Japanese Xiphydriidae (Hymenoptera) in the Collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C

Authors: SHINOHARA, AKIHIKO - National Museum Of Nature And Science; SMITH, D.R. - Retired ARS Employee

Submitted to: Japanese Journal of Systematic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/25/2020
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Wood-boring wasps can cause damage to forest trees and decrease the value of lumber. They can be easily introduced outside their normal range by commerce, and several have been introduced accidentally into North America in wood. One group feeds primarily on deciduous trees, and there has been at least one introduction from Europe. A collection of this group from Japan includes nine species. One species is newly described and new host plants and distribution records in Japan are given for the other species. New host records include species in elm and cherry. This will be of interest to researchers studying wood-boring insects and will be of assistance in identification of wood-borers intercepted at ports-of-entry in the United States.

Technical Abstract: Nine species of four genera of Japanese Xiphydriidae are recognized in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Xiphydria nire Shinohara and Smith, n. sp. is described from a male specimen that emerged from a dead branch of Ulmus davidiana var. japonica [Ulmaceae] collected in Sapporo, Hokkaido. Platyxiphydria miyakei Togashi, 1963, is newly recorded from Hokkaido, and Prunus spp. [Rosaceae] are newly recorded as host plants of Xiphydria ogasawarai Matsumura, 1927.