Microdontomerus iridis (Picard, 1930) Janšta & Delvare & Krogmann & Schütte & Peters, 2016

Jansta, Petr, Delvare, Gerard, Krogmann, Lars, Schuette, Kai & Peters, Ralph S., 2016, Systematics, biology and distribution of Microdontomerus iridis (Picard, 1930), comb. n. (Hymenoptera, Torymidae, Toryminae, Microdontomerini), a parasitoid of Mantodea oothecae, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 48, pp. 1-18 : 2-8

Microdontomerus iridis (Picard, 1930) comb. n.

Figs 1-4 , 5-10 , 11-19 , 20-25

Callimome iridis Picard, 1930: 89-90, ♀ (original description from France [Provence], syntypes in MNHN); Bernard 1936: 70 (host record of male and female), Graham and Gijswijt 1998: 161 (catalog, species inquirenda)

Torymus iridis : Grissell 1995: 282 (generic transfer, distribution)

Material examined.

Neotype female (in MNHN), FRANCE: Hérault, Palavas-les-Flots, between city and Maguelone Cathedral, 1 m a. s. l., 43.515167°N, 3.901833°E, February 1979, ex egg-case of Iris oratoria on stake, Foucart A. leg.

Non-type specimens: FRANCE, same data as neotype, 4 males (in GDPC); Aniane , city, 66 m a.s.l., 43.686528°N, 3.584361°E, 23.vii.1986, ex egg-case of I. oratoria on wall, Delvare G. leg., 1 female (in GDPC) . GREECE, Kerkini Laka National Park, Ker kini Mountains foothills, 41.277868°N, 23.214595°E, 254 m a.s.l., 4.v.2010, ex egg-case of I. oratoria , Fusu L. & Popovici O. leg., 9 females, 5 males (in GDPC) ; SPAIN, Extremadura, rio Magasca, Nordhang, near Trujillo , 5.viii.2009, 10 females, 1 male, em. i. 2010 (1 female), iii.2010 (1 female), v.2010 (4 females), 30.vi.2010 (2 females), 15.vii.2010 (1 male), vii.2010 (2 females) (in SMNS [2 females], ZFMK [2 females], ZMH [6 females, 1 male]) ; TURKEY, Izmir prov., Cukuralan , GPS 39.17437°N, 026.92825°E, 460m a.s.l., 21.iv.2011, em. 18.v.2011, 8 females, 3 males (in CUPC) .

Condition of the neotype. Specimen complete, glued on rectangular card, right hind wing removed and glued on card.

Comments.

The species was described from four females, which were housed in the Abeille de Perrin collection (in MNHN). Locating these specimens remained unsuccessful. The French entomologist Abeille de Perrin lived and worked in Marseille. Therefore, it is possible that the ootheca of I. oratoria from which the syntype specimens emerged was collected in the department Bouches-du-Rhône.

Diagnosis.

Head 1.09-1.18 × as broad as high and 1.87-2.04 × as broad as long. Anterior margin of clypeus straight and recessed relative to corners of oral fossa. Scrobes bare and less sculptured relative to the rest of face and interantennal area. Toruli inserted above ventral level of eye. Face between lateral level of eye and toruli with small depression contrasting with nearby surface sculpture. OOL about as long as LOD. Antenna with scape not reaching anterior ocellus; flagellum with two anelli and six funicular segments, all funicular segments transverse. Posterior part of midlobe of mesoscutum and entire mesoscutellum flattened dorsally; mesoscutellum less sculptured in contrast to pronotum and mesoscutum. Fore wing with speculum reaching end of marginal vein; costal cell dorsally with one row of setae along anterior margin, cubital cell without setae and basal cell at most with few setae along anterior margin; basal and cubital setal line complete; marginal vein 1.40-2.00 × as long as postmarginal vein and 2.55-3.78 × as long as stigmal vein. All tarsi slightly longer than tibiae, metafemur simple, without any tooth. Metasoma with hypopygium reaching almost end of gaster; Gt1 incised medially, Gt2-Gt3 distinctly emarginate medially, Gt4-Gt5 slightly emarginate. Ovipositor 0.65-0.79 × as long as body; OI 2.50-2.90.

