Centistes
Creators: name: Román, Andrea C.
name: Almeida, Luis Felipe Ventura De
name: Penteado-Dias, Angelica
name: Shaw, Scott Richard
name: Sarmiento, Carlos E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Centistes

description: The distribution of Centistes species
The altitudinal distribution of Centistes in Colombia ranges from 60 m to 3350 m, with the highest diversity occurring between 1500 m and 2200 m. Thus, it is predominantly found in mountainous systems of the Andes range, a hotspot of biodiversity (Madriñán et al. 2013). The present study provided expansions of the altitudinal distribution of C. auricephalus which extends from 1500 m (Aguirre et al. 2017) to 2100 m, and C. auristigma which expands its altitudinal limit in its lowest range to 60 m, as Aguirre et al. (2017) reported this species in Costa Rica at 2600 m. For C. epicaeri and C. puntarenensis, their altitudinal ranges increased to 3170 and 2840, respectively.
With the reports from Colombia, the distribution gap of C. gasseni is better understood as this species had been reported in the south of Brazil, the eastern region of Paraguay, the northeastern of Argentina, and Costa Rica. Its altitudinal distribution ranges from 4 to 1135 m (Yu et al. 2016; Aguirre et al. 2017). It is possible that the distribution of this species expands further as the models proposed by Walsh et al. 2003, suggest habitats for C. gasseni in the southern United States and the Central-Western region of Mexico.
The new species Centistes truncatus, C. hemicirculus, C. lobungula, and C. iguaquensis, are distributed in the Andean region, while C. rosae and C. succinum are distributed in the Amazons and Choco. C. lobungula and C. iguaquensis are geographically very close and overlap in their altitudinal range. C. hemicirculus has the more widespread distribution, both altitudinally and latitudinally.
Willig and Presley (2016) suggested that because the climatic characteristics of the tropical ecosystems, the organisms there are more sensitive to altitudinal gradients which may be linked to changes in temperature, and humidity among other factors. This idea seems to be consistent with studies about development in Centistes species. C. gasseni shows some sensitivity in its pupal and adult stages to desiccation caused by high-temperature, as well as sensitivity to frequent changes in radiation and humidity (Walsh et al. 2003); the development of larvae and pupae of C. diabroticae requires a stable temperature (Smyth & Hoffmann 2010), and C. delusorius demands stable humidity conditions during its pupal phase (Zijp & Blommers 2002).
The availability of the host must also be considered (Shaw 1988). In this regard, Aguirre et al. (2017) emphasize that Chrysomelidae (Coleoptera), one of the more common hosts of Centistes, is found mainly in lower altitudes, facilitating the presence of species such as C. epicaeri, C. auristigma, C. auricephalus, C. gasseni, C. truncatus, and C. rosae below 1000 m. The study of the genus biology, particularly regarding its host specialization, will allow for future identification of the factors influencing the altitudinal and latitudinal distribution of the genus Centistes.
Key to females of genus Centistes in South America
1. Vein (RS+M)a present (Figs. 24A–B)..................................................................... 2
- Vein (RS+M)a absent (Figs. 24C–F)..................................................................... 14
2(1). Vein (RS+M)a complete (Figs. 24A, 25A–B)............................................................... 3
- Vein (RS+M)a present as a short stub (Fig. 24B)........................................................... 11
3(2). Notauli complete (Fig. 11C)............................................................................ 4
- Notauli absent, or at most demarcated only anteriorly (Fig. 9C)................................................ 7
4(3). Mesosoma black..................................................................................... 5
- Mesosoma extensively yellowish-orange........................................ Centistes helmuthi Shaw sp. nov.
5(4). Propodeum truncated (Figs. 22D, 10D); fore tarsus with a brush-like pubescence on its ventral side (Fig. 26A)........... 6
- Propodeum somewhat rounded, not truncated; fore tarsus without brush-like pubescence (Fig. 26B)... C. epicaeri Muesebeck
6(5). Scutellar sulcus with one carina, hind coxa black..................... Centistes truncatus Román & Sarmiento sp. nov.
