Description of the first Palaearctic species of Tineobius Ashmead, 1896 with DNA data, a checklist of world species, and nomenclatural changes in Eupelmidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea)

Tineobius (Tineobius) tamaricis Ribes & Fusu sp. nov. is newly described from Parapodia sinaica (Frauenfeld, 1859) (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae) galls from Catalonia in Spain. This is the first record of the so far Palaeotropical genus Tineobius Ashmead, 1896 in the Palaearctic region. Basic biological data and a DNA barcode are provided for the new species. Parapodia sinaica (the host of T. tamaricis sp. nov.) is reported for the first time to form galls on Tamarix canariensis (Willd). A checklist of described world Tineobius species is provided, with nine species formally transferred to Tineobius from Anastatoidea Gahan, 1927 and thirteen species newly assigned to T. (Tineobius). Metapelma seyrigi (Risbec, 1952) is transferred to Tineobius and the replacement name Tineobius (Tineobius) madagascariensis nom. nov. is proposed, as the name is preoccupied by Tineobius (Tineobius) seyrigi (Ferrière, 1938) comb. nov.; Tineobius (Tineobius) albopalpalis (Brues, 1907) comb. nov. is transferred from Charitopus Förster, 1856 (a genus in Encyrtidae). One species is transferred from Anastatoidea to Eupelmus Dalman, 1820 as Eupelmus (Episolindelia) ambatomangae (Risbec, 1958) comb. nov.

Most species of Tineobius were revised by Ferrière (1938) as Anastatoidea Gahan, 1927.After Ferrière's revision further species were described by Risbec in Anastatoidea, who also published a new key to the Afrotropical species (Risbec 1952(Risbec , 1958)), but out of four species described by this author two belong to Eupelmus (Episolindelia) Girault, 1914 (Fusu et al. 2015 andpresent paper).Yoshimoto & Ishii (1965) described two further species in Anastatus Motschulsky, 1859 (Gibson et al. 2012) and Bouček (1988) one species in Duanellus Bouček, 1988.The latter author synonymized Anastatoidea with Tineobius, transferring to Tineobius all the Australian species described by A.A. Girault and some of the species described by C. Ferrière (Bouček 1988), but many of Ferrière's species were never formally transferred to Tineobius.According to Bouček (1988) and Gibson (1995), more undescribed species are known, but all are Palaeotropical.We report here on the unexpected discovery of the fi rst species of Tineobius in the Palaearctic region.

Material and methods
Specimens of a species of Tineobius (Tineobius) were found in Spain near Lleida during a survey of the Chalcidoidea of the region by AR.The fi rst specimens emerged in 2008 from Parapodia sina ica (Frauenfeld, 1859) (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae) galls on Tamarix canariensis, in a small number compared to other parasitoids.Further galls were collected from 2010 to 2013, stored indoor in polythene bags, controlled by AR for condensation and fungal growth, and checked periodically for the emerged chalcid wasps.Other gall samples were dissected for further biological observations.Emerged specimens were either killed with ethyl acetate or placed directly in ethanol.Those in ethanol were dried using HMDS (Heraty & Hawks 1998) before mounting on cards or points.The majority of the specimens were measured by AR with a stereomicroscope with a maximum magnifi cation of 90 ×, fi tted with a 10 mm ocular grid having 100 divisions.For paratype no.10077 measurements were made by LF with an Olympus SZX9 stereomicroscope fi tted with a 10 mm ocular grid having 100 divisions; to reduce glare, a double piece of tracing paper was inserted between the light source and the specimen.The habitus photograph of the holotype and acropleuron of paratype no.13940 were taken by AR with a compact digital camera placed over the trinocular stereo microscope and the specimen illuminated with a 144-LED ring as a light source.The serial images were combined using CombineZ5 software (Alan Hadley, http://www.bioinfo.org.uk/html/b148461.htm).All other photographs were taken by LF with a Leica DFC 500 digital camera attached to a Leica M205 A motorized stereomicroscope and the specimen illuminated within a cylinder made of white expanded polystyrene with an Olympus KL1500 LCD and a Kruss 150-watt light source.The serial images were combined with Zerene Stacker (Zerene Systems LLC, http://www.zerenesystems.com/)and digitally retouched using Adobe Photoshop.Specimens of the type series were labelled by LF using the data provided earlier by AR.The original labels contained only a catalogue number referring to an electronic database by AR that is currently inaccessible.These catalogue numbers are used throughout the text to uniquely designate a specimen and are provided in the material examined section after the name of the collector.The catalogue numbers were confi dently correlated with collecting data in all cases except for paratypes 13940 and 22575 for which data could have been reversed.Data from different labels of the holotype are separated in text by a slash.Within the checklist of described world species of Tineobius provided at the end of this paper, the species are listed alphabetically within the three subgenera.
