Ten new species of Meteorus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from Ecuador reared at the Yanayacu Biological Center for Creative Studies

This research focuses on the discovery, description and biology of ten new species within the braconid genus Meteorus. Specimens obtained for this study were reared from Lepidoptera larvae that were collected in the northeastern Andes of Ecuador, which is considered to be a hotspot of global diversity. The ten new species described and illustrated are: M. bustamanteorum, M. caritatis, M. horologium, M. imaginatus, M. luteus, M. margarita, M. oreo, M. porcatus, M. quasifabatus, and M. zitaniae. The biology of these species has also been observed: reared as single wasp emergences are M. caritatis, M. imaginatus, M. luteus, and M. oreo. The majority of the descriptions are of gregarious wasp rearings, which occur within M. bustamanteorum, M. horologium, M. margarita, M. porcatus, M. quasifabatus, and M. zitaniae. There is also a large diversity of taxa that are used for oviposition; four species were reared from Arctiidae caterpillars, two from Nymphalidae, and one each from Apatelodidae, Limacodidae, Megalopygidae, and Noctuidae. Looking more closely at host data for all of the new species of Meteorus, with most yet to be described, there is a strong correlation between types of host defense and whether development yields a solitary or gregarious wasp. All of the Meteorus wasps that have been collected in this region have been new species, which highlights the enormous biodiversity and importance of describing new species in the neotropics.