Afrepipona cellularis 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 : 8-11

Afrepipona cellularis sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2C39021E-BDBB-47BC-A7D6-475399E4EFFD

Figs 4 , 27B

Diagnosis

Recognized by the following characters: male clypeus 1.35 × as wide as long ( Fig. 4B ); pronotal carina sharp but low in median third, shortly lamellate in lateral thirds; apical translucent margin of T2 separated from rest of tergite by large also translucent punctures intercalated by pigmented cuticle ( Fig. 4D ); head and mesosoma with very large and deep punctures, larger than half ocellar diameter on mesoscutum; clypeus barely punctured in basal third; S2 with deep and large punctures. Genitalia in Fig. 27B .

Etymology

The specific epithet was found handwritten by Giordani Soika on a label pinned under the specimen.

Type material

Holotype

ZIMBABWE • ♂; S. Rhodesia, Nyamandhlovu ; 16 Apr. 1926; R.H.T. Stevenson leg.; MSNVE.

Description

Male

MEASUREMENTS. Body length 6.0 mm; fore wing length 5.5 mm.

MORPHOLOGY. Head evenly rounded, 1.2 × as wide as long in frontal view. Clypeus 1.4 × as wide as long, apical margin subtruncate with barely developed lateral teeth, 0.3 × as wide as maximum width of clypeus; clypeus strongly and evenly convex in lateral view. Vertex 1.9 × as long as distance between posterior ocellus and inner eye margin; gena 0.6 × as wide as eye at bottom of ocular sinus; occipital carina complete, fine on vertex, strong and shortly lamellate on gena, delimiting a shallow crenate furrow on lower half, roundly angled in lower half. F1 1.3 × as long as wide and 1.3 × as long as F2, F2–3 subquadrate, F4–8 transverse, F9 longer than basally wide, F11 small and more or less claw-shaped, not reaching base of F9 and weakly curved in lateral view, subtriangular with rounded apex in dorsal view. Mesosoma 1.4 × as long as wide. Sides of pronotum almost parallel-sided in dorsal view, completely straight, anterior margin very shallowly concave, humeri slightly obtuse; pronotal carina complete and sharp, shortly lamellate on lateral thirds; pretegular carina barely developed, indicated by a fold of cuticle; transition between dorsal and lateral faces of pronotum distinctly angled, but not forming a humeral carina. Mesoscutum as long as wide, barely convex in lateral view. Scutellum weakly convex anteriorly, almost on same level of mesoscutum and smoothly passing into metanotum; anterior margin shallowly crenate, with a larger pit in the middle. Metanotum flattened. Tegula short and not equaling parategula, outer margin more or less evenly rounded, posterior lobe apically rounded; parategula small, strongly curved and depressed, apex pointing medially. Mesepisternum elongate, more or less entirely flattened; epicnemial carina very low and barely visible. Propodeum in lateral view extended for a short almost horizontal section, then falling vertically; posterior face shallowly concave and not clearly separated from dorsal faces; lateral faces flattened, with a deep incision above propodeal valvula; dorsal, lateral and inferior carinae absent, propodeum entirely rounded. T1 more or less semicircular, 0.55 × as long as wide and anteriorly evenly rounded in dorsal view; apically with translucent margin longer than height of pronotal carina. T2 0.8 × as long as wide in dorsal view, apical translucent margin slightly longer than that on T1 medially and becoming longer laterally. S2 evenly and weakly convex on disc, then more curved and sloping basally; basal margin with shallow longitudinal furrow not exceeding sloping part; apically with short lamellar margin, similar to T2.

SCULPTURE AND VESTITURE. Clypeus with a silky shine, finely microsculptured and with few barely visible punctures at extreme base and apex. Frons and vertex with deep punctures, interspaces flattened and 0.5–1.5 × as long as puncture diameter, shiny and very finely micropunctate; gena punctured like vertex but interspaces larger. Scape shagreened and matte, with extremely fine micropunctures. Punctures of mesosoma similar to frons but larger, in part exceeding half ocellar diameter; interspaces about half as long as puncture diameter, becoming larger on posterior part of pronotum, anterior half of scutellum, metanotum and mesepisternum; epicnemium and mesosternum shagreened, deep puncture on posterior half of mesosternum; metaepisternum shagreened and matte, dorsal plate finely striate, ventral plate with some punctures along anterior margin; dorsal faces of propodeum with large flat-bottomed punctures and irregular interspaces, posterior face punctate in upper half and striate in lower half, lateral faces sculpted like metaepisternum but with small deep punctures. T1 mostly smooth, with scattered deep rounded punctures, anterior vertical face impunctate; T2 punctured similar to T1 but punctures smaller basally and becoming larger apically, with preapical series of coarse punctures spaced in middle and touching laterally; T3–6 shagreened and preapically punctate; T7 finely shagreened with few fine punctures on disc. S1 matte and irregularly sculpted on basal petiole, shiny and irregularly ridged in posterior part; S2 with deep punctures, denser on disc, size of punctures variable but always much larger than on T2; S3–6 similar to respective tergites but with fewer punctures; S7 shiny and very finely shagreened. Head and mesosoma with very short silvery pubescence and some short appressed setae, vestiture mostly sparse but denser on clypeus, frons, gena, sides of mesosoma and most of propodeum; longer white setae on lower half of propodeum; metasoma with dust-like pale pubescence, few very short setae at apex of T2 and S1 and following segments.

COLORATION. Black; following parts red: clypeus, mandible, scape, flagellum ventrally, gena, pronotum on anterior and lateral face, anterior and posterior margins of dorsal face of pronotum, tegula, dorsal faces of propodeum and part of posterior face, sides of T1–2, most of T3–5, S1 and most of S2, legs; following parts orange: basal and apical margins of clypeus, interantennal space connected to transverse spot above, lower part of inner eye margin up to bottom of ocular sinus, base of mandible, anterior margin of pronotum, apex of T3–4 and most of T5–7 and respective sternites; following parts pale yellow: narrow and regular apical bands on T1–2 and S2, large basal spots on S2, most of mid and hind coxae, stripe on anterior face of fore tibia, apex of mid and hind tibiae. Wings hyaline, slightly infuscate along costal margin.

Female

Unknown.

Distribution

Zimbabwe.

Figures

Fig. 4. Afrepipona cellularis sp. nov., ♂, holotype from Nyamandhlovu (MSNVE). A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Head, frontal view. C. Flagellum, lateral view. D. 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).