Halticoptera askewi, Mitroiu, 2005

Mitroiu, Mircea-Dan, 2005, A review of the Romanian Halticoptera Spinola (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea, Pteromalidae), with description of three new species, Zootaxa 1090 (1), pp. 35-49 : 38-42

Halticoptera askewi sp. n.

(FIGS. 3, 4, 6, 11, 12, 16, 17)

Female (FIG. 17). Body blue­green. Head blue­green, dark blue on the occiput. Pronotum in front of the collar dark blue, mesonotum and axillae bright bluish­green; scutellum bluegreen. Gaster blue­green with some golden reflections. Mandibles reddish, teeth dark brown. Scape apart from radicle and extreme basal end, which are reddish, metallic; pedicel metallic. Coxae of same color as thorax; trochanters black; femora black with both ends reddish, the distal end more widely so; tibiae bright reddish, proximal and distal ends paler; tarsi reddish with fifth segment brownish. Tegulae reddish­yellow. Fore wings weakly infumate; submarginal and postmarginal vein dark­brownish; marginal and stigmal vein paler. Hind wings hyaline; venation brownish excepting parastigma and distal end of marginal vein, which are more infuscate. Body length: 5 mm.

Head width about 2.4X length in dorsal view, width about 1.1X that of mesoscutum. Head width about 1.4X height in frontal view. Temples about 0.3X as long as eyes in dorsal view. OOL 1.5X as long as POL. Each posterior ocellus separated by about 3X its diameter from the eye. Eyes small, length about 1.4X width, separated by about 2.6X their own transverse diameter. Malar space about 0.8X as long as transverse diameter of eye and hardly 0.6X as long as an eye. Gena hollowed at mouth corner. Oral fossa about 1.8X as long as malar space and about half as long as breadth of head. Antennae (FIG. 3) with lower edge of toruli slightly above lower edge of eyes. Toruli separated by slightly less than a diameter. Scape slightly longer than an eye, reaching above median ocellus. Combined length of pedicellus and flagellum slightly less than breadth of head. Pedicellus length 1.8–1.9X width, shorter than anelli plus first funicular segment. All funicular segments at least slightly longer than broad, with sensillae in 2–3 rows on each segment. All funicular segments slightly longer than broad: F1 length 1.1–1.2X width, F3 1.2–1.3X, F6 1.1–1.2X. Clava length 2.2–2.3X width, shorter than the three preceding segments, its apex rounded.

Thorax length (including propodeum) about 1.3X width, clearly arched dorsally. Pronotal collar entirely reticulated excepting a narrow smooth strip near its hind edge. Mesoscutum length about 2X width, mid­lobe strongly reticulated, with quite big areoles; lateral lobes with median area very finely reticulated. Notauli clearly impressed excepting near the hind edge of mesoscutum where they are indistinct. Scutellum convex, about as long as broad, with fine but clearly raised reticulation; frenal groove very distinct, clearly impressed. Axillae of same reticulation as scutellum. Dorsellum very finely striate. Propodeum (FIG. 11) medially about 0.6X as long as scutellum and about 3X as long as metanotum, its median area entirely and clearly reticulated; basal foveae large, triangular, each of them having a very fine oblique carina in the middle; median carina straight and strong; the area between the median carina and each basal fovea smooth; hind margin of propodeum with a smooth transverse area; plicae clearly marked posteriorly, but less distinct anteriorly; spiracles rather big, oval, separated by a distance less than their diameter from the fore edge of propodeum. Fore wings (FIG. 6) length 2.2X width; marginal vein about 1.8X as long as stigmal vein and about 1.1X as long as postmarginal vein; basal cell, including basal vein glabrous, speculum open below; disc densely pilose. Tibiae of hind legs with two spurs, one slightly shorter than the maximum breadth of tibia, the other rather less than half as long as the first one.

