Bassus guangxiensis Tang & Chen, 2017

Tang, Pu, Van Achterberg, Cornelis & Chen, Xue-Xin, 2017, The genus Bassus Fabricius, 1804 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Agathidinae) in China, with description of three new species, Journal of Natural History 51 (45 - 46), pp. 2745-2758 : 2752-2753

Bassus guangxiensis Tang & Chen , sp. nov.

( Figure 3 )

Description

Holotype, ♀, length of body 7.6 mm, of fore wing 6.6 mm, of ovipositor sheath 6.0 mm.

Head. Antennae broken, with more than 24 segments, length of third segment 1.3 times fourth segment; third and fourth segments 3.7 and 3.4 times their width, respectively; length of maxillary palp 0.9 times height of head; malar space 2.9 times as long as basal width of mandible; temple short, in dorsal view length of eye 2.7 times temple; ocelli in low triangle, POL:OD:OOL = 9:6:14; face with distinct fine punctures; frons shiny, smooth; vertex and temple shiny with sparse minute punctures.

Mesosoma. Length of mesosoma 1.5 times its height; subpronope shallow; pronotum largely smooth laterally, with sparse fine punctures dorsally; area near lateral carina of mesoscutum sparsely crenulate; lateral and middle lobes of mesoscutum sparsely and distinctly punctate, uneven and smooth posteriorly; notauli complete, moderately crenulate; scutellar sulcus 0.7 times as long as dorsal face of scutellum and with three carinae; scutellum slightly convex and distinctly narrowed with lateral carina, shiny with sparse fine punctures, its subposterior crest curved; precoxal sulcus shallow, moderately crenulate; mesopleuron below precoxal sulcus with dense and rather coarse punctures; mesopleuron above precoxal sulcus largely smooth; metapleuron with distinct dense punctures; propodeum closely reticulate-rugose; propodeal spiracle small, as long as wide.

Wings. Fore wing: second submarginal cell trapezoid; vein SR1 straight; r:3-SR+SR1 = 5:66. Hind wing: vein M+CU 0.7 times as long as vein 1-M.

Legs. Length of hind femur, tibia and basitarsus 3.7, 7.4 and 9.6 times their width, respectively; hind femur (as remainder of legs) with bristly setae; length of outer and inner spur of middle tibia 0.3 and 0.4 times middle basitarsus, respectively; apex of outer side of hind tibia with a cluster of eight pegs; length of outer and inner spur of hind tibia 0.25 and 0.4 times hind basitarsus, respectively; tarsal claws without lobe.

Metasoma. Length of first tergite 1.9 times its apical width; first tergite sparsely and rather coarsely longitudinally striate, dorsal carinae nearly complete; second tergite largely smooth, but transverse groove and area behind it finely striate; remainder of metasoma smooth; ovipositor sheath 0.9 times as long as fore wing, slender.

Colour. Orange brown; propodeum, first metasomal, third to eighth metasomal segments, middle coxa, middle trochantellus, basal of middle femur, hind coxa, hind trochantellus and hind femur black; hind tibial spurs brown; second tergite ivory dorsally and first to third tergites white ventrally; hind tibia and tarsus dark brown, except yellow basal ring; veins and pterostigma dark brown; apical 0.4 of fore wing distinctly infuscate and remainder of wings slightly infuscate or subhyaline.

Material examined

Holotype, ♀, China, Guangxi Prov., Jiuwandashan Pingying , 25.05N 108.73E, 30.VII.2003, Wang Yiping, No. 20,037,500 ( ZJUH).

Distribution

China (Guangxi).

Biology

Unknown.

Etymology

Name derived from the name of province where the holotype was collected.

Diagnosis

This new species is very similar to B. albifasciatus (Watanabe) , but differs in having the notauli moderately crenulate (rather narrowly crenulate in B. albifasciatus ); the mesopleuron below the precoxal sulcus with dense and rather coarse punctures (with sparse fine punctures); and the precoxal sulcus shallow and shorter (distinct and 0.8 times as long as mesopleuron).

Figures

Figure 3. Bassus guangxiensis Tang & Chen, sp. nov. (a) Habitus, lateral aspect; (b) mesosoma, dorsal aspect; (c) fore wing; (d) mesosoma, lateral aspect; (e) metasoma, dorsal aspect; (f) head, lateral aspect; (g) head, dorsal aspect; (h) head, front aspect; (i) hind femur.