Conura baturitei Tavares, 2019

Tavares, Marcelo Teixeira, Villanueva-Bonilla, German Antonio & Sobczak, Jober Fernando, 2019, Conura baturitei sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae): a hyperparasitoid of spiders through Zatypota riverai (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), Zootaxa 4624 (2), pp. 267-274 : 269-270

Conura baturitei Tavares sp. nov.

( Figs 3–7 )

Zoobank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E4702D94-10CF-4CA3-8566-0CF219361A69

Type Material. Holotype ♀, labelled ‘ Brasil, CE[ará], Maciço do Baturité, 27.xii.2015, B[aturité] P[ote]4, ex Zatypota riverai cocoon [ Ichneumonidae : Pimplinae ] in Theridion refuge [ Theridiidae : Araneae ], Sobczak JF col.’ ‘ UFES #159524’ (Entomological Collection of Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Es- pírito Santo, Vitória, UFES). Paratype. 1 ♀, same data as holotype, except: ‘… 29.xii.2015, P[ote]5 …’ and ‘ UFES #159525’ ( UFES).

Etymology. From the word Baturité, referring to the type locality of Maciço de Baturité (Baturité Massif), state of Ceará, Brazil.

Description. FEMALE. Body length (holotype): 2.83–3.08 mm.

Color. Head and scape orangish-yellow; pedicel, flagellum, eye, and ocelli brown to dark brown; mandible black apically. Meso- and metasoma mainly lemon yellow; mesoscutum orangish-yellow with light brown median band ( Fig. 6 ); mesoscutellum apically, most of propodeum ( Figs 3, 7 ), metafemur on ventral teeth, metatibia on ventral carina, Gt2 on dorsal cross band, and ovipositor sheath, dark brown to black; metafemur basally and apically, and Gt3–Gt7+8, orangish-yellow. Pilosity white. Wings hyaline; tubular veins brown.

Head. Transverse in dorsal view. Vertex and lower face alutaceous with very shallow umbilicate punctures ( Fig. 4 ); upper face obliquely imbricate with shallow umbilicate punctures. Antennal scrobes shallow, with short and fine marginal carina beside torulus; interantennal projection as short and weak carina. Antennal torulus distinctly above lower ocular line; scape exceeding vertex by about 0.15× its own length. Inner orbits slightly convergent ventrally; preorbital sulcus inconspicuous over upper half of orbit, absent below. Malar distance short; malar sulcus very distinct, with complete internal and external carinae ( Figs 4, 5 ), the later extended as conspicuous postorbital carina which delimits a complete postorbital sulcus; gena between postorbital sulcus and genal carina with 2–3 fine vertical carinae, area posterior to external malar carina ecarinate; genal carina laminate near mouth and developed along lower third of eye. Mandibles with formula 2:3 ( Fig. 4 ), ventral lamina present on basal 2/3 of ventral margin; lower tooth acute, the longest; upper one slightly truncate. Ratios: Head W/H 1.74–1.77; head W/frontovertex 2.18–2.19; POL/AOD 1.33–1.38; OOL/AOD 0.78–0.81; frontovertex/AOD 4.41–4.44; eye H/malar distance 4.33–4.36; scape L/ W 7.00 –7.67; Fu1–Fu6 L/ W 1.30 –1.43; Fu7 1.20–1.29.

Mesosoma. Pronotal carina present only laterally. Mesoscutum and most of mesoscutellum alutaceous with very shallow umbilicate punctures ( Fig. 6 ), interstice raised as transverse fine carinae; mesoscutellum apically smooth and shiny. Propodeum ( Fig. 7 ) with anterior costula almost complete, conspicuous on median and lateral portions; median carina crossed by two short rugae; posterior costula in a very obtuse angle at middle, almost in line; meso-anterior area with very shallow hollows and inconspicuously alutaceous, dull; parapetiolar apophyse short and obtuse. Metapleuron in anterior half with umbilicate punctures, posterior half smooth and shiny with fine piliferous punctures. Metacoxa slightly narrowed at base ( Fig. 3 ); outer dorsal surface smooth and shiny. Metafemur on outer surface with short piliferous punctures, interstices alutaceous; basal external tooth the largest, acute, followed by 15–17 small teeth; inner basal tooth present, acute ( Fig. 8 : IT). Metatibia over distal quarter with laminar carina of tarsal sulcus ( Fig. 8 : CTS). Ratios: mesoscutum L/ W 0.49 –0.50; mesoscutellum L/ W 0.86 –0.98; SM/ M 1.73 – 1.81 ; PM/ M 1.18 – 1.21 ; metacoxa L/ W 2.77 –2.93; metafemur L/ W 2.08 –2.15.

