Afrepipona vulcanica sp. nov., 2024

Selis, Marco & Carpenter, James M., 2024, Revision of the Afrotropical genus Afrepipona Giordani Soika, 1965 and description of Afrepsilon gen. nov. (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae), European Journal of Taxonomy 944, pp. 1-80 : 50-53

Afrepipona vulcanica sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D5A51213-5E70-41C8-BDA6-52900196D364

Figs 20 , 27O

Diagnosis

Close to Afrepipona scabra sp. nov. in the following characters: pronotal carina sharp but not lamellar, apical translucent margin of T2 separated from rest of tergite by large punctures, pigmented digitations running between punctures ( Fig. 20F ); mesosoma matte and densely punctate. Differing as follows: apical margin of clypeus evenly concave, clypeus 1.5 × (female) and 1.4 × (male) as wide as long ( Fig. 20B–C ); vertex of male 1.85 × as long as distance between posterior ocellus and inner eye margin; punctures on mesoscutum and scutellum not touching and not arranged in series. Genitalia in Fig. 27O .

Etymology

The specific epithet refers to the provenance of the two specimens, Mount Kilimanjaro, a dormant volcano.

Type material

Holotype

TANZANIA • ♀; Mount Kilimanjaro; 27 Dec. 2014; MSNVE.

Paratypes

TANZANIA • 1 ♂; same data as for holotype; MSVI .

Description

Female

MEASUREMENTS. Body length 8.0 mm; fore wing length 6.5 mm.

MORPHOLOGY. Head 1.2 × as wide as long in frontal view. Clypeus 1.5 × as wide as long, apical margin shallowly and evenly concave, 0.25 × as wide as maximum width of clypeus; apical teeth subtriangular with rounded apex and bluntly carinate; clypeus weakly convex in lateral view. Vertex 2 × as long as distance from posterior ocellus to inner eye margin; cephalic foveae small and close to each other, placed in a depression smaller than one ocellus and slightly raised posteriorly; gena 0.85 × as wide as eye at bottom of ocular sinus; occipital carina incomplete, very weak and irregular on vertex, sharp on gena, more or less evenly curved in ventral half. F1 1.3 × as long as wide and 1.4 × as long as F2, F2 subquadrate, F3–9 transverse and becoming proportionally shorter apically. Fifth tooth of mandible projecting but apically rounded. Mesosoma 1.4 × as long as wide. Sides of pronotum weakly convex, almost straight and slightly converging in dorsal view; pronotal carina complete and sharp but not lamellate, rounded on humeri; pretegular carina absent; lateral faces of pronotum depressed and clearly separated from dorsal face. Mesoscutum as long as wide, posteriorly flattened in lateral view. Scutellum flattened and on same level of mesoscutum; anterior margin crenate with series of small pits, median one markedly larger than other pits. Metanotum nearly flattened in lateral view, slightly projecting anteriorly. Tegula not equaling parategula, outer margin evenly rounded; parategula small and right-angled. Epicnemial carina weak and reaching epipleural suture but disappearing on mesosternum. Propodeum falling almost vertically behind metanotum in lateral view; posterior face shallowly concave, distinct from dorsal faces but not sharply separated; lateral faces flattened and separated from other faces but without distinct carinae. T1 nearly semicircular, 0.55 × as long as wide in dorsal view; posterior margin shallowly thickened with a very short translucent margin disappearing medially. T2 0.85 × as long as wide in dorsal view; preapical area very shallowly depressed. Apical margins of T2–4 translucent and lamellate, separated from rest of surface by series of irregular coarse punctures; lamella short on T2, becoming progressively longer on T3 and T4. S2 strongly and evenly convex in lateral view. S2–3 with lamellar margins shorter than on respective tergites but more sharply separated from rest of surface.