Most morphological terms follow Gibson (1995Gibson ( , 1997)), wing folds terminology Gibson (2004), and sculpture categories as defi ned in Al Khatib et al. (2014) and Gibson & Fusu (2016) except mesoscutellum is used instead of scutellum and metascutellum instead of dorsellum in accordance with the recommendations of the Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology Portal (Yoder et al. 2010).For the molecular analyses DNA was initially extracted by LF from non-type specimens 22591 and 22592 using a non-destructive protocol based on the DNeasy® blood and tissue kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) as described in Polaszek et al. (2014).Because no PCR product was obtained, DNA was subsequently extracted from the left mid and hind legs of the holotype using a Chelex resin based protocol that was successfully used on other chalcid wasp taxa (Gebiola et al. 2009;2015).After DNA extraction, the legs were dried with HMDS and glued back to the specimen.We used an extraction protocol that avoids the boiling of the sample, as suggested by Casquet et al. (2012).This result in double stranded DNA that is much more stable during manipulations and for long term storage compared to the single stranded DNA obtained with an extraction protocol that uses a fi nal heating step at 95° or 100°C to inactivate the protease.Briefl y, the modifi ed protocol is as follows.Legs including coxae are placed in 25 μl of 5% Chelex ® 100 (Bio-Rad Laboratories) in a 1.5 ml microtube and proteinase K is added last (1.65 μl of 600-1000 u/ml, 14-22 mg/ml).If whole specimens are used, volumes are doubled.The tubes are incubated at 56°C for 5-6 hours.After the digestion, the microtubes are centrifuged briefl y and the supernatant is directly used as template in a PCR.The standard barcode region (Hebert et al. 2003) was amplifi ed by PCR using the primer pair LCO1490 / HCO2198 (Folmer et al. 1994).A standard 25 μl PCR was performed, containing 2.5 μl of 10 × PCR buffer, 1 μl of 50 mM MgCl 2 , 0.5 μl dNTPs solution (10 mM each), 1.25 μl of each primer (10 μM), 1.25 μl Taq polymerase (1u/μl, Red Taq DNA Polymerase, Rovalab), 4 μl DNA extract, and PCR grade water to fi nal volume.PCR conditions were: 94°C for 2 min, followed by 40 repeated cycles of 94°C for 30 s, 42°C for 60 s and 72°C for 35 s, a fi nal extension at 72°C for 5 min, and incubation at 10°C.The PCR products were visualized on a 1% agarose gel.Both DNA strands were sequenced at Macrogen Europe (Amsterdam) using the same primers used for the PCR.Sequence verifi cation was conducted by comparing forward and reverse chromatograms using Pregap4 v1.5 and Gap v4.10 in the Staden Package (Bonfi eld et al. 1995).

