Bull. Natl. Mus. Nat. Sci., Ser. A, 47(1), pp. 1–5, February 22, 2021
DOI: 10.50826/bnmnszool.47.1_1

Indoxiphia prima (Hymenoptera, Xiphydriidae):
Discovery of a Taiwanese Woodwasp in Southern Japan
Akihiko Shinohara1 and David R. Smith2
1

Department of Zoology, National Museum of Nature and Science,
4–1–1 Amakubo, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305–0005, Japan
E-mail: shinohar@kahaku.go.jp
2
Systematic Entomology Laboratory, U. S. Department of Agriculture, c/o National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 168, Washington, DC, 20013–7012, USA
E-mail: sawﬂy2@aol.com(Received 30 November 2020; accepted 23 December 2020)

Abstract A xiphydriid woodwasp, Indoxiphia prima Smith, 2019, previously known only fromTaiwan, is newly recorded from Ashizuri-misaki (Shikoku), Nakanoshima Island (Tokara Islands)
and Amami-oshima Island, southern Japan. Its taxonomic characters are summarized, and the species is compared with some other Japanese xiphydriids. This is one of a few xiphydriid species
showing a peculiar distribution pattern conﬁned to southeastern coastal areas in Japan. This distribution pattern may have been formed at least partly as a result of dispersal by marine drift.
Key words : New distribution record, dispersal by marine drift, Shikoku, Tokara Islands, Amamioshima Island.

Introduction
Indoxiphia prima Smith, 2019, is a small
xiphydriid woodwasp recently described fromTaiwan (Smith, 2019). The genus Indoxiphia
comprises 13 species mainly distributed in theOriental and Oceanian realms (Smith, 2008,2019; Taeger et al., 2010) and I. prima is thenorthernmost species. Recently we examined
three specimens of this species collected in Ashizuri-misaki (Shikoku), Nakanoshima Island(Tokara Islands) and Amami-oshima Island,southern Japan. This is the ﬁrst record of I. primafrom Japan. Here we give a summary of taxonomic characters mainly based on the new material from Japan and we also comment on thepeculiar distribution pattern of this species.

University, Matsuyama (EU) and National
Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba(NSMT). Observations of morphology weremade with Olympus SZX7 stereo binocular
microscope. For morphological terminology, wegenerally follow Viitasaari (2002). Photographs(Fig. 1) were taken with a digital camera, Olympus Stylus TG-4 Tough with Olympus SZX7 stereo binocular microscope. The distribution map(Fig. 2) was made using a blank map personallyprovided by G. Kokubugata (NSMT). The digital
images were processed and arranged with Adobe
Photoshop Elements® 9 and 15 software.
Results and Discussion
Indoxiphia prima Smith, 2019
(Figs. 1–2)

Materials and Methods
Specimens used in this work are kept in Ehime© 2021 National Museum of Nature and Science

Indoxiphia prima Smith, 2019: 267.

Summary of taxonomic characters. Female:
Length without ovipositor 6.5–10.5 mm. Color.
Black, with following creamy white (Fig. 1):

2

A. Shinohara and D. R. Smith

Fig. 1. Indoxiphia prima, female, Ashizuri-misaki (A–G) and Chinase-rindo (H). — A, Habitus, ventrolateralview; B, head dorsal view; C, head, frontal view; D, head and thorax, lateral view; E, thorax, dorsal view; F,antenna, dorsal view; G, hind leg, lateral view; H, apex of abdomen, lateral view.

base of mandible, elongate spot along inner orbit,
small spot above each torulus, paired spots on
clypeus, large elongate spot along posterior margin of gena, posterior margin of lateral pronotum,

large elongate spot on mesepisternum, lateralspot on each of abdominal terga 3–8 and at posterior margin of tergum 9. Valvifer 2 (basalsheath) mostly brownish. Antennal scape andDiscovery of Indoxiphia prima in Japan3Fig. 2. Distribution of Indoxiphia prima, black dots showing collection records taken from Smith (2019) andpresent work.

pedicel dark brown, ﬂagellomeres 1 to base of 3
black, rest of ﬂagellum creamy white (ﬂagellomeres 1 to base of 5 and terminal ﬂagellomereblack in one specimen). Legs pale brown; coxae
black basally; anterior tibia and tarsus blackish,with basal half of tibia and most of tarsomere 1
creamy white; mid tibia and tarsus black, withbasal 2/3 of tibia and most of tarsomeres 1 and 2
creamy white; hind tibia creamy white basallyand pale brown apically; hind tarsus black, withtarsomeres 1 and 2 largely creamy white. Structure. Vertex and dorsal part of gena very smooth,impunctate (Fig. 1B); vertex without median furrow or row of punctures. Eyes very large, gena

