Adelius excelsus Bortoni & Shimbori, 2019

Shimbori, Eduardo M., Bortoni, Marco A., Shaw, Scott R., Souza-Gessner, Carolina Da S., Cerântola, Paula De C. M. & Penteado-Dias, Angélica M., 2019, Revision of the New World genera Adelius Haliday and Paradelius de Saeger (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Cheloninae: Adeliini), Zootaxa 4571 (2), pp. 151-200 : 170-171

Adelius excelsus Bortoni & Shimbori sp. n.

( Figs 43–51 )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E0DAA759-3B76-4309-8485-736C03B3382F

Type material. Holotype ♀ (IAvH 150251): “ Colombia, Boyacá, SFF Iguaque, Lagunillas , 5°25'N 73°27'W, 3380 m, Malaise, 03–28.iii.2001, P. Reina, m.1511”.

Paratypes: one ♀, same as holotype, Cerro Pan de Azucar, 5°26'N 73°27'W, 3300 m, Malaise, 29.vi–18.vii.2001, P. Reina Leg., m.1965; one ♀, Colombia, Cundinamarca, PNN Chingaza, Laguna de Chingaza, 4°31'N 73°45'W, 3240 m, Malaise, 18.vi–02.vii.2003, J. Guzmán, m.3920; two ♀ s; same data, Alto de la Bandera, 4°31'N 73°45'W, 3660 m, Malaise, 02–15.vii.2003, J. Sinisterra, m.3913; one ♀, same data, Piedras Gordas, 4°31'N 73°45'W, 3880 m, Malaise, 5–19.vi.2002, A. Perez Leg., m.3226; one ♀, same data, PNN Sumapaz Bocatoma, Cerro el Zapato, 4°14'N 73°27'W, 3560 m, Malaise, 18.xi–4.xii.2002, A. Patino Leg. M.3443 (IAvH); one ♂ ( UKHI). Label : “ Costa Rica: Heredia, 6km ENE Vara Blanca 9.iv.2002, 10°11’N 84°07’W, INBio-OET-ALAS”

Description of holotype, ♀. Body length: 2.3 mm. fore wing length: 2.2 mm.

Color. Black. Metasoma except T1 dark brown. All legs with narrow yellow band at base of femur and apex of trochantellus. Wings moderately infuscate, veins brown and stigma pale brown

Head. Length of head in dorsal view 0.5× longer than wide in dorsal view. Antennae as long as body; subapical flagellomeres expanded ventrally; scape 2.5× longer than wide. Eye height 2.0× malar space length. Sculpturing mostly smooth and polished; striate dorsally around eyes at temples and face. Malar suture present.

Mesosoma. Mesoscutum punctate. Notauli absent. Propleuron smooth. Pronotum smooth with a rugose groove. Scutellar sulcus with six divisions, scutellum punctate. Mesoscutellar trough strongly rugose-costate. Metanotum rugose. Mesopleuron smooth with sternaulus crenulate. Metapleuron rugose. Propodeum with anterior aspect strongly rugose medially and a pair of lateral carinae; posterior aspect mostly smooth, with a pair of weakly diverging carinae medially enclosing a narrow and irregular areola; transverse carina distinct and complete, not interrupted medially.

Wings. Fore wing vein r present, 0.25× stigma height; vein R1 0.36× stigma length; stigma 2.9× longer than high.

Legs. Hind legs with inner tibial spurs about 0.21× tibia; tibia 5.8× longer than its maximum width. All legs smooth except hind coxae rugose dorsally.

Metasoma. Smooth except for some weak striation at base. Hypopygium long, extending over metasomal length and truncate, ovipositor sheaths distinctly exerted, longer than first flagellomere and more than 0.5× basitarsus.

Variation. Body length 1.8–2.6 mm; fore wing length 1.8–2.6 mm. Striation at temples variable in extension, covering most of this region to present just near eyes. One paratype has the lighter bands on legs and stigma darker, mostly brown. One ♀ paratype has reduced sculpturing on propodeum and lacks areola at its posterior aspect.

Male. Body length: 2.1 mm; Fore wing length: 1.45 mm. The known male is from Costa Rica and it mostly agrees with ♀ description, except for its tibia relatively wide at apical half, about 4.3× longer than its maximum width. The propodeum at posterior aspect, as in one of the ♀ paratypes, is mostly smooth and without any indication of areola. As in other males, the antenna has no ventrally expanded flagellomeres.

Diagnosis. Adelius excelus sp. n. is similar to A. ecuadoriensis sp. n., differing from it mainly by the absence of a mid-longitudinal carina at face (present in A. ecuadoriensis ), by the mostly smooth and polished head (which is distinctly punctate in A. ecuadoriensis ), and by the relatively smaller eyes (2× longer than the malar space, as compared with about 3× longer in A. ecuadoriensis ). Additionally, A. excelsus usually has a distinct light band at the base of all femora (although it may be narrow and lightly contrasting), whereas in A. ecuadoriensis the legs are entirely dark brown.

Biology. Unknown.

Distribution. Sampled from both Colombia and Costa Rica at high elevations (from 3,200 up to 3,880 meters above sea level in Colombia and at about 2,000 meters in Costa Rica).

Etymology. The name is from the Latin word excelsus meaning “high or lofty,” referring to the distribution of this species at high elevations.

Figures

FIGURES 43–47. Adelius excelsus Bortoni & Shimbori sp. n. 43, habitus, ♀ holotype; 44, head, frontal; 45, head, dorsal; 46, mesosoma, dorsal; 47, hind coxa.

FIGURES 48–51. Adelius excelsus Bortoni & Shimbori sp. n., holotype, ♀. 48, head, frontal; 49, head and mesonotum, dorsal; 50, head and mesosoma, lateral; 51, propodeum. Scale bar = 200 µm.