Symmorphus (Symmorphus) tianchiensis Li & Chen

Li, Ting-jing & Chen, Bin, 2014, The taxonomic accounts of the genus Symmorphus Wesmael (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae) from China, with descriptions of three new species, ZooKeys 389, pp. 9-26 : 10-12

Symmorphus (Symmorphus) tianchiensis Li & Chen sp. n. Figs 1-10

Material examined.

Holotype. ♀, China, Yunnan Prov., Dali City, Yunlong County, Tianchi National Nature Reserve, 25°52'13.05"N, 99°17'14.33"E, 2579 m, 9.VII.2011, Tingjing Li, No. 1001516 (CQNU); Paratypes: 1♀1♂, the same as holotype, Nos. 1001524, 1001517 (CQNU); 1♀, China, Yunnan Prov., Nujiang City, Lanping County, Jinding Town, Xinshengqiao National Forest Park, 26°26'56.36"N, 99°23'04.69"E, 2412 m, 12. VII.2011, Tingjing Li, No. 1004036 (CQNU).

Description.

Female (Fig. 1): body length 9.5-10.5 mm, forewing length 10.0-10.5 mm. Black; with the following parts orange-red to red: dorsal pronotal spot, apical border of T1, and subapical border of T2, S2 and T4 (absent in one female paratype); interantennal spot and post-ocular dot orange-yellow; fore tibia inside brown. Wings lightly infuscate. Hairs pale brown; mesosoma with sparse lengthened hairs, in addition to short pubescence.

Head. Clypeus sparsely punctate-puncticulate to foveolate-puncticulate, apex broadly and moderately emarginated, evenly convex, with apical teeth, and slightly reflexed anteriorly (Fig. 3); frons and vertex foveolate-puncticulate, major punctures closely spaced; interantennal carina prominent; cephalic fovea somewhat larger than post ocellus, and foveal interval somewhat less than postocellar distance, cephalic foveal carina indistinct (Fig. 5); occipital carina without submedial incisions.

Mesosoma. Pronotum, except anterior face, foveolate-puncticulate, major punctures closely spaced, more or less costate laterally, anterior face smooth and polish, pronotal carina complete, humeral angle barely projected. Mesoscutum foveolate-puncticulate, major punctures widely spaced medially, moderately spaced anteriorly and posteriorly; notaulus complete; mesepisternum with epicnemial carina dorsally obsolete and ventrally faint (Fig. 6); anterior margin of pseudosternum without high reflexed margin; mesoscutellum foveolate-puncticulate, similar to those on mesoscutum. Dorsal mesepisternum sparsely foveolate-puncticulate, space between punctures smooth and polish, ventral mesepisternum sparsely foveolate-puncticulate, major punctures widely spaced, minor punctures obscure, space between punctures alutaceous; dorsal mesepimeron sparsely foveolate, space between punctures smooth and polish, ventral mesepimeron dull, and coarsely alutaceous. Metanotum foveolate-puncticulate dorsally, obscurely puncticulate ventrally, metanotum nearly vertical, dorsal surface narrow. Propodeal dorsum and posterior face coarse, areolate-rugose, propodeal superior shelf moderately long (2.2 times trans-scutal sulcus), lateral face of propodeum striately rugose ventrally, areolate-rugose dorsally, propodeal submedian carina present ventrally, faint and irregular dorsally (Fig. 10), propodeal valvula short posteriorly, fused distally to submarginal carina, propodeal orifice somewhat elliptic dorsally (Fig. 10).

Metasoma. Metasomal tergum 1 with postcarinal area foveolate-puncticulate to foveate-puncticulate (Figs 7-8), postcarinal length of T1/apical width=0.73, carinal width/apical width=0.79, postcarinal sides slightly convergent toward base, transverse carina laterally faint (Fig. 7), longitudinal furrow narrowly and shallowly depressed, with deeper narrow medial sulcus (Fig. 8), apical margin indistinctly depressed; S1 flat and without basal carina anteriorly, areolate-rugose medially and posteriorly, without median longitudinal ridge, and lateral oblique ridges strongly prominent (Fig. 9); segment 2 foveolate-puncticulate basally, major punctures more closely spaced; T3-5 sparsely punctate-puncticulate to foveolate-puncticulate, major punctures subapically; segment 2 except base and S3-6 with evenly minor punctures.

Male. Body length 7.5 mm, forewing length 8.5 mm. Sculpture, punctuation, hairs, and coloration similar to female except as follows: clypeus entirely light yellow to yellow (Fig. 4), except apical margin brown red; antennal segments 3-13 pale brown ventrally (Fig. 2); dorsal pronotal spot, apical border of T1, and subapical border of both T2 and S2 orange-red; mesepisternum dorsally with small yellow spot; fore tibia inside pale brown, fore tarsus brown apically; antennal tyloids absent, segment 13 length/width=1.56 (Fig. 2).

Distribution.

China (Yunnan).

Remarks.

This species is similar to Symmorphus (Symmorphus) sichuanensis by S1 without basal carina, T1 with transverse carina laterally faint to obsolete, and mesepisternum with epicnemial carina dorsally obsolete; but can be easily distinguished from the similar species and other members of the genus by the combination of the following characters: body moderately long; in both female and male, dorsal pronotal spot orange-red (Figs 1, 5); in female, mesepisternum with epicnemial carina ventrally faint; in male, antenna without tyloids (Fig. 2), and subapical border of both T2 and S2 orange-red.

Etymology.

It is named after the type locality of the species, Tianchi National Nature Reserve in Dali city, Yunnan of China.