Xenos gadagkari , Sen and Nain 2024

Xenos gadagkari, Sen and Nain sp.nov. Phylogenetic analysis The phylogenetic analysis of X. gadagkari was conducted with several partial fragments of the mitochondrial COI gene sequences of other species obtained from NCBI. X. gadagkari forms a clade with X. vesparum among several other strepsipterans from different Polistine wasps (Fig 17). The clade is also supported by high posterior probabilities (100) indicating strong reliability of the clade. The X. gadagkari sequences show a synonymous site divergence of 79% (with 68% divergence across all the sites considered) from X. vesparum. Differences with X. hebraei and X. vesparum X. gadagkari is phylogenetically closest to X. vesparum (according to currently available sequences). However, X gadagkari is morphologically different from X. vesparum particularly due to the drastic difference in colouration. In the female cephalotheca, the mandibles of X. gadagkari are positioned in a depression larger than their length, while in X. vesparum the depression around the mandibles is smaller than the length of the mandibles. Also, the lower margin below the semicircular field possible of labral region (SES) is elevated (Fig 15c) in X. gadagkari, while it is smooth in X. vesparum (Fig 2D in Richter et al. 2017). As the description of the adult male X. hebraei is unavailable, it is not possible to compare them. However, according to the description of the female cephalothorax of X. hebraei (Kinzelbach 1978) ‘the clypeo-labral region protrudes less than in any other of the species of western Palearctic’. The protrusion of the clypeo-labral region in X. gadagkari is more pronounced than X. vesparum (Fig 15d of this study compared with Fig 2D of the study on X. vesparum (Richter et al., 2017). Kinzelbach (1978) further described that ‘the posterior delimitation of the brood aperture is shifted far forward’ while the lateral margins of the brood aperture reach the anterior margin of the head. In X. gadagkari, neither of these two characters is different from X. vesparum i.e. the posterior delimitation of the brood aperture is not shifted forwards and the lateral margins of the brood aperture end way before reaching the anterior margin of the head. Although body size may vary between hosts, a morphometric and colour comparison of X. gadagkari with the available data from X. vesparum and X hebraei is compiled in table 2.