European Journal of Taxonomy
COLOUR.Head dark, with faint multicoloured metallic refl ections on frontovertex and occiput changing colour and intensity depending on viewing angle and lighting conditions (cf.heads in Figs 1A and 1C); more conspicuously metallic blue to greenish-blue variably extensively along eye orbit, in front of anterior ocellus and near posterior ocelli; interantennal region, scrobal depression and parascrobal region with green, bronze, coppery and violet refl ections; lower face, gena and temple dark blue with some violet, greenish and bronze refl ections.Maxillary and labial palps dark brown.Scape pale reddish to orangish brown, pedicel and fl agellum dark brown.Mesosoma including pronotum (Fig. 1B, G) mainly similar in colour to frontovertex except as follows.Mesoscutum dark blue to violet with green to coppery lustre more conspicuously on anteromedial convex lobe.Axillae and about anterior half of mesoscutellum reddish to orangish brown with at most with faint metallic lustre, mesoscutellum progressively darker posteriorly with frenal area dark green with multicoloured metallic lustre.Acropleuron (Fig. 1A-C) reddish to orangish brown in posterior half to two-thirds and dark, mostly metallic bluish-green, anteriorly.Tegula and prepectus dark reddish-brown, the frontal surface of prepectus dirty yellowish only in inferior third.Metanotum and callar region of propodeum dark with blue refl ections.Legs reddish to orangish brown.Front leg almost uniformly reddish-brown beyond coxa, except femur darkened on posterior surface.Middle leg similar in colour to front leg, except femur and tibia somewhat darkened dorsally, anterodorsal angle of femur with a whitish spot, and mesotibial spur brown; mesotarsus with basal two tarsomeres dirty-white except yellowish ventrally and apically and subsequent tarsomeres gradually darker with apical tarsomere distinctly brown.Mesotibial pegs reddish-brown, similar in colour to apex of tibia and mesotarsal pegs pale basally and brownish apically.Hind leg with femur reddish to orangish brown dorsally and metallic brown ventrally to almost uniformly reddish-brown; tibia reddish-brown, with laminated dorsal margin yellowish-white; tarsus reddish-brown.Gaster dark, with faint metallic lustre except basal tergite (Mt2) dorsally with obvious bluish-green to bronze refl ections subbasally.Ovipositor sheaths dark brown, ventrally with a narrow, yellowish to orangish band along length, broadening subapically into an indistinctly delimited and dorsally incomplete pale ring.HEAD.In dorsal view 1.8-1.95× as wide as long, 1.1-1.15× as wide as mesoscutum, and temples 0.22-0.35× eye length; with interocular distance 0.31-0.34× head width.Ocelli in a right-angled triangle with POL 4.1-4.5 × OOL and OOL 0.4-0.43 × MPOD.Eyes 1.4-1.5 × as long as broad, with short sparse pilosity, inner eye orbits converging upwards.Head in frontal view 1.15-1.2× as broad as high, with dorsal margin of torulus in line with or slightly above lower orbit.Malar space 0.5-0.55 × eye height, malar sulcus slightly out curved, mouth opening 1.4-1.6 × as broad as malar space.Scrobal depression wide, about as broad as high, extending up to half eye height, carinately margined laterally at least in basal two thirds.Vertex transversely reticulate-imbricate, frons conspicuously reticulate, with mesh size about as large as an ommatidium; scrobal depression including scrobes distinctly reticulate to transversely reticulate-rugulose.Lower face, interantennal region and parascrobal regions with white, slightly lanceolate setae compared to thinner, more hair-like, dark setae on frontovertex.Setae along outer orbit comparatively dense, white, slightly lanceolate and directed toward orbit, those along inner orbit and upper occiput long and semierect (Fig. 1E, G).Maxillary palpus enlarged, the last segment slightly curved and nearly as long as ventral length of mandible.Antenna (Fig. 1D) with scape 6-6.5 × as long as broad and 0.9-0.95× eye length, not reaching to anterior ocellus.Pedicel plus fl agellum 1.43-1.5 × head width; pedicel in dorsal view 2.2-2.7 × as long as broad, 1.9-2.1 × as long as fl 1 (anellus), and 0.45-0.55× as long as combined length of fl 1 and fl 2. Flagellum basally narrower than pedicel, the funiculars shorter and slightly wider distally; fl 1 elongate, 1.4-1.7 × as long as broad; fl 2 the longest segment, 4.1-4.6 × as long as broad and 1.15-1.25 × as long as fl 3; fl 3 to fl 8 2. 85-3.5, 2.35-2.7, 1.75-2.15, 1.45-1.9, 1.3-1.5, and 1.15-1.25 × as long as broad respectively; clava 2.0-2.35× as long as broad.
Fore wing (Fig. 1F) 2.5-2.6 × as long as broad, broadly infuscate medially and very narrowly at extreme base, hyaline below submarginal vein and parastigma and apically beyond venation; with relatively long and thick, dark, hair-like setae in infuscate regions, and with very short and fi ne but dark setae in apical hyaline portion; basal hyaline region with a band of pale setae behind basal half of parastigma and apex of submarginal vein.Basal cell variably extensively setose with pale setae, sometimes mostly bare but at least bare mesally and with setae sparser than on disk, open posteriorly because mediocubital fold, cubital and vanal areas bare.Costal cell 8.5-9.5 × as long as broad, 1.3-1.35× as long as marginal vein, dorsally near leading margin with row of dark setae in about basal half but bare in front of parastigma, ventrally with two rows of pale setae along length except more extensively setose basally.Marginal vein 2.9-3.3 × as long as stigmal vein.Stigmal vein nearly straight, stigma broadened with uncus slightly shorter than stigmal vein breadth.Postmarginal vein 2.4-2.55 × as long as stigmal vein, and 0.75-0.85× as long as marginal vein.