Metasoma. Gaster lanceolate ( Fig. 3 ), slightly longer than mesosoma. Ovipositor sheath slightly exerted. Ratios: petiole L/ W 2.50 –2.52; gaster L/ W 2.44 –2.50; Tg1 L/gaster L 0.33–0.37; Gt7+8 L/ W 1.60.

MALE. Unknown.

Variation. The dark marks on the dorsum of the mesosoma and metasoma vary slightly in size.

Host. Emerged from a cocoon of Zatypota riverai Gauld ( Ichneumonidae : Pimplinae ), an ectoparasitoid of Theridion sp. ( Theridiidae , Araneae ) ( Figs 1, 2 ). The primary host is a polysphinctine wasp that otherwise parasitizes the spider Anelosimus baeza Agnarsson (Theridiidae) ( Sobczak et al. 2017). Zatypota Förster is a cosmopolitan genus of wasps with more than 50 described worldwide species ( Yu et al. 2012). Most of these wasps attack Theridiidae spiders; however, there are records of attacking species of other families such as Agelenidae , Araneidae , Dictynidae , Lyniphiidae, and Tetragnathidae ( Gauld & Dubois 2006, Matsumoto & Takasuka 2010).

Distribution. Brazil (Ceará State)

Comments. Conura baturitei belongs to the immaculata species group and subgroup ( Delvare 1992). The new species shares the following characteristics of the immaculata group: antennal scrobes shallow; interantennal projection reduced as a weak carina; malar sulcus present; mandibula formula 2:3 with narrow lamina on lower margin; pronotal carina present only laterally; transverse carina on pronotal collum absent; mesonotum with pilosity decumbent, not long; mesoscutum with very shallow umbilicate punctures ( Fig. 6 ), mainly alutaceous with interstices raised as rugae (in a reticulate-rugose aspect); mesoscutellum with frenal carina not laminate; postscutellum not distinct from lateral parts of metanotum; propodeum not areolate, median carina bifurcate into posterior costulae; mesopleuron rounded in lateral outline and without ventral transverse carina; metasomal petiole elongated, basal lamina sloping and present dorsally and ventrally. With the immaculata subgroup C. baturitei shares the following states: antennal torulus inserted distinctly above lower orbit level (close to level of lower orbit in the fulvovariegata subgroup), scape slender and exceeding vertex (usually, at most, reaching the vertex in the fulvovariegata subgroup); malar sulcus very distinct, with external carina (usually superficial and without internal or external carinae in the fulvovariegata subgroup); mandible not long (long in the delicata subgroup); and propodeum not distinctly rugose on meso-anterior part (rugose in the fulvovariegata subgroup).

There are five other described species in the immaculata subgroup: C. camescens Delvare 1992 ; C. convergea Delvare (in Janzen et al. 2003) ; C. immaculata ( Cresson, 1865) ; C. lissa ( Burks, 1940) ; and C. meteori ( Burks, 1940) . Unlike C. baturitei , the two latter species have the mesosomal dorsum more extensively black (brown in lighter specimens), while the former three species have the body almost entirely yellow to orange. Other than for the color difference, C. baturitei is similar to C. convergea in having a very short malar distance and a distinct malar sulcus with complete external carina; upper face, mesoscutum, and mesoscutellum with very shallow umbilicate punctures; and posterior costulae almost in line. However, C. baturitei differs from C. convergea and the other four species of the immaculata subgroup, in the following features: malar sulcus with complete internal carina and external carina extended as conspicuous postorbital carina completely delimiting the postorbital sulcus ( Fig. 5 ); genal carina laminate near mouth and developed along lower third of eye; scape L/ W 7.00 –7.67; propodeum with anterior costula almost complete, conspicuous on median and lateral portions ( Fig. 7 ); metatibia with laminate carina of tarsal sulcus present over distal quarter ( Fig. 8 : CTS); metafemur with inner basal tooth present and acute ( Fig. 8 : IT); and the petiole L/ W 2.50 –2.52 ( Fig. 3 ).

Figures

FIGURES 3–8. Conura baturitei sp. nov., paratype, female: 3, habitus, lateral; 4, lower face and mandibles; 5, malar space and gena; 6, mesosoma, dorsal; 7, propodeum, dorsal; 8, base of metafemur and apex of metatibia, CTS = laminar carina of the tarsal sulcus, IT = inner basal tooth.

FIGURES 1, 2. 1, Undetermined species of Theridion Walckenaer (Araneae: Theridiidae) with an ectoparasitoid larva of Zatypota riverai on the metasoma. 2, A cocoon of Zatypota riverai Gauld (Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae) with an emergence hole.