DNA including thirty-eight Encarsia species. Our phylogenetic analysis revealed a polyphyletic origin of Encarsiella and confirmed the results of earlier analyses indicating the paraphyly of Encarsia . Four species are described as new ( Encarsia bifasciata sp.n. , E. caelata sp.n. , E. obliqua sp.n. and E. pilosa sp.n. ). The following species are transferred from Encarsiella to Encarsia : Encarsia aleurodici ( Girault, 1916 ) comb.n. , E. amabilis ( Huang & Polaszek, 1998 ) comb.n. , E. boswelli ( Girault, 1915 ) comb.n. , E. magniclava ( Girault, 1915 ) comb.n. , E. narroi Gómez & García comb.n. , E. nepalensis ( Polaszek & Hayat, 1992 ) comb.n. , E. noyesi ( Hayat, 1983 ) comb.n. , E. pithecura ( Polaszek, 1999 ) comb.n. , E. tachii ( Polaszek & Hayat, 1992 ) comb.n. , E. taiwanensis ( Chou & Chou, 1994 ) comb.n. and E. tamaulipeca ( Myartseva & Coronado-Blanco, 2002 ) comb.n. The generic limits of Encarsia are re-defined based on a re-assessment of morphological characters, and the results are discussed with respect to the current classification of the aphelinid subfamily Coccophaginae.