Description: FEMALE neotype. Body length excluding ovipositor 2.14 mm; length of ovipositor 1.51 mm. Head, mesosoma, meso- and metacoxa and metasoma metallic bronze green with coppery reflections, especially on mesonotum (Fig. 1 ). Lower part of scape, tegula, pro- and mesofemur and pro-, meso- and metatibia pale yellow. Procoxa brown in proximal part, pale yellow in distal part. Metafemur pale yellow with brownish spot in the middle; pro-, meso- and metatarsus pale yellow proximally and brownish distally. Distal part of scape, flagellum and ovipositor brown. Pedicel brown with metallic reflection. Fore wing slightly infumate, wing venation pale brown, setae brown.

Head. Head 1.10 × as broad as high; 1.99 × as broad as long (Fig. 2 ); 1.12 × as broad as mesonotum at its widest part in dorsal view. Temple short, strongly converging, one quarter as long as eye. Eyes separated by 1.10 × their own height, eye 1.81 × as high as long. Head slightly reticulate with thin, short, pale setae on face, vertex and temple which are about as long as two meshes of the reticulation; scrobe more finely reticulate, without setae. Face between lateral level of eye and torulus with small depression in cuticle sculpture (Fig. 5 ). Clypeus with anterior margin nearly straight and recessed relative to corners of oral fossa; ventral part of clypeus smooth (Fig. 5 ). Malar space two thirds as long as breadth of oral fossa and 0.49 × as long as eye height. Occipital carina absent (Fig. 6 ). Antenna with scape 3.90x and pedicel 1.46x as long as broad, the former not reaching ventral margin of anterior ocellus; torulus inserted hardly above ventral level of eye. Combined length of pedicel and flagellum 1.20 × as long as breadth of head. Flagellum with two anelli, the first narrower, the second as broad as pedicel; remaining flagellomeres barely to distinctly transverse, with F1 the smallest, 0.73 × as long as broad, hardly wider than pedicel, and bearing only few MPS; F2-F6 of about same dimensions, 0.79-0.85 × as long as broad (Fig. 7 ). POL 2.94 × OOL, OOL 0.98 × LOD.

Mesosoma. Mesosoma 1.74x as long as broad. Pronotum 0.78 × as broad as mesoscutum. Pronotum and mesoscutum fairly faintly and irregularly reticulate, especially on posterior part of mesoscutum, and covered with thin, short, pale setae (Fig. 3 ). Pos terior part of midlobe of mesoscutum and entire mesoscutellum flattened dorsally (Fig. 8 ). Notaulus narrow, weakly impressed and obliterated by sculpture. Mesoscutellum 1.06 × as long as broad, without frenal area. Mesoscutellum and axilla more sparsely covered with setae and less sculptured than posterior part of midlobe of mesoscutum, partly coriaceous. Propodeum delicately reticulate, with incomplete and barely visible median carina (Fig. 4 ). Hind leg with coxa alutaceous, covered by setae dorsally and ventrally, 2.53 × as long as broad; metafemur 3.59 × as long as broad, without any tooth; metatibia 6.76 × as long as broad; metatarsus long, 1.04 × as long as metatibia (Fig. 9 ). Fore wing 2.35 × as long as wide, slightly infumate along wing venation, with dense brown setae on disc; speculum reaching end of marginal vein; costal cell dorsally with one row of setae along anterior margin, with one row of setae ventrally on basal half and 3-4 rows at end of cell, basal and cubital cell bare; basal and cubital setal line complete; marginal vein 1.82 × as long as postmarginal vein and 3.87 × as long as stigmal vein; venation pale brown (Fig. 1 ).

Metasoma. Metasoma 1.24 × as long as mesosoma (but somewhat collapsed). Petiole very short, strongly transverse. Gaster with very shallow alutaceous sculpture; Gt1 incised medially, Gt2-Gt3 distinctly emarginate medially, Gt4-Gt5 slightly emarginate medially (Fig. 10 ); tip of hypopygium almost reaching apex of gaster (Fig. 1 ). OI 2.76.

Variation. In a number of specimens the head, mesosoma, meso- and metacoxa and metasoma are metallic coppery green with purple reflections. Scape varies from brown in distal part to entirely brown. Tegula varies from pale yellow to pale brown in distal part or even entirely brown. In some darker specimens the procoxa is pale brown to brown in proximal part or entirely brown, sometimes with metallic coppery green reflections; pro- and mesofemur sometimes pale brown in the middle; metafemur entirely brown with metallic reflections and all tarsi except pretarsus brownish. The mesosoma of the French specimens is more slender than that of the females from Greece. Mesoscutellum and axilla slightly less sculptured than posterior part of midlobe of mesoscutum, almost alutaceous, sometimes only less reticulate. Basel cell of fore wing without setae, in some specimens with up to 10 setae in one row along anterior margin. Body length excluding ovipositor varies between 1.65 and 2.50 mm; length of ovipositor varies between 1.07 and 1.68 mm. Ranges and median of measurements and body ratios are given in App. 2 and 3 (for raw data, see Suppl. material 1).

