Bathyaulax erythropus, Kaartinen & Quicke, 2007

Kaartinen, Riikka & Quicke, Donald L. J., 2007, A revision of the parasitic wasp genus Bathyaulax Szépligeti (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Braconinae) from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, Journal of Natural History 41 (1 - 4), pp. 125-212 : 157-158

Bathyaulax erythropus sp. nov.

( Figures 50, 51 )

Material examined

Holotype: Female ( BMNH): Kenya, Voi River Valley , Pipe line Roads, VI-1977, D. Quicke.

Description

Female: Length of body 16mm, of fore wing 13mm, of ovipositor 13mm.

Antennae with 105 flagellomeres, terminal flagellomere 2.3 times longer than wide. Height of clypeus:inter-tentorial distance:tentorio-ocular distance51.0:3.0:2.7. Width of face:width of head:height of eye51.2:2.2:1.0. Height of face:width of face51.0:1.7. Sculpture on face granulate to pustulate. Clypeus granulate. Frons weakly depressed, smooth, with medial longitudal groove. POL:transverse diameter of posterior ocellus:- shortest distance between posterior ocellus and eye51.4:1.0:3.4. Length of eye in dorsal view:distance of occiput and posterior margin of eye51.4:1.0.

Mesosoma approximately 1.8 times longer than maximally deep.

Fore wing: length of veins r:3-SR:SR151.0:3.0:3.3. Length of veins 2-SR:3-SR:rm51.0:2.6:1.3. Length of veins m-cu:2-M51.0:2.8. Length of veins 1-CU1:2-CU15 1.0:5.7. Shape of vein 1-SR+M weakly but distinctly S-shaped. Swelling in vein 3-CU1 1.5 times thicker than the other part of the vein.

Legs: Length of fore femur:tibia:tarsus52.2:2.3:1.0. Fore basitarsus 4.7 times longer than deep. Length of hind femur:tibia:tarsus52.1:3.0:1.0. Hind basitarsus 4.6 times longer than deep.

First metasomal tergite 1.5 times longer than wide; raised median area smooth with medial longitudinal groove and strigation on posterior margin. Second tergite 1.7 times wider than long; medial area raised and strigose. Antero-medial triangular area raised and smooth. Third tergite 2.0 times wider than long; with strigated transverse furrows on anterior and subposterior margins, raised median area rugose, antero-lateral areas smooth. Tergites four and five with strigated transverse furrows on anterior and subposterior margins, antero-lateral and median areas smooth and raised. Tergites six to eight smooth.

Yellow except for the following which are black: antenna, small area around stemmaticum, apex of mandibles and ovipositor sheets. Fore wings darkened with weakly paler areas below pterostigma and narrowly around vein r-m. Hind wings darkened with a paler area in the base of the marginal cell.

Etymology

Named after senior author’s favourite bird, Lesser White-Fronted goose, Anser erythropus .

Figures

Figures 48–51. Automontageș images of Bathyaulax species. (48, 49) B. delagoaensis, head and mesosoma (lateral view) and metasomal tergites 3–5. (50, 51) B. erythropus, metasomal tergites 2–3 and wing.