Gaster (excluding ovipositor sheaths) 0.85-0.9× as long as mesosoma and 1.9-2.15× as long as broad, with white setae mostly laterally, long and suberect on fi rst tergite and shorter and more adpressed on rest.Mt2 deeply incised, surface superfi cially coriaceous-imbricate to reticulate-imbricate; following tergites with similar but stronger sculpture, posterior margin of Mt3 to Mt5 sinuately emarginate, that of Mt6 straight and Mt7 slightly angulate posteriorly.Mt7 of about same length as Mt6 (concealed in various degrees under Mt6 in all available specimens).Ovipositor sheaths about 1.9-2 × length of gaster, 0.8-0.9× body length, and 2.3-2.4 × length of metatibia, the pale portion about 1.5 × as long as the apical dark portion.

Male
Unknown.

Distribution
Spain.

Remarks
Tineobius tamaricis sp.nov. is placed within Tineobius s. str.because the female possess the following combination of characters: head in lateral view comparatively fl at, with a band of differentiated refl ective setae along outer orbit; fl 2 not anelliform, much longer than fl 1 or pedicel; metascutellum only slightly protuberant over propodeal plical depression; plical depression with a whitish membranous bottom and a differentiated anteromedian whitish spot; metatibia compressed with laminated dorsal margin yellowish-white; Mt6 with posterior margin straight and Mt7 transverse and of about the same length as Mt6.Females of T. (Duanellus) share the same presumably derived state of the head, propodeum, metatibia and metasoma, but antennae are inserted near the centre of the face with fl 2 anelliform and similar to fl 1 (Bouček 1988: fi gs 1011, 1013) and outer orbit lacks a band of spatulate or lanceolate setae (Gibson 1995).The three known species of T. (Progenitobius) of which one is undescribed (Gibson 1995;Fusu et al. 2015) all have a subglobose head (Fusu et al. 2015: fi g. 3C), Mt6 with a broadly and deeply emarginate posterior margin similar to other tergites, and Mt7 longer than Mt6 and subtriangular.Also, the two described species, both from Madagascar, do not have a carinately compressed metatibia though basal part of dorsal margin is whitish (Gibson 1995;Fusu et al. 2015).However, one undescribed species from South Africa is atypical for the subgenus in having a metatibia similar to that found in most species of Tineobius s. str.(Gibson 1995).The distribution of the character states within the genus and the potential paraphyly of T. (Progenitobius) relative to Tineobius s. str.+ T. (Duanellus) were discussed in detail by Gibson (1995).
Using Ferrière (1938) and Risbec (1952) keys, the holotype of T. tamaricis sp.nov.runs near T. indicus (Ferrière, 1938) and T. philippinensis (Ferrière, 1938) comb.nov.because of the following combination of features: ovipositor sheaths with pale subapical band, fore wing with infuscate median area and sparse setation basally, mesosoma with some reddish to orangish brown parts in addition to the acropleuron, and metafemur mostly brown.It differs from these species by a different combination of colour characters, setation of wing disc, and proportion of antennal segments.Tineobius tamaricis sp.nov.differs from T. indicus, a species from Pakistan, in having reduced orangish brown areas (mesoscutum and gaster entirely dark, metallic), metatarsus dark brown, fore wing without spatulate setae, fl 2 1.35-1.65 × as long as pedicel, and ovipositor sheaths almost as long as gaster plus mesosoma.Tineobius indicus (holotype in BMNH examined) differs by the following: front leg including coxa, as well as prepectus, and acropleuron except anteriorly, brownish-orange; mesoscutum brownish-orange except posterior median depressed area and posterior half of median and lateral lobes dark with some metallic lustre; mesoscutellum and axillae orange; fi rst and second gastral tergites pale, yellowish-brown; metatarsus with fi rst and last tarsomeres brown, second paler, and third and fourth pale yellowish; fore wing with short, stout and spatulate setae below parastigma, marginal and stigmal veins; fl 2 about as long as pedicel and ovipositor sheaths as long as gaster plus half of mesosoma.Tineobius tamaricis sp.nov.differs from T. philippinensis (holotype in BMNH examined), a species from Philippines, in having the pronotum dark metallic, a reddish to orangish brown scape, head without conspicuously modifi ed setae, reticulate frontovertex, scrobal depression as broad as high, fore wing without lanceolate setae, and ovipositor sheaths 0.8-0.9× as long as rest of body.Tineobius philippinensis has the following: lateral panel of pronotum anteriorly and posteriorly, prepectus, posterior half of acropleuron, base of mesoscutellum and axillae reddish-brown; scape brown and only slightly paler than fl agellum; head with a tuft of long, black, lanceolate setae at boundary of vertex and occiput and very long erect setae on frontovertex; frontovertex virtually polished, with effaced coriaceous sculpture; scrobal depression strongly transverse, П-shaped and widely separated from anterior ocellus; fore wing with lanceolate to spatulate setae below parastigma and marginal vein; and ovipositor sheaths 0.5 × as long as rest of body.