- Scutellar sulcus scrobiculate, hind coxa yellow................... Centistes grandis Almeida & Penteado-Dias sp. nov.
7(3). Pit on mesoscutum present; color variable, often mostly dark brown-black....................................... 8
- Pit on mesoscutum absent; body mostly orange-yellow.......................................... C. gasseni Shaw
8(7). Propodeum with a dorsal areola; head yellow-orange..................... C. bellus Almeida & Penteado-Dias sp. nov.
- Propodeum without areola; head dark brown black.......................................................... 9
9(8). Ovipositor sheath weakly spatulate (Fig. 20E).......................... C. soaresi Almeida & Penteado-Dias sp. nov.
- Ovipositor sheath with apex truncated or slightly pointed (Figs. 9E, 23E)....................................... 10
10(9). Ovipositor sheath pointed; metasoma with T8 elongated, extending well beyond hypopygium (Fig. 23E)............................................................................. C. tubigaster Almeida & Penteado-Dias sp. nov.
- Ovipositor sheath truncated; T8 not elongated........................... C. puntarenensis Aguirre, Almeida, & Shaw
11(2). Precoxal sulcus present (Fig. 26C)...................................................................... 12
- Precoxal sulcus absent (Fig. 26D)....................................................................... 13
12(11). Pit on mesoscutum absent; notauli partially developed anteriorly; head dark brown with face and basal half of gena yellow..................................................................... C. auristigma Aguirre, Almeida, & Shaw
- Pit on mesoscutum present; notauli absent; head entirely yellow.............. C. auricephalus Aguirre, Almeida, & Shaw
13(11). Pit on mesoscutum present (Fig. 18G); gena yellow; metasoma dark brown-black.... C. rosae Román & Sarmiento sp. nov.
- Pit on mesoscutum absent; gena dark brown; metasoma with sternites yellow................................................................................................. C. itatiaiaensis Almeida & Penteado-Dias sp. nov.
14(1). Propodeum with a dorsal areola........................................................................ 15
- Propodeum without a dorsal areola...................................................................... 17
15(14). Mesosoma and metasoma entirely yellow (Fig. 21A)........................ C. succinum Román & Sarmiento sp. nov.
- Mesosoma and metasoma mostly dark brown-black......................................................... 16
16(15). Propodeal areola semicircular (Fig. 12D); pronotum dark brown-black...... C. hemicirculus Román & Sarmiento sp. nov.
- Propodeal areola hexagonal (Fig. 13D); pronotum yellow............. C. hexagonalis Almeida & Penteado-Dias sp. nov.
17(14). Hypopygium strongly sclerotized and protruding ventrally, wedge shaped (Fig. 19E)............................................................................................. C. singularis Almeida & Penteado-Dias sp. nov.
- Hypopygium not as above............................................................................. 18
18(17). Tarsal claw with a basal lobe (Fig. 26E); eyes large, temple length 0.8 × eye length in dorsal view; first metasomal segment smooth (Fig. 17E).................................................. C. lobungula Román & Sarmiento sp. nov.
- Tarsal claw without lobe (Fig. 26F); eyes smaller, temple length 1.0-1.2 × eye length in dorsal view; first metasomal segment sculptured (Figs. 14E, 26D)............................................................................ 19
19(18). Notauli present; malar space 1.6 × mandible basal width................... C. iguaquensis Román & Sarmiento sp. nov.
- Notauli absent; malar space 1.2–1.4 × mandible basal width........... C. itamontiensis Almeida & Penteado-Dias sp. nov.
description: Published as part of Román, Andrea C., Almeida, Luis Felipe Ventura De, Penteado-Dias, Angelica, Shaw, Scott Richard & Sarmiento, Carlos E., 2025, Analysis of morphological variation and description of fifteen new species of the genus Centistes Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Euphorinae: Centistini) with a key of the South American species, pp. 1-46 in Zootaxa 5613 (1) on pages 12-41, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5613.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/15215673