SCULPTURE AND VESTITURE. Clypeus shiny with shallow punctures, larger and denser on disc and apically, deeper and finer basally, interspaces finely and densely micropunctate. Head with deep punctures, interspaces flattened and weakly shiny, interspaces much shorter than puncture diameter, becoming larger and shinier on gena and posterior half of vertex. Scape weakly shiny with dense micropunctures and sparse very fine punctures. Most of mesosoma sculpted like frons but punctures slightly larger; lateral faces of pronotum with irregular deep punctures; punctures on scutellum larger and denser, some interspaces reduced to ridges; interspaces on mesepisternum more shiny and large dorsally, small punctures on mesosternum, epicnemium shallowly shagreened and shiny; dorsal faces of propodeum with large and deep punctures, interspaces reduced to sharp ridges medially and becoming flattened laterally; posterior face shiny, with sparse deep punctures in upper half; lateral faces with small flat-bottomed cells, interspaces flattened and matte due to shagreen. T1 finely shagreened and weakly shiny, with sparse oblique small punctures, denser on disc; T2 similar to T1 but punctures shallow and more oblique, with preapical series of larger and coarse punctures; T3 similar to T2, but punctures smaller; T4–5 shagreened, T4 with preapical series of small coarse punctures; T6 densely micropunctate with some fine sparse punctures; S1 shiny with irregular ridges; S2 with large deep punctures, interspaces exceeding puncture diameter; S3–6 micropunctate with very fine punctures becoming progressively sparser. Head and mesosoma with short pale pubescence with metallic reflections, mostly arising from punctures, denser on frons and sides of mesosoma, much denser and dust-like on mesosternum; clypeus with dust-like silvery pubescence in basal two thirds and curved whitish setae; mesepisternum with apically bent pale setae; propodeum almost entirely covered in short white pubescence, with brownish tinge on upper part, angles with fine long setae; metasoma with brassy dust-like pubescence, short suberect setae on T3–6 and S2–6.

COLORATION. Dark red-brown; following parts black: most of frons, lower face of head, flagellum, anterior face and lower corners of pronotum, mesoscutum, anterior margin of scutellum, mesepisternum and mesosternum except large dorsal spot and posterior third of mesepisternum, most of metaepisternum, extreme base of S2; following parts yellow: lines on basal corners of clypeus, basal spot on mandible, inner eye margin, parategula, narrow apical margin of T1, sinuate apical bands on T2–4 and S2–4, most of ventral face of mid and hind coxa, apical spots on hind femur and mid and hind tibiae. Wings hyaline with weakly infuscate apical spot.

Male

MEASUREMENTS. Body length 7.2 mm; fore wing length 6.5 mm.

Differing from female as follows: clypeus 1.35 × as wide as long, apical teeth more acute, punctures more regular and deeper; vertex 1.85 × as long as distance from posterior ocellus to inner eye margin; F11 finger-shaped and reaching apex of F8, parallel-sided with rounded apex in dorsal view, weakly curved in lateral view; punctures on head and mesosoma slightly larger and denser; punctures on metasoma larger but sparser.

Distribution

Tanzania.

Species erroneously placed in Afrepipona Giordani Soika, 1965

Figures

Fig. 20. Afrepipona vulcanica sp. nov. A, C, E–F. ♀ holotype from Mount Kilimanjaro (MSNVE). B, D. ♂, paratype from Mount Kilimanjaro (MSVI). A. Habitus, dorsal view. B–C. Head, frontal view. D. Flagellum, lateral view. E. Head, dorsal view. F. T2–3, dorsal view. Scale bars = 1 mm.

Fig. 27. Male genitalia: aedeagus in ventral view, aedeagus in lateral view, digitus. A. Afrepipona angusta (de Saussure, 1863) from Adi Keyh (MSVI). B. Afrepipona cellularis sp. nov., holotype from Nyamandhlovu (MSNVE). C. Afrepipona clonata sp. nov., holotype from Nairobi (MSNVE). D. Afrepipona cuprea sp. nov., paratype from Malindi (MSVI). E. Afrepipona lamptoensis Giordani Soika, 1965 from Lamto (AMNH).F. Afrepipona lobulata sp. nov.,holotype from Lubumbashi (AMNH). G. Afrepipona macrocephala (Gribodo, 1894) from Delagoa (MSNVE). H. Afrepipona meridionalis sp. nov., holotype from Durban (MSNVE). I. Afrepipona occidentalis sp. nov., paratype from Lamto (MSNVE).J. Afrepipona punctatissima sp. nov.,holotype from Maralal (MSNVE).K. Afrepipona scabra sp. nov., paratype from Kabongo (MSNVE). L. Afrepipona segregata sp. nov., holotype from Tulear (NHMW). M. Afrepipona tertia Gusenleitner, 2011, holotype from Bangui (OLML). N. Afrepipona ulterior sp. nov., paratype from Pretoria (MSVI). O. Afrepipona vulcanica sp. nov., paratype from Mount Kilimanjaro (MSVI). P. Afrepsilon ferrugineoaureum gen. et sp. nov., paratype from Berea (MSVI). Q. Afrepsilon minor gen. et gen. et sp. nov., holotype from Mount Kilimanjaro (OLML).