Rhabdepyris myrmecophilus Kieffer, 1904

Waichert, Cecilia & Azevedo, Celso O., 2009, Phylogenetic analysis of Rhabdepyris (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) and redefinition of generic limits based on morphological characters, Zootaxa 2284, pp. 1-29 : 18-22

Rhabdepyris myrmecophilus Kieffer, 1904

Rhabdepyris myrmecophilus Kieffer, 1904 , Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Metz, 23: 32.

Material examined. Rhabdepyris myrmecophilus : Holotype, female, C. Tetramor.; Linz a/Rh. 10/94; {= GERMANY, Linz sur Rhin, in association with Tetramorium caespitum (Linnaeus, 1758) , Wasmann col.} ( NHME).

Analysis Unweighted Successive Weighting Redescription. Female (holotype). Total body length 2.90 mm; hind wing length 1.40 mm. Color. Head, mesosoma and metasoma dark castaneous; mandible and antenna castaneous; coxae and femora dark castaneous, trochanters, tibiae and tarsi castaneous; tegula light castaneous; wing hyaline, veins and stigma light castaneous.

Head ( Fig. 5 A–B). Mandible uniformly wide ( Fig. 5 B), with five apical teeth, lower tooth exceeding others. Median lobe of clypeus projected, angulate; median carina complete, straight on profile. Antennal scrobe without carina, less projected on frons. Ratio of first four antennal segments 12:5:3:4 ( Fig. 5 C). Frons coriaceous; punctures conspicuous and small, frontal groove present. Eye small, glabrous. Malar space large, almost as large as length of mandible. WH 1.00 x LH; WF 0.78 x WH; WF 2.33 x HE; OOL 1.62 x WOT; frontal angle of ocellar triangle acute; distance from posterior ocellus to vertex crest 2.50 x DAO. Vertex slightly convex; corner rounded; temple convergent posteriorly. VOL 1.77 x HE.

Mesosoma ( Figs. 7 –10). Coriaceous, punctures inconspicuous. Pronotal disc 0.87 x longer than mesoscutum. Notaulus complete, straight, shallow. Parapsidal furrow straight, shallow. Scutellar disc as a triangle, scutellar groove straight, wide, deep, with continuous parallel crests, extremity few dilated. Propodeal disc 1.37 x as wide as long; with three discal carina, median carina complete, straight; discal paramedian carina incomplete, slightly convergent in posterior face; propodeal disc areolate among discal carinae, strigulate laterally, lateral carina with rugose groove, posterior corner foveolate; lateral of propodeum areolate; declivity areolate, median carina incomplete. Mesopleuron 1.83 x as wide as long ( Fig. 5 E); upper fovea complete; anterior fovea absent; prepectal and postpectal carina absent; episternal groove present, not foveolate; mesopleural fovea small, relatively deep, 5.50 x mesopleuron length. Median tibia without spurs. Anterior femur 3.00 x longer than wide. Tarsal claw bidentate ( Fig. 5 F), base rounded.

Comments. The type species of Rhabdepyris is myrmecophilic and has several specializations for this habit and it is not comparable to the other species. Rhabdepyris myrmecophilus has an inconspicuous texture and sculpturing, small eyes and flattened head in comparison to the other species in the genus. The light castaneous body color is similar to that of the ant with which it is associated. Most species of Rhabdepyris are black or metallic in color.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Cladogram resulted of the successive weighting analyses (L = 465, CI = 0.18 and RI = 0.54).

FIGURE 5. R. myrmecophilus. A. Head, dorsal view. B. Mandible. C. Antennae. D. Mesossoma, dorsal view. E. Mesopleuron, lateral view. F. Tarsal claw. G. Hing wing. Scale = 0.35 mm.