Revised molecular characterization of Gonatocerus cincticipitis Sahad (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), an egg parasitoid of green rice leafhopper Nephotettix cincticeps (Uhler) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) in Japan

Gonatocerus cincticipitis Sahad (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) is an egg parasitoid of the rice pest, green rice leafhopper Nephotettix cincticeps (Uhler) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), in Japan and the Republic of Korea. Its molecular determination is reconsidered following the previous taxonomic misidentification, and its genetic separation from G. saipanensis (Doutt), a morphologically identical Gonatocerus sp. from Shimane Prefecture, Honshu Island in Japan, and other members of the Gonatocerus fuscicornis (Walker) species complex is demonstrated and discussed. DNA was successfully extracted from reared specimens of G. cincticipitis from Honshu and Kyushu islands in Japan, and the standard barcoding section of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 gene (COI) as well as two regions of nuclear ribosomal RNA, the D2 domain of 28S (28S-D2) and the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2), were amplified and sequenced for genetic analyses. Both sexes of G. cincticipitis are redescribed and illustrated to facilitate their recognition. An updated morphological key to females of the Palaearctic species of Gonatocerus Nees ab Esenbeck is also provided.