narrow, distinctly narrowed ventrally in lateralview; malar space very narrow, about 0.1× distance between toruli, with ventral pit (antennalgroove) small and shallow; space between eye
and dorsal margin of ventral pit linear; occipital
carina (crassa) sharp and entire around posterior
margin of head, only ventral end obsolete; genal
carina developed only on ventral part of gena.
Maxillary palp much shorter than labial palp,
with four palpomeres, palpomere 2 large and palpomeres 3 and 4 very short; labial palp with four
palpomeres, palpomere 4 large. Antenna (Fig.
1F) ﬁliform, with 13 or 14 antennomeres; ratio oflengths of scape (incl. radicula): pedicel: ﬂagel-4A. Shinohara and D. R. Smithlomere 1: ﬂagellomere 2 about 26:11:17:9.
Mesoscutellum with distinct microsculpture, mat,posterior 1/3, except anteromedian part, largelysmooth (Fig. 1E). Anterior tarsal claws withsharp inner tooth; mid and hind tarsal claws simple without subapical tooth but with large basal
lobe. Mid and hind tarsomere 5 and claws
enlarged (Fig. 1G). Hind tarsomere 1 about 1.4×
length of tarsomeres 2–4 combined and tarsomere 5 longer than tarsomeres 2–4 combined(Fig. 1G). Wings hyaline, veins and stigma
black; fore wing with cell C narrow, cell 3R1
closed, crossvein 2r-m basal to crossvein 2 m-cu
on vein M and vein 1A shortly fused with or narrowly separated from vein 2A＋3A; hind wingwith cell R1 closed and with one or two middle
cells. Valvula 3 (apical sheath) about 0.7–0.8×
length of valvifer 2 (basal sheath) (Fig. 1H).
Male: unknown.
Distribution. Taiwan. Japan (Shikoku, Tokara
Islands, Amami-oshima Island). New to Japan.
Specimens examined. SHIKOKU: Kochi Pref.:1 ♀, Ashizuri-misaki, 13. VII. 2015, R. Okano(EU). KYUSHU: Kagoshima Pref.: 1 ♀, Tokara
Islands, Nakanoshima Island, Otake, 7. V. 2005,T. Mita (NSMT); 1 ♀, Amami-oshima Island,
Chinase-rindo, Amami-shi, Naze, Asato,
28.3494°N, 129.4499°E, 6–8. VII. 2019, YPT,Junta Abe (NSMT).
Host plant. Unknown.
Remarks. Indoxiphia prima was describedfrom two specimens from Taiwan (Smith, 2019).
The three Japanese specimens examined agreewith the original description, except for the coloration of the antennae and abdomen. In the original description, the antenna is “mostly blackwith basal 4 or 5 antennomeres brownish” (in“Diagnosis”, p. 267) or “scape brown, pedicel
dark brown, ﬂagellomeres 1–5 brownish, ﬂagellomeres 6 to apex black” (in “Description”, p.
267) and the abdomen is “black with lateralwhite marks on segments 3–7” (p. 272). In theJapanese specimens, the antennal ﬂagellum islargely creamy white as described above (Fig.
1A, F) and the abdomen has a lateral spot oneach of the abdominal terga 3–8 and at the poste-rior margin of the tergum 9 (Fig. 1A, H). TheJapanese specimens agree with the ﬁgures of theholotype (ﬁgs. 1–5, Smith, 2019), where a part of
the whitish right ﬂagellum is visible in ﬁgs. 1–3
and the abdomen has the almost identical color
pattern with the Japanese specimen (compareFig. 1A with ﬁg. 1 in Smith, 2019).
Indoxiphia prima is a small black xiphydriidwith creamy-white areas on the antennae, head,thorax and abdomen and pale brown and creamywhite areas on the legs, further characterized by
the very large eyes, the smooth vertex, which has
no longitudinal median furrow, the short maxillary palp with four palpomeres, the labial palp
with four palpomeres, the enlarged hind tarsomere 5, and the simple tarsal claws on mid andhind legs. By a combination of these characters,
I. prima is easily separated from the known Japanese species of Xiphydriidae (Shinohara, 2019c,2020; Shinohara and Smith, 2020; Shinohara andYamasako, 2020; Shinohara et al., 2020; Shinohara and Hara, 2021). A southern species, Lissoxiphyda mitai Shinohara, 2020, is also a small
black xiphydriid, but the antennal ﬂagellum,
head capsule and thorax are entirely black, thevertex has a longitudinal median furrow, themaxillary palp is long and with six palpomeres,and the tarsal claws of all legs are simple (Shinohara, 2020). With largely whitish antennae, I.
prima may resemble the species of Xiphydria
palaeanarctica group (Shinohara, 2019a), but thelatter xiphydriids are larger northern species withsmaller eyes, the labial palp with three palpomeres, and the tarsal claws of all legs withlarge inner tooth. Another northern species,
Monoxiphia harai (Shinohara, 2019b), also haslargely whitish antennae and simple tarsal claws
of all legs. However, M. harai has the head capsule and thorax entirely black, the eyes are ofnormal size, the maxillary palp has ﬁve palpomeres, the labial palp has three palpomeres,and the hind tarsomere 5 is not particularly
enlarged (Shinohara, 2019b; Shinohara and Hara,2021).
The genus Indoxiphia Maa, 1949, is represented by 13 species distributed in vast areas

Discovery of Indoxiphia prima in Japan

from Sri Lanka, Malay Peninsula, Borneo,Sumatra, Java, Buru, Ambon, New Guinea, New
Ireland to Fiji and Taiwan and Japan (Smith,2008, 2019; Taeger et al., 2010; present work).
Indoxiphia prima, occurring in Taiwan andJapan, has a rather isolated northernmost distribution among the congeners and shows a peculiar pattern of distribution including the southeastern coasts of Japanese archipelago (Fig. 2)
similar to those of Hyperxiphia hirashimai (Okutani, 1965) (ﬁg. 5, Shinohara and Yamasako,2020) and Lissoxiphyda mitai (ﬁg. 4, Shinohara,2020). Though we need much more supporting
data and information, the distribution pattern ofthese three southern Japanese Xiphydriidae may
have been formed at least partly as a result ofdispersal by marine drift (Shinohara, 2020; Shinohara and Yamasako, 2020).
Acknowledgements
We thank K. Konishi (EU) and T. Mita
(Kyushu University, Fukuoka) for the gift or loanof the specimens and G. Kokubugata (NSMT)
for oﬀering his own hand-made blank map usedfor Fig. 2. We also thank H. Hara (Bibai) for his
careful review of the manuscript. Mention oftrade names or commercial products in this publication is solely for the purpose of providing
speciﬁc information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the USDA. USDA
is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
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