A new species of Pristiphora Latreille (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinidae), a defoliator of Picea meyeri in China

In this paper, a new species of Pristiphora is described and illustrated, P. brevitheca sp. nov. collected in Hebei Province from China. Based on the morphological characteristics of females and males and the maximum likelihood tree analysis based on COI, it is determined that this new species belongs to the P. abietina group. Partial mitochondrial genome and 21 tRNA secondary structures of the new species are described.

The partial mitochondrial genome (16,187 bp) contains 36 genes: 13 protein-coding genes, 21 tRNAs, and 2 rRNAs. Notably, trnQ and the control region (CR) are missing from the assembly. The A + T content of P. brevitheca mitochondrial genome is 80.9 %.

Phylogenetic analysis showed that P. brevitheca belongs to the P. abietina group, and this also supports the monophyly of the group. The consumption of Picea meyeri (Pinaceae) needles by the new species results in the complete defoliation of some trees. Some biological characteristics of the new species are also provided.