taxonID	type	description	language	source
8ECBA0B14625500AB9CBDD37DC1193F8.taxon	materials_examined	Material examined. Holotype Female, Colombia: Narino, San Andres de Tumaco (1 ° 47 ' 28.0 " N, 78 ° 47 ' 33.9 " W, 28 m elev.), March 2019, coll. Consuelo Vasquez, ex larva Opsiphanes cassina Felder & Felder (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae). Deposited in the collection of the National University of Colombia (UNC, Dr Fernando Fernandez, curator). Paratypes 2 males, deposited in UNC, same data as holotype. 1 female, also same data as holotype, deposited in the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS). Non-types. 2 females, in poor condition, also deposited at INHS.	en	Salgado-Neto, Geraldo, Vasquez, Consuelo Alexandra Narvaez, Max, Dillon S., Whitfield 3, James B. (2021): Cotesia cassina sp. nov. from southwestern Colombia: a new gregarious microgastrine wasp (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) reared from the pest species Opsiphanes cassina Felder & Felder (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) feeding on Elaeis oil palm trees (Arecaceae). ZooKeys 1061: 11-22, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.67458, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.67458
8ECBA0B14625500AB9CBDD37DC1193F8.taxon	diagnosis	Diagnosis. As discussed above, Cotesia is a huge worldwide genus of hundreds of species, with many morphologically similar species. While useful world identification keys are not available, it is currently possible to successfully diagnose species regionally, especially combined with molecular and host data. The closest described species, morphologically, biologically and within the region, is Cotesia invirae from southern Brazil, which also parasitizes Opsiphanes on palms (different species). The table below provides a diagnostic comparison between the two species. Cotesia alia (Muesebeck), also recorded from Opsiphanes, resembles these two species but has a relatively longer first metasomal tergite (see illustration in Muesebeck 1958). Like C. cassina, the second tergite has the medial part of the second tergite longer than the lateral portions, and the tergites tend to both be blackish (tending to be mostly orangish in C. invirae). The other two named Cotesia species recorded from Opsiphanes, C. biezankoi (Blanchard) and C. opsiphanis (Schrottky), are both very poorly characterized in their descriptions and their type locations are unknown (Fernandez-Triana et al. 2020), so they are not compared here. There is a possibility that C. invirae might prove to be a junior synonym of C. biezankoi, based on shared host and geographic region, if the holotype of the latter were to resurface and be examined. Our understanding of the correct nomenclature for the entire complex would benefit from a full review of the named and putative unnamed species across all of Central and South America, especially if all the types could eventually be located. In the meantime, it is possible to characterize the relationships among the species for which we can clearly establish the identity.	en	Salgado-Neto, Geraldo, Vasquez, Consuelo Alexandra Narvaez, Max, Dillon S., Whitfield 3, James B. (2021): Cotesia cassina sp. nov. from southwestern Colombia: a new gregarious microgastrine wasp (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) reared from the pest species Opsiphanes cassina Felder & Felder (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) feeding on Elaeis oil palm trees (Arecaceae). ZooKeys 1061: 11-22, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.67458, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.67458
8ECBA0B14625500AB9CBDD37DC1193F8.taxon	description	Description. Female. Body length 3.1 - 3.3 mm; fore wing length 2.9 - 3.1 mm. Coloration (Fig. 2 A-F). General body coloration black except: scape shading from light to dark brown, palps pale yellow, tegulae brown, fore legs all yellowish, middle legs all yellowish, hind legs all yellowish except distal end of femur brown / black dorsally; distal end of tibia brown, coxae translucent yellowish, laterotergites yellowish ventrally, shading to brown dorsally; sternites and hypopygium translucent yellowish. Head (Fig. 2 A, E). Facial sculpture weakly punctate; vertex sculpture smooth to very weakly punctate; distance between posterior ocellae nearly identical with distance from outer ocelli to compound eyes. Mesosoma (Fig. 2 A, B, F). Pronotum with both dorsal and ventral grooves present, ventral groove crenulate. Mesoscutum fully and distinctly but shallowly punctate; scutoscutellar scrobe slightly sunken groove and formed by 8 pits. Scutellum shield-shaped to subtriangular (anteriorly straight and posteriorly rounded) and weakly convex, weakly punctate. Mesopeuron smooth and polished throughout. Propodeum generally finely rugose / punctate with indistinct longitudinal medial carina. Legs (Fig. 2 A-C). Hind coxa mostly smooth with faint sculpture on dorsal face; inner hind tibial spurs slightly longer than outer. Wings (Fig. 2 B, C). Fore wing hyaline with dark brownish vein pigmentation; stigma more than 2 x as long as broad, without obvious pale spot at proximal end. Metacarp extending 0.60 - 0.70 to end of 3 Rs fold along wing edge; r approximately same length as 2 RS vein and meeting it at a distinct shallow angle; vannal lobe edge roughly semicircular with distal end slightly flattened; vannal lobe fringe even and dense. Metasoma (Fig. 2 B-D, F). Tergite 1 roughly as long as broad, evenly widening from anterior margin then rounding over posterior half, mostly rugulose; tergite 2 very weakly rugulose peripherally, mostly smooth and slightly raised centrally, roughly twice as broad as long, subrectangular with posterior margin slightly longer medially than laterally. Hypopygium with angled but blunt tip, not extending past dorsal end of metasoma; ovipositor with very sparse setae at tip. Male. Similar to female except with slightly narrower metasoma.	en	Salgado-Neto, Geraldo, Vasquez, Consuelo Alexandra Narvaez, Max, Dillon S., Whitfield 3, James B. (2021): Cotesia cassina sp. nov. from southwestern Colombia: a new gregarious microgastrine wasp (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) reared from the pest species Opsiphanes cassina Felder & Felder (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) feeding on Elaeis oil palm trees (Arecaceae). ZooKeys 1061: 11-22, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.67458, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.67458
8ECBA0B14625500AB9CBDD37DC1193F8.taxon	biology_ecology	Biology / ecology. Cotesia cassina is a gregarious parasitoid wasp that occurs mainly in the wet season (March-May); however, their host, O. cassina, occurs throughout the year, mainly in the rainy season (March-July). Cotesia cassina larvae kill the host larva before the end of the last instar and form their cocoons in a regular mass of dirty whitish cocoons, regularly arranged disposed under the host (Fig. 1 B). The larvae of this gregarious species all emerge from the host in a short time through many different holes in the host cuticle and spin a common woolly cocoon mass within which the individual cocoons can be distinguished.	en	Salgado-Neto, Geraldo, Vasquez, Consuelo Alexandra Narvaez, Max, Dillon S., Whitfield 3, James B. (2021): Cotesia cassina sp. nov. from southwestern Colombia: a new gregarious microgastrine wasp (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) reared from the pest species Opsiphanes cassina Felder & Felder (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) feeding on Elaeis oil palm trees (Arecaceae). ZooKeys 1061: 11-22, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.67458, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.67458
8ECBA0B14625500AB9CBDD37DC1193F8.taxon	distribution	Distribution. Known so far from San Andres de Tumaco, Narino, Colombia (Neotropical Region).	en	Salgado-Neto, Geraldo, Vasquez, Consuelo Alexandra Narvaez, Max, Dillon S., Whitfield 3, James B. (2021): Cotesia cassina sp. nov. from southwestern Colombia: a new gregarious microgastrine wasp (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) reared from the pest species Opsiphanes cassina Felder & Felder (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) feeding on Elaeis oil palm trees (Arecaceae). ZooKeys 1061: 11-22, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.67458, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.67458
8ECBA0B14625500AB9CBDD37DC1193F8.taxon	etymology	Etymology. The specific epithet Opsiphanes cassina, is a reference to Opsiphanes cassina (Felder & Felder) (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae), the host caterpillar name. The word Opsiphanes cassina is the feminine of cassino which in Italian means playhouse.	en	Salgado-Neto, Geraldo, Vasquez, Consuelo Alexandra Narvaez, Max, Dillon S., Whitfield 3, James B. (2021): Cotesia cassina sp. nov. from southwestern Colombia: a new gregarious microgastrine wasp (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) reared from the pest species Opsiphanes cassina Felder & Felder (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) feeding on Elaeis oil palm trees (Arecaceae). ZooKeys 1061: 11-22, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.67458, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.67458
