This article contains a draft of the report "First Record of Asian Carpenter Wasp in Nara Prefecture," which was published in the following journal.
Citation method: Ikeda, K., Sawahata, T., & Mita, T. 2020. First record of Gonatopus asiaticus in Nara. Nature Study 66(8): 4. [ISSN: 0466-6089]
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This article was written assuming that this would be the second recorded sighting of the Asian mantis wasp on Honshu Island, and the first recorded sighting in Nara Prefecture.
There may be minor changes in wording, but the cited references remain the same. For more accurate information, please refer to the journal.
Records of the family Pseudoheliidae in Nara Prefecture
The family Podontidae is a group of wasps in the order Hymenoptera in which, with the exception of some taxonomic groups, the females have a special structure called a sickle at the end of their forelegs, and they are known as ectoparasites of the Hemiptera group of rhinophora (planthoppers and leafhoppers) (Mita, 2016).
According to the Nara Prefecture Wildlife Catalog (Nara Prefecture Red Data Book Revision Committee, 2017), only one species of the Haplologonatopus genus, H. apicalis Perkins, 1905, has been recorded in Nara Prefecture.
Author's record
On August 22, 2015, while conducting a tick survey (sweeping and flag-striping method) along a walking path in a deciduous broadleaf forest mainly composed of Quercus serrata and Quercus acutissima located in the northwestern part of Kinki University's Nara Campus in Nara Prefecture, we collected one specimen of the Asian genus Gonatopus (Gonatopus asiaticus) (Olmi, 1984), and report our findings here.
1 female, collected by Ai Goda on August 22, 2015, at Kinki University Nara Campus, Nakamachi, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, and kept in the care of the Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University.
This species can be distinguished from other species in the same genus by its morphological characteristics, including a 5/2 palpebral pattern, a smooth mesoscutellum with a pair of longitudinal ridges on the margins, and a gentle slope in the metanotal region (Mita, 2016). While there is individual variation in body color, this individual had a dark brown abdomen that became yellowish-brown towards the petiole, with the petiole being black and the rest of the body yellowish-brown. It is often found in Miscanthus along forest roads in autumn and is known to parasitize Sogata hakonensis (Matsumura, 1935) (Mita, 2016). In this survey, a mixed method was used, with sweeping in environments with forest floor vegetation and flag-striping in environments without, so it is unclear which method was used to obtain this individual, although it is possible that an individual that was moving on foot was obtained by flag-striping.
This species has been confirmed in Kanagawa, Fukuoka, Miyazaki, and Okinawa prefectures in Japan (Mita, 2009), and this report marks the second reported case in Honshu.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to Ms. Ai Goda for collecting the specimens and providing them.
References
Mita, Toshiharu (2009) First description of the males of Gonatopus lucens (Olmi) and G. asiaticus (Olmi), with host records from Japan (Hymenoptera: Dryinidae: Gonatopodinae). Esakia 49: 117-120. https://doi.org/10.5109/16154
Mita, Toshiharu (2016) Family Pseudopomidae. In: Terayama, Mamoru and Suda, Hirohisa (eds.), Illustrated Guide to Japanese Argynnis Wasps. pp. 415-449. Tokai University Press, Hiratsuka.
Nara Prefecture Red Data Book Revision Committee (2017) Nara Prefecture Wildlife Catalog. Landscape and Natural Environment Division, Landscape and Environment Bureau, Department of Lifestyle Creation, Nara. 422p.