MALE. Length of body 1.90-2.40 mm. Mostly similar to females (Figs 11 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ) except following: one specimen (Spain) metasoma with yellow subbasal ring extending from distal part of Gt1 to proximal part of Gt2 (Fig. 12 ). Temple long and less converging, 0.32-0.60 × length of eye, hence head less transverse, 1.77-1.96 × as broad as long. Head with vertex more vaulted. Eye smaller, 1.43-1.6x as high as long, separated by 1.16-1.20 × their own height. Oral fossa wider, malar space 0.49-0.51 × breadth of oral fossa. Funicular segments somewhat less transverse than in the female. F1 and F2 two third as long as broad, F6 and clava respectively 0.61 × and 1.87 × as long as broad (Fig. 17 ). Pro- and metafemur distinctly swollen (Figs 18 , 19 ), 2.14-2.35 × respectively 2.57-2.71 × as long as broad, the latter distinctly serrate posteriorly. Pro podeum sloping at only about 30° relative to surface of mesoscutellum. Other measurements as follows: POL 2.30-2.60 × OOL; OOL 1.00-1.30 × LOD. The variation in relative length of flagellomeres is as follows: F1 0.40-0.82 ×, F2-F5 0.64-0.85 ×, F6 0.67-0.77 × and clava 1.87-2.62 × as long as broad. Mesosoma and mesoscutellum 1.80-2.00 × respectively 1.07-1.21 × as broad as long; pronotum 0.75-0.88 × as long as mesoscutellum; metatibia 5.70-6.50 × as long as broad; metatarsus 1.06-1.08 × as long as metatibia; fore wing 2.16-2.3 × as long as wide, marginal vein 1.48-2.07 × and 2.73 -3.44 × as long as postmarginal vein respectively stigmal vein; metasoma 0.80-1.20 × as long as mesosoma but depending on degree of collapsing.

Figures

Figures 1 - 4. Microdontomerus iridis, female neotype (scale bar 0.15 mm, unless indicated otherwise). 1 Habitus, lateral (scale bar 1 mm) 2 Head, dorsal 3 Mesosoma (partially), dorsal 4 Mesoscutellum (partially), metascutellum and propodeum, dorsal.

Figures 5 - 10. Microdontomerus iridis, female (scale bar 0.2 mm). 5 Head, frontal, arrow indicates depression in cuticle sculpture (specimen from Greece) 6 Head, posterior (specimen from Turkey) 7 Antenna, lateral (specimen from Turkey) 8 Mesosoma, lateral (specimen from Greece) 9 Hind leg, lateral (specimen from Turkey) 10 Metasoma, dorsal (specimen from Greece).

Figures 11 - 19. Microdontomerus iridis, male (scale bar 0.2 mm, unless indicated otherwise). 11 Habitus, lateral (specimen from Turkey, scale bar 0.5 mm) 12 Habitus, lateral (specimen from Spain, scale bar 0.5 mm) 13 Head, frontal, arrow indicates depression in cuticle sculpture (specimen from Greece) 14 Head, frontolateral, arrow indicates depression in cuticle sculpture (specimen from Turkey) 15 Head, posterior (specimen from Turkey) 16 Mesosoma, dorsolateral (specimen from Turkey) 17 Antenna, lateral (specimen from Turkey) 18 Fore leg, lateral (specimen from Greece) 19 Hind leg, lateral (specimen from Greece).

Figures 20 - 25. 20 Microdontomerus iridis, lateral, male pupa on host egg (specimen from Spain) 21 M. iridis, lateral, male pupa removed from host egg (specimen from Spain) 22 M. iridis, female on host ootheca (specimen from Spain) 23 M. iridis, male on host ootheca (specimen from Spain) 24 Rio Magasca, Spain, habitat of M. iridis 25 Iris oratoria (upper) and Ameles sp. (lower) oothecae from Spain, rio Magasca.