One paratype of T. tamaricis sp.nov.has all the parts that have a noticeable reddish hue in other specimens (Fig. 1A-B) more inconspicuously differentiated in colour, dark reddish-brown (Fig. 1C, G), and therefore in available keys runs to the Afrotropical species T. afer (Ferrière, 1938) comb. nov. andEuropean Journal of Taxonomy 263: 1-19 (2017) T. montanus (Ferrière, 1938) comb. nov. (type material in BMNH examined).Specimens of T. tamaricis sp.nov.with this colour pattern differ most conspicuously from T. afer in having a slenderer antenna, with fl 2 more than 4 × as long as broad and longer than pedicel, fore wing with hair-like setae behind marginal vein, and scrobal depression carinate laterally.In T. afer fl 2 is 2 × as long as broad and slightly shorter than pedicel, fore wing with spatulate setae behind parastigma and basal ⅔ of marginal vein, and scrobal depression only slightly impressed, about as long as wide, and almost touching inner eye orbit.From T. montanus it differs in having a shorter fl 1 and in the structure of fore wing setation and scrobal depression.In T. montanus fl 1 is about 2 × longer than broad, and the fore wing and scrobal depression are as described for T. afer.
In having only hair-like setae on fore wing, T. tamaricis sp.nov. is similar to T. lamborni (Ferrière, 1938) comb.nov.(holotype in BMNH examined) described from sub-Saharan Africa (Malawi), but this species differs in having the pedicel only 1.3 × as long as fl 1 and about 0.5 × as long as fl 2, a brown scape only slightly paler than fl agellum, a narrow Λ-shaped scrobal depression carinately margined laterally along entire length except dorsally below anterior ocellus and separated from anterior ocellus by only about one ocellar diameter; body mostly dull, black with very reduced metallic lustre; fore wing base without band of pale setae behind parastigma, and bare except about basal half of basal cell with scattered dark setae.

DNA barcoding
A complete DNA barcode sequence was obtained from the holotype and was deposited on GenBank under the accession number KT962861.Because this is the fi rst DNA barcode of a Tineobius species, a Blast search (Altschul et al. 1990) in GenBank revealed high similarities with Cecidostiba Thomson, 1878 (Pteromalidae) and Eupelmus Dalman, 1820 (Eupelmidae) sequences, but at least this attests that it is a genuine Chalcidoidea sequence and not one from a contaminant or an endosymbiont.

