Grotea ambarosa, Sandoval & Santos, 2021

Sandoval, Marissa & Santos, Bernardo F., 2021, A new species of Grotea Cresson, the first record of Labeninae (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) in the Greater Antilles, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 81, pp. 1-8 : 1

Grotea ambarosa sp. nov.

Material Examined.

Holotype: Dominican Republic • ♀; Duarte, 20 km NE San Francisco de Macoris, Loma Quita Espuela ; 300 m; VII.1991; L. Masner (USUC). Pinned; left apical tip of antenna missing, otherwise in good condition.

Paratypes: Dominican Republic • 1 ♀ 1 ♂, same data as holotype (USUC) .

Diagnosis.

Mesosoma 2.9 × as long as high, polished and almost entirely impunctate; genal projection distinct and apically subquadrate; pleural carina distinct only in front of transverse carina; mesosoma almost entirely amber-orange, legs with complex dark brown and white marks.

Description.

Forewing 7.7 mm long. Head. Head in dorsal view with gena rounded behind eye, occiput lightly pubescent. Posterior ocellus separated from eye by 1.2 × its diameter. Supra-clypeal area shiny and shallowly punctate. Groove between clypeus and face strong (Fig. 3 ). Clypeus 2.8 × as wide as long. Occipital carina dorsally slightly raised, sublaterally slightly expanded forming a subtle flange. Gena at junction with hypostomal carina abruptly projected as a lamella with subquadrate apex. Antenna with 40 flagellomeres. First flagellum segment as long as the second and third flagellum segments combined.

Mesosoma. Mesosoma 2.9 × as long as high, polished and almost entirely impunctate (Fig. 2 ). Pronotum centrally uniformly and evenly concave. Epomia absent. Scuto-scutellar groove deeply impressed and smooth; scutellum distinctly convex. Area basalis of propodeum triangular in shape, about 1.5 × as long as wide. Spiracles kidney-shaped. Pleural carina distinct only anteriorly to anterior transverse carina. Anterior transverse carina forming a smooth arc. Lateral longitudinal carina distinct from propodeal apex to anterior transverse carina, sinuous and irregular. Area spiracularis and area lateralis not fully enclosed. Posterior transverse carina absent. Forewing crossvein 1cu-a arising distinctly distad of M&Rs. Aerolet large and pentagonal, about 1.6 × as wide as long.

Metasoma. Tergite 1 very long, 0.85 × as long as mesosoma, curved upwards on posterior 0.25 (Fig. 5 ). Postpetiole only slightly wider than petiole. Exposed portion of ovipositor 4.4 mm, about 2.05 × as long as hind tibia.

Color. Mostly amber-orange with black and whitish marks. Head whitish (247,214,160) (Fig. 3 ); mandible apex, supra-antennal area and occiput except orbital band and posterior 0.3 of dorsal 0.75 of gena glossy black; supra-antennal area just anteriorly to ocelli with brownish spot. Dark grey regions of eyes bordered by light grey pigment. Supraclypeal area white. Antenna entirely dark brown (084,076,060). Mesosoma mostly amber-orange (172,091,046) (Fig. 2 ). Anterior portion of pronotal collar, narrow bands on dorsal margin of pronotum and anterior margin of mesopleuron, tegula, small spot on postscutellum and dorsal apex of mesepimeron whitish. Posterior 0.2 of scutellum lighter in color than the rest. Fore and mid coxae, all trochanters and femora and fore tibia dark brown (093,070,068) on dorsal and posterior faces, whitish on ventral and anterior faces; fore tarsus whitish with brownish apical marks; hind coxa amber-orange on basal 0.6, dark brown on apical 0.4, with a white apical spot on dorsal face; hind trochanter and trochantellus mostly dark brown, whitish in the articulation; hind femur medially amber-orange, basal and apical fourths dark brown; mid and hind tibiae and tarsi dark brown. Wings hyaline, forewing with a faint brown spot at apex. Tergites mostly blackish; T1 with sublateral white bands on anterior 0.75 and posterior whitish band; T2-3 with triangular whitish park on posterior apex; T4-6 with posterior whitish bands, medially narrower on T6. Ovipositor sheaths black with subapical pale yellow band (Fig. 6 ).

Remarks.

Grotea ambarosa does not run well to any of the species in the keys of Slobodchikoff (1970) or Gauld (2000) and does not correspond either to the species described later on by Herrera-Florez (2014, 2018) and Herrera-Florez and Penteado-Dias (2019). Among described species, it is most similar to G. paulista Herrera-Flórez and G. perplexa Slobodchikoff. The new species can be differentiated from G. paulista by the pleural carina posteriorly absent (vs. distinct in G. paulista ); area basalis 1.5 × as long as wide (vs. 3.4 ×) and ovipositor 2.0 × as long as hind tibia (vs 1.5 ×). The color pattern on the legs is also different, with G. paulista having the apex of all femora and of the hind tibia entirely white and hind femur basally amber-brown (vs. dark brown in G. ambarosa ). Color pattern is also quite different between G. ambarosa and G. perplexa , which has a distinct whitish mark on antero-dorsal corner of mesopleuron (absent in G. ambarosa ); fore- and mid legs almost entirely white (vs. extensively marked with dark brown); and hind femur and tibia apically entirely white (vs. dark brown). In addition, G. perplexa has a distinct pleural carina (absent in G. ambarosa ) and the forewing crossvein 1cu-a arising opposite to M&Rs (vs. distinctly distad).

Etymology.

The name refers to the striking resemblance of the color of the mesosoma to the rich amber deposits found in the Dominican Republic.

Figures

Figures 1 - 6. Grotea ambarosa sp. nov., holotype female 1 lateral habitus; detail showing measurement of length vs. height of mesosoma overlaid onto image from Townes (1970) 2 head and mesosoma, lateral view 3 head, frontal view 4 ovipositor, lateral view 5 first metasomal tergite, lateral view 6 posterior tergites and ovipositor sheath.