Parahormius similis Gupta, 2021

Gupta, Ankita, 2021, A new species of the genus Parahormius Nixon (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Hormiinae) parasitic on host pupae of Lyonetiidae (Lepidoptera) from India, Zootaxa 5052 (2), pp. 292-296 : 292-295

Parahormius similis Gupta sp. n.

Figs 1−3

Measurements: Length of body in dorsal view 2.09 mm (holotype, Fig. 1A ); antenna 1.9 mm (holotype) and fore wing 1.8 mm (holotype).

Female. Colour: Body yellowish brown. Antenna yellowish brown. Legs yellowish, paler than antenna. Head yellow except eyes and stemmaticum/ocellar region black, ocelli brown, tip of mandible dark brown. Pronotum, mesoscutum and scutellum yellowish (lateral lobes of mesoscutum, darker); tegula dark brown; propodeum light brown with dark brown carinae; T1 (median tergite) brown; T2 yellow testaceous except brown patch laterally; T3‒T6 with brown continuous lateral colouration in the form of band; T7 yellow testaceous. Pterostigma pale testaceous; hind tibia medially pale yellow. Ovipositor sheath brown.

Head ( Fig. 1B, 1C ): Width 1.47 × median length in frontal view (0.5: 0.34); antenna with 20‒21 flagellomeres and almost of same length as fore wing (1.9:1.8); area of stemmaticum shiny ( Fig. 1C ); OOL: diameter of median ocellus: POL= 0.09: 0.02: 0.06; vertex smooth; temple with faint striations; frons, clypeus and malar space smooth without prominent sculpture. Head throughout with pale setae sparsely spread. Malar space 0.26 × eye length in profile.

Mesosoma ( Fig. 2A ): 1.74 × as long as wide; pronotum smooth and short; mesoscutum (sides) smooth and shiny; notauli not distinct; middle lobe with a median longitudinal groove with faint rugosity; scutellar sulcus narrow with two costulae; scutellum smooth and shiny; metanotum with carinae; propodeum coarsely reticulate rugose with distinct longitudinal and transverse carinae, median carina absent, median areola present, stalked (closed anteriorly). Fore wing 2.58 × as long as wide; r = 0.11, issued almost in middle of pterostigma, as long as width of pterostigma; pterostigma 4.3 × longer than wide; 3-SR = 0.09; SR-1 = 0.57. Second abscissa of the radius 0.86 × as long as the first.

Metasoma ( Fig. 1D ): Oval in dorsal view and 1.93 × as long as wide, 1.09 × as long as mesosoma in lateral view; T1 median tergite strongly sclerotized, smooth and shiny, with lateral protrusion medially, 1.28 × as long as its maximum width. Tergites following second tergite membranous except lateral margins. Sternites not conspicuously dark on sides, apical sternite without a darkened sclerotized patch on each side. Ovipositor sheath 1.66−1.7 × longer than hind metatarsus; 0.77 × as long as hind tibia and 0.65 × length of metasoma less petiole. Ovipositor slender and curved in profile.

Male ( Fig. 3 ): Similar to female except for following characters: Colouration relatively darker than female, propodeum dark brown and carinae not visible based on colouration; body length 1.59 mm in lateral view; antenna with 22 flagellomeres; antennal length 2.25 (longer than body); fore wing 1.45 (shorter than body length).

Type material. Holotype — female, INDIA: Maharashtra: Pune, Narayangaon , 19.1229° N, 73.9771° E, 23.viii.2016, ex indeterminate host ( Lepidoptera : Lyonetiidae ) on Dalbergia sp. , coll. S. K. Rajeshwari, code— NBAIR / Brac/Para / 241116A ( NBAIR). Paratypes: one female, one male, 24.xi.2016, same data as holotype, code— NBAIR /Brac/Para/ 241116B ( NBAIR). All types deposited in the National Insect Museum ( ICAR- NBAIR), Bengaluru, India.

Etymology. The specific epithet is derived based on the resemblance in general appearance with other conspecific Indian species.

Distribution. India: Maharashtra: Pune.

Host. Indeterminate genus ( Lepidoptera : Lyonetiidae ) ( Fig. 4 ) on the host plant Dalbergia sp.

Comments. Parahormius similis sp. n. comes close to P. deiphobus Nixon in key to Indian & African species by Nixon (1940), however it differs in the following characters: colouration of metasoma (T1 (median tergite) brown, T2 yellow testaceous except brown patch laterally, T3 ‒T6 with brown continuous lateral colouration in the form of band and T7 yellow testaceous vs sclerotized patches at lateral margins of T4 and T5 less defined, sclerotized band of T6 widely excised in middle in P. deiphobus ); antenna (20−21 vs 23 segmented in female); fore wing veins (3-SR marginally shorter than r/ subequal vs 3-SR hardly more than half as long as r).

Parahormius similis sp. n. comes close to P. jason Nixon in having fore wing veins r and 3-SR almost equal in length however differs in the following characters- antennae (20−21 vs 19 segmented in P. jason ); malar space (0.26 × vs more than one third of the eye length); mesoscutum (with a median longitudinal groove with faint rugosity in mid lobe vs entirely smooth); ovipositor sheath (1.7 × longer than hind metatarsus vs equal); T6 (with lateral sclerotized band vs well defined complete sclerotized band).

Parahormius similis sp. n. differs with P. zonus in not having malar space to eye length ratio as 1:6 (vs nearly 1: 4 in P. similis sp. n.). For the remaining Indian species P. absonus , P. rameshii and P. stom , the vein 3-SR is distinctly longer than r (vs 0.8 in P. similis sp. n.).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Parahormius similis (female) sp. n. A. Habitus, dorsal view (Holotype), B. Head, frontal view, C. Vertex, D. Habitus, lateral view (Paratype).

FIGURE 2. Parahormius similis (female) sp. n. A. Head, mesosoma & metasoma in part, dorsal view, B. Head and mesopleuron, lateral view, C. Wings, D. Metasoma, E. Metasoma in part, F. Hind tibia.

FIGURE 3. Parahormius similis (male) sp. n. A. Habitus, dorsal view (Paratype), B. Mesosoma, dorsal view.

FIGURE 4. Lyonetiidae host- A. Pupal case, B. Adult moth.