Continental risk assessment for understudied taxa post-catastrophic wildfire indicates severe impacts on the Australian bee fauna.

The 2019-2020 Australian Black Summer wildfires demonstrated that single events can have widespread and catastrophic impacts on biodiversity, causing a sudden and marked reduction in population size for many species. In such circumstances, there is a need for conservation managers to respond rapidly to implement priority remedial management actions for the most-affected species to help prevent extinctions. To date, priority responses have been biased towards high-profile taxa with substantial information bases. Here, we demonstrate that sufficient data are available to model the extinction risk for many less well-known species, which could inform much broader and more effective ecological disaster responses. Using publicly available collection and GIS datasets, combined with life-history data, we modelled the extinction risk from the 2019-2020 catastrophic Australian wildfires for 553 Australian native bee species (33% of all described Australian bee taxa). We suggest that two species are now eligible for listing as Endangered and nine are eligible for listing as Vulnerable under IUCN criteria, on the basis of fire overlap, intensity, frequency, and life-history traits: this tally far exceeds the three Australian bee species listed as threatened prior to the wildfire. We demonstrate how to undertake a wide-scale assessment of wildfire impact on a poorly understood group to help to focus surveys and recovery efforts. We also provide the methods and the script required to make similar assessments for other taxa or in other regions.

Molecular diversity and species delimitation in the family Gasteruptiidae (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea).

Gasteruptiidae Ashmead is an easily recognised family of wasps with ∼589 described species worldwide. Although well characterised by traditional taxonomy, multiple authors have commented on the extreme morphological uniformity of the group, making species-level identification difficult. This problem is enhanced by the lack of molecular data and molecular phylogenetic research for the group. We used 187 cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) barcodes to explore the efficiency of sequence data to delimitate species in Gasteruptiidae. We undertook a graphical and discussion-based comparison of six methods for species delimitation, with the success of methods judged based on known species boundaries and morphology. Both distance-based (ABGD and jMOTU threshold analysis) and tree-based (GMYC and PTP) methods compared across multiple parameters recovered variable molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs), ranging from 55 to 123 MOTUs. Tree-based methods tended to split known morphological species less than distance-based methods, with the single-threshold GMYC method the most concordant with known morphospecies. Our results suggest that the incorporation of molecular species delimitation techniques provides a powerful tool to assist in the interpretation of species and help direct informed decisions with taxonomic uncertainty in the family.

A new species of the endemic Australian genus Hyptiogaster Kieffer Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae).

Hyptiogaster arafura sp. nov. is described from Arafura Swamp, Northern Territory, Australia, as the eleventh species of Hyptiogaster Kieffer (Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae). A revised diagnosis of Hyptiogaster is given based on the new species.

First record of Gasteruption Latreille (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Gasteruptiidae) from Fiji with the description of a new species.

A new Gasteruption Latreille species, G. tomanivi, is described from Viti Levu, Fiji. The new species is the first record of the genus for Fiji and can be distinguished from other Oceanian Gasteruption species by the length of the mesosoma and the large malar space compared with the length of the pedicel. DNA Barcode (mtDNA-COI) sequence is provided.

Systematics of the parasitoid wasp genus Aulacus Jurine (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Aulacidae) from Australia.

The Aulacidae is a small family of Hymenoptera that are parasitic on wood-boring beetles and wasps. They have a worldwide distribution but are generally poorly studied, particularly for the southern hemisphere. This study is part of a series that aims to describe the Australian fauna which is relatively species-rich compared with other regions. We describe 39 new Aulacus species from eastern mainland Australia and Tasmania: A. anici Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. aquilus Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. bamagensis Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. bashfordi Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. bicolor Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. boonanghiensis Jennings Parslow, sp. nov., A. brabyi Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. broadi Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. burnsi Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. confusus Jennings Parslow, sp. nov., A. dandenongensis Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. deansi Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. doddi Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. froggatti Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. glorious Jennings Parslow, sp. nov., A. hackeri Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. insularis Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. jamberoo Jennings Parslow, sp. nov., A. kittelae Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. kiwarrakensis Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. leai Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. mareebaensis Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. naumanni Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. nebo Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. neboissi Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. obcordellus Jennings Parslow, sp. nov., A. pallidus Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. quickei Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. rieki Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. scitulus Jennings Parslow, sp. nov., A. simsoni Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. smithi Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. tasmanicus Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. tiernyi Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. umbackae Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. walkeri Jennings Parslow, sp. nov., A. warraensis Jennings Austin, sp. nov., A. willamsi Jennings Austin, sp. nov., and A. wrightae Jennings Austin, sp. nov. We also redescribe 14 species: A. albimanus (Kieffer), A. aroueti (Girault), A. atriceps Kieffer, A. elegans (Kieffer), A. festivus (Kieffer), A. flavicornis (Kieffer), A. flavimanus (Kieffer), A. fuscicornis Cameron, A. longiventris (Kieffer), A. minutus Crosskey, A. pallidicaudis (Cameron), A. planiceps (Szépligeti), A. truncatus (Kieffer), and A. vespiformis (Kieffer). As well, A. nigriventris (Kieffer) is synonymised with A. albimanus (Kieffer) syn nov. This brings to 60 the total number of species known from Australia (71 for the Australian region), although one species, A. biroi (Szépligeti), remains incertae sedis. A key to Australian Aulacus species is presented, along with notes on taxonomic history and host relationships.

The gasteruptiid wasp fauna of New Caledonia, with description of three new species of Gasteruption (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Gasteruptiidae).

The rarely collected gasteruptiid wasp fauna (Evanioidea: Gasteruptiidae) of New Caledonia is reviewed. Previously only two species of Pseudofoenus (Hyptiogastrinae) were known. Here, we record the subfamily Gasteruptiinae from New Caledonia for the first time and describe three new species of Gasteruption: G. lacoulee Jennings, Krogmann & Parslow, sp. nov., G. maquis Jennings, Krogmann & Parslow, sp. nov., and G. sarramea Jennings, Krogmann & Parslow, sp. nov. An identification key to the Gasteruptiidae of New Caledonia is provided.