Triraphis melasops Valerio

Valerio, Alejandro A. & Shaw, Scott R., 2015, Thirteen new Costa Rican species belonging to the genus Triraphis Ruthe (Braconidae: Rogadinae) with their host records, Zootaxa 3904 (4), pp. 501-540 : 523-524

Triraphis melasops Valerio , sp. nov.

Figures 59–64 , 108 .

Description. Female. Body color: Body yellow with antennal first 17 flagellomeres black as scape and pedicel; head dark brownish yellow/black as basal two segments of palpi, remainder yellow; second metasomal tergum whitish yellow. Fore wing: 1 – 1A brownish yellow as M+CU distal 2/3, remainder yellow as C+SC+R; hind wing: union of veins 1M, r – m, 2M brownish yellow, remainder yellow. Wings hyaline. Body length = 8.24 mm; fore wing length = 7.33 mm.

Head: Head height/head length = 1.13; maximum height of compound eye/maximum width of compound eye = 1.55; distance between basal edges of tentorial pits and the basal area of toruli/Maximum width of face measured at dorsal edge of clypeus = 0.97; width of vertex/minimal distance between toruli and the medial ocellus = 2.0; width of oral opening/height of oral opening = 1.8; distance between tentorial pits = 0.27 mm; minimal distance between external edge of tentorial pits and compound eye = 0.14 mm. Antenna with more than 35 flagellomeres, all longer than wide; malar space as wide as basal width of mandible; occipital carina present and divided dorsally, not fused with hypostomal carina, clearly separated; median ocellus as big as Lateral ocellus; space between lateral ocellus black; ocell-ocular distance 1/3 Lateral ocellus width.

Mesosoma: Length of mesosoma in dorsal view/width of mesosoma = 2.88; height of mesosoma = 1.76 mm; propleuron dorso-lateral area basally with defined colliculate sculpturing, remainder nitid; notauli punctulate, less defined medially; medial longitudinal pit present, deep and without longitudinal punctate sculpturing; remainder mesonotum nitid; sternauli with finely close striate sculpturing present, union with prepectal carina absent, area below with less defined colliculate sculpturing; mesopleuron immaculate except dorso-lateral area with few rugose sculpturing present; metapleuron granulate, ventral edge with rugose sculpturing present; propodeum with confused colliculate sculpturing, carinae absent except lateral areas of propodeum with a small segment of longitudinal carina; areola absent as ventral tubercles; spiracles sub-circular.

Legs: basal lobe of hind tarsal claws elongate and acute at tip.

Wings: fore wing: 1Cub/RS+Ma = 1.12; 3RSa/1RS = 3.56; pterostigma length/width = 2.75; r = 0.41 mm. hind wing: 1M/r – m = 2.31; 1A/cu – a = 1.73; m+cu = 1.07 mm; m+cu interstitial with 2RS; 2RS straight; angle at union of veins 2RS – 2M acute; pterostigma yellow and elongate.

Metasoma: Length of first metasomal tergum/width of first metasomal tergum = 1.39; length of second metasomal tergum/width of second metasomal tergum = 0.84; length of third metasomal tergum/width of third metasomal tergum = 0.34; basal width of first metasomal tergum = 0.56 mm; hypopygium = 0.78 mm. first metasomal tergum dorso – basal triangular area of first metasomal tergum close with carinae present, medial carina cristate; first metasomal tergum lineate sculpturing more spaced than second metasomal tergum sculpturing; third metasomal tergum lineate sculpturing finer, closer, denser and less conspicuous than second metasomal tergum sculpturing, not reaching third metasomal tergum distal 1/3; fourth metasomal tergum without fine lineate sculpturing at lateral areas of tergum.

Male. Unknown.

Female holotype. Costa Rica, Guanacaste, ACG, P.N. Santa Rosa, sector Horizontes, Vado Río Esteron, 17/vi/ 1995, Col. D.H. Janzen. Holotype deposited at the RMSEL.

Distribution. The altitudinal distribution of this species is Pacific lowlands. The type of forest present at site of collecting was tropical dry forest.

Biology. Specimen reared from Vipsania rosabella (Limacodidae) feeding on Thouinidium decandrum (Sapindaceae) .

Comments. Holotype specimen with antennae broken; fore wing basal 1/3 with a light yellow color; basal area of notauli nitid. Similar to T. ikelosops , T. defectus and T. willei by the head light brown, the acute angle at union of veins 2RS – 2M and the union of veins 1M, r – m, 2M brownish yellow, but can be identified by the ratio of measurements of the first metasomal tergum (length/width) for been bigger than 1.0x, the carinae and granulate or colliculate sculpturing on propodeum are absent.

Etymology. This species is named for the black and dark brown head; “ melasops ” in Greek means black face.

Figures

FIGURE 59 – 64. Triraphis melasops, 59, dorsal habitus; 60, lateral habitus; 61, mesosoma, dorsal view; 62, mesosoma, lateral view; 63, head, anterior view; 64, metasoma, dorsal view. Scale bar in millimeters.

FIGURE 101 – 108. Wing venation and wing pattern for: 101, Triraphis balteus; 102, T. fusciceps (Cresson); 103, T. chinusi; 104, T. guarusa; 105, T. cortazari; 106, T. ikelops; 107, T. defectus and 108, T. melasops.