New species and records of <I>Rhyssa</I> and <I>Rhyssella</I> (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Rhyssinae) from Florida and Central America

Abstract

Rhyssa neotropicae n. sp. is the first Rhyssa to be recorded from the New World tropics, where it was collected in cloud forest at 1800 m on Monte Uyuca near Zamorano, Honduras. It is closely related to the Nearctic R. hoferi Rohwer and R. howdenorum Townes but differs from all other Rhyssa by its complexly yellow and black marked head and body, whose color pattern mimics that of aggressive social vespid wasps (Agelaia) which occur in the same habitat. Rhyssa howdenorum Townes is recorded for the first time from Florida and Oklahoma. The genus Rhyssella, previously unknown in Florida, is represented in that state by R. perfulua n. sp., distinctive in its mostly orange brown coloration, and by R. humida (Say), a black and white species with fulvous on the thoracic pleura and propodeum.