Petiole (FIG. 12) width about 5X apparent length in dorsal view. About 2/3 of its total length i.e. from its articulation with the propodeum to the lateral flanges, is normally hidden under the propodeum; petiole widening progressively towards gaster, on each side having three very short hairs situated in a rather transverse plane (normally impossible to see because of the propodeum), a well developed flange and a very small brownish spur, its surface clearly sculptured, with vertical and horizontal carinae, and in the proximal half with two small foveae. Gaster ovate­lanceolate, narrower than the thorax, length about 2.4X width, about equal to head plus thorax; basal tergite occupying only slightly more than one third of the whole gaster, its hind margin clearly incised medially; last tergite length about 1.3X width; tips of ovipositor sheaths slightly projecting; tip of hypopygium situated slightly more than two thirds away from the tip of gaster.

Male. Differs from female in the following characters: body golden green; scape proximally reddish, with distal end dark brownish; pedicel and funicle dorsally dark brownish, ventrally paler; mandibles pale reddish, teeth dark brownish; maxillary palpi brownish­yellow. Body length: 3.4 mm. Head slightly less transverse, length about 2.3X width in dorsal view. OOL 1.2X as long as POL. Oral fosa about 1.6X as long as malar space. Maxillary stipites small, hardly modified; palpi strongly dilated, the sac formed by the last two segments about 2.8X as long as broad, length about 3.2X that of malar space (FIG. 16). Toruli separated from each other by slightly more than a diameter, between them with a slightly elevated crest which has a very small tooth in its upper part. Antennae (FIG. 4) with more elongate funicular segments: F1 length about 1.5X width, F3 about 1.9X and F6 1.4X. Combined length of pedicellus and flagellum slightly greater than breadth of head (10.8: 9.4). Clava length about 2.8X width. Dorsellum with traces of reticulation in the middle. Petiole less transverse, width about 3X apparent length. Gaster rhomboidal, length about 1.2X width, shorter than thorax (9.5: 11.2); basal tergite occupying more than half of the whole gaster, other tergites retracted.

Material examined: Holotype ♀, Romania, IaŞi county, Valea lui David Natural Reserve , 8. V. 1999 (M.­D. Mitroiu). Deposited in "Grigore Antipa" Natural History Museum, Bucharest, registration number 183017 (specimen glued on card with one side appendages mounted on two microscope slides).

Paratypes. Same locality and date as holotype: 1♀, head missing (L. Fusu) and 1♂ (M.­D. Mitroiu), in authors collection; 1♀ (I. Popescu), in British Museum (Natural History), London, registration number BMNH (E) 2005 145.

Etymology: This species is named for Dr. R. R. Askew, who has contributed substantially to our knowledge of European Pteromalidae .

Biology: Unknown; like other species from this genus, H. askewi sp. n. is probably a parasitoid of a certain species of Diptera (in this case probably a species of moderate size). All the individuals were swept on steppe vegetation at Valea lui David Natural Reserve. More than 500 species of angiosperms were identified here, the Poaceae being the dominant species ( Mititelu & al. 1969).

Remarks: Halticoptera askewi sp. n. belongs to the group of species with the median area of propodeum distinctly reticulated, together with H. smaragdina (Curtis) , H. patellana (Dalman) , H. collaris (Walker) and H. elongatula Graham. The female and male of H. askewi sp. n. would run in Graham’s key (1969) as far as couplet 3 and H. patellana (Dalman) , on account of its distinctly reticulated propodeum and, in the case of the male, also on account of its small maxillary stipites. From both sexes of patellana this new species differs mainly in having a very transverse petiole, a larger body size and some other characteristic features, which are mentioned below. Some of the characters of askewi sp. n. are rather uncommon for most of the species in the genus: an almost sessile gaster, OOL much longer than POL, a very distinct frenal groove, and the bottom edge of the toruli slightly above lower edge of eyes. The presence of these characters could question the generic placement of this species. However, other characters i.e. the rounded collar of the pronotum, the slightly asymmetric bidentate margin of the clypeus, the antennal formula, the postmarginal vein which is shorter than the marginal vein and the enlarged male maxillary palpi, do indicate that askewi sp. n. belongs to genus Halticoptera . I do not think it is appropriate to create a new subgenus for askewi before examining more material, especially from the Central and East Palearctic.