In the search for native Asian parasitoids ofDrosophila suzukii, the notorious spotted-wingDrosophila(SWD), an odd new species of Eucoilinae was discovered.Leptopilina lasalleisp. nov. is herein described and diagnosed relative to other eucoilines associated with drosophilid hosts. Morphologically,L. lasalleiis somewhat aberrant withinLeptopilina; phylogenetically,L. lasalleiis sister group to the coreLeptopilina. In the process of investigatingL. lasallei, ade novomolecular phylogeny ofLeptopilinawas generated and is included here. The integrated approach used for the characterisation ofL. lasallei, and the resulting phylogeny ofLeptopilina, produced data useful to select parasitoid species for SWD biological control.