Ecology
Tineobius tamaricis sp.nov. is a parasitoid of Parapodia sinaica larvae that form galls on Tamarix twigs.These galls are known so far from Egypt (Houard 1912), Iran (Rezaei et al. 2007), Israel (Gerling et al. 1976), and France (Joannis 1912, as P. tamaricicola Joannis, 1912;Dauphin & Aniotsbehere 1994).Parapodia sinaica produces galls on several Tamarix species including T. africana Poir., T. gallica L., T. tetragyna Ehrenb., T. nilotica (Ehrenb.)Bunge, and T. jordanis Boiss.To the best of our knowledge, it was not recorded previously from Spain or on T. canariensis (new host record).The galls are similar to those of Amblypalpis olivierella (Ragonot, 1886) reported by Gerling et al. (1976), another Gelechiidae moth galling several Tamarix species, but differ in being smaller in size (12-13 × 6-8 mm), having a fusiform shape, and the cavities inside the gall leaving the central column of the vascular bundles intact.Adult moths have the fore wings pale greyish brown, with a dark and pale spotted pattern.In the survey of parasitoids in Tamarix galls in Lleida, a number of parasitoids were found in the galls, the most common being a species of Apanteles sp.(Braconidae: Microgastrinae), of which 186 specimens emerged, and occasionally other parasitoids of Braconidae, Ichneumonidae, Eulophidae, Eupelmidae and Pteromalidae (a paper concerning this parasitoid complex is in preparation).A small number of T. tamaricis sp.nov.females emerged from the galls, with a total of six specimens over four years and one specimen (on one occasion two) per year.It therefore is not a common species, but with a stable population in this stand of Tamarix in this locality.Emergence dates of T. tamaricis sp.nov.adult females were not clearly established, but possibly between June and August, as they were found dry in the rearing bags during this period, after the usual emergence dates between May and June of the lepidopteran host and most of their parasitoids.From one sample of galls collected on 25 Jan. 2012, and after the emergence period fi nished with no Tineobius emerging, in one of the galls opened on 15 Mar.2013 an adult female was found inside as it was unable to emerge, and near the wasp there were the remains of a consumed P. sinaica larva, including its cephalic capsule.Parapodia sinaica larvae FUSU L. & RIBES A., A new species of Tineobius from Spain usually bore an exit hole in the wall of the woody gall before pupation, partly closed by the epidermis of the gall, and some other parasitoid species were also found dead inside galls, unable to complete the hole for exiting.We interpret this fi nding as evidence for the P. sinaica larva being the host.In this case, T. tamaricis sp.nov.was either a primary parasitoid or, more likely, a hyperparasitoid via Apanteles sp., because other species of Tineobius with known biology are reported as primary and often as secondary parasitoids of Lepidoptera (Gahan 1927;Ferrière 1936Ferrière , 1938)).For example, the type series of Tineobius seyrigi (= Anastatoidea seyrigi) (MNHN) is accompanied by a large moth cocoon of about 33 by 16 mm with the label: "obtenu d'éclosion de Prospilus / cohacarum m. (i.litt.)sur / Borocera sp.-sur 500 cocons, / seuls ceux qui contenaient des / Prospilus, étaient parasités par l'Eupelmid" [obtained by rearing from Prospilus cohacarum mihi (in litteris) on Borocera sp.-out of 500 cocoons only those containing Prospilus were parasitised by the eupelmid] (see also Ferrière 1936).

Discussion
Tineobius is a diverse genus known from the Afrotropical, Oriental, and Australasian regions, including numerous undescribed species (Gibson 1995), but previously not recorded from the Palaearctic region.The newly described T. tamaricis sp.nov.from Spain represents the fi rst species of the genus for the Palaearctic region.The most geographically close records of other Tineobius species are from Pakistan and the sub-Saharan Afrotropical region.The association of T. tamaricis sp.nov.with Parapodia sinaica, which is probably distributed over the entire Mediterranean area on several Tamarix species, implies that T. tamaricis sp.nov.could also be distributed over a larger area.The distribution range of several Tamarix species extends further into the Oriental and Afrotropical regions, mainly through Near East where P. sinaica galls were found to attack three different Tamarix species (Gerling et al. 1976).Via an Iranian, Ethiopian or Saharan path, there might be a connection between the populations of T. tamaricis sp.nov. in Spain with the tropical regions were Tineobius is more diverse.On the other hand, the localised distribution of T. tamaricis sp.nov., the fact that it was not collected before despite the Eupelmidae of Spain being well investigated (Askew & Nieves-Aldrey 2000, 2004, 2006) and this being the sole species of Tineobius present in the Palaearctic region, might indicate that it is in fact an introduced species and not a local endemic.Also, the absence of any males reared over the four years might indicate it is a thelytokous species.If so, the likelihood of the species being introduced from elsewhere is further increased as there are examples of several eupelmid species in North America being introduced from other regions and with only females known (parthenogenesis favours the establishment of introduced species; Hoffman et al. 2008).This is the case of Balcha indica (Mani & Kaul, 1973) (Gibson 2005), Eupelmus pini Taylor, 1927 (Gibson 2011;Gibson & Fusu 2016), and Eupelmus vesicularis (Retzius, 1783) (s.lat., Fusu 2010).As exotic species of Tamarix are widely used as ornamental plants or for reforestation throughout Europe, T. tamaricis sp.nov.might have been introduced together with infested plants from Africa or Asia.