Cotesia australiensis ( Ashmead, 1900 )

Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P. & Austin, Andrew D., 2020, Synopsis of the parasitoid wasp genus Cotesia Cameron, 1891 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) in Australia, with the description of seven new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 667 (667), pp. 1-70 : 16-18

Cotesia australiensis ( Ashmead, 1900)

Figs 11A , 12B , 14

Apanteles australiensis Ashmead, 1900: 356 (holotype, ♀, USNM).

Apanteles australiensis – Wilkinson 1928a: 99 (redescription); 1930: 485 (host record).

Cotesia australiensis – Austin & Dangerfield 1992: 21 (transfer from Apanteles s.l.).

Diagnosis

Cotesia australiensis can be separated from all other species of Cotesia currently described from Australia and Papua New Guinea by the following combination of characters: anteromesoscutum punctate; fore wing r vein straight; antennal flagellomere 14 length/width> 2; scutellar disk mostly smooth with some shallow punctures and centre of the medial posterior band of the scutellum smooth; T1 parallel sided; T2 trapezoid with shallow crenulate border with T3; T3 with very sparse setae over most of tergite, mostly dark.

Material examined

Holotype (only images examined)

AUSTRALIA • ♀; [A.] Koebele [leg.]; USNM 4913 .

Other material

AUSTRALIA • 3 ♀♀, 2 ??; Victoria, Beaconsfield ; Mar. 1929; A.M. Wade leg.; ex. Anther[a]ea eucalypti; “ Apanteles australiensis Ashmead det. D.S. Wilkinson 1930 compared with type series”; ANIC 32 151532 to 32 151536 .

Redescription

Female (from ANIC specimen 151536)

COLOUR. Head, antenna, mesosoma and metasoma dark other than lateral sides of T1–2 which are paler; (fore-, mid-, hind coxa) dark, dark, dark; femora (fore-, mid-, hind femur) pale, pale, pale with distal dark patch; tibiae (fore-, mid-, hind tibia) pale, pale, pale darkening distally; tegula and humeral complex light brown to dark; pterostigma light brown to dark; fore wing veins light brown.

BODY LENGTH. Head to apex of metasoma: 2.5 mm.

HEAD. Antenna slightly longer than body length; OOL/posterior ocellus diameter 1.7; POL/posterior ocellus diameter 1.6; antennal flagellomere 2 length/width 3; antennal flagellomere 14 length/width 2.5.

MESOSOMA. Anteromesoscutum with regular, shallow, small punctures, appearing smoother than most species treated; number of pits in scutoscutellar sulcus 10; scutellar disc mostly smooth with some shallow punctures; maximum height of mesoscutellum lunules/maximum height of lateral face of mesoscutellum 0.6.

WINGS. Fore wing length 2.8 mm; length of veins r/2RS 0.8; length of veins 2RS/2M 1.8; length of veins 2M/(RS+M)b 0.9; pterostigma length/width 3.3.

LEGS. Hind tibia inner spur length/metabasitarsus length 0.5.

PROPODEUM. Medial carina present, propodeum with irregular and sparse sculpturing.

METASOMA. T1 length /T1 width at posterior margin 1.3; T1 parallel sided, curved at posterior corners, smooth in anterior half, with large shallow punctures in posterior half; T2 width at posterior margin /T2 length 2.3, the sclerotised area of T2 almost an isosceles trapezium, mostly smooth with some irregular sculpturing, wide, very shallow crenulate border at lateral edges; T3 sculpture smooth and shiny; ovipositor sheaths length/hind tibial length 0.2.

Male

Unknown.

Distribution

Type locality given only as Australia. Vic (record from examined material), NSW, Tas (records from Austin & Dangerfield 1992).

Host

Opodiphthera eucalypti (Scott, 1864) ( Saturniidae Boisduval, 1837 ). Gregarious cocoon mass (record from Wilkinson 1930).

Remarks

We base the redescription and measurements of this species on the series of specimens in ANIC, with reference also to the images of the holotype available on the Smithsonian Entomology Collections database (http://n 2t.net/ark:/65665/3639803ce-5025-4c10-bd7c-42bba8777cdf).

Figures

Fig. 11. A. Cotesia australiensis (Ashmead, 1900), fore wing vein r straight (ANIC 32 151532). B. C. scripta sp. nov., fore wing vein r subtly curved (holotype, MV T22495). C. C. lasallei sp. nov., fore wing vein r straight (holotype, SAMA 32-44401). D. C. medusae sp. nov., fore wing vein r straight (paratype QM T246705).

Fig. 12. Scutellar disk, scutellar sulcus and partial anteromesoscutum. A. Cotesia medusae sp. nov. (paratype, QM T246705). B. C. australiensis (Ashmead, 1900) (ANIC 32 151535).

Fig. 14. Cotesia australiensis (Ashmead, 1900). A. Propodeum, T1–3 (ANIC 32 151536). B. Mesosoma (ANIC 32 151535). C. Habitus in lateral view (ANIC 32 151532).