Eupelmus (Macroneura) balcanicus, Fusu, 2017

Fusu, Lucian, 2017, An integrative taxonomic study of European Eupelmus (Macroneura) (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Eupelmidae), with a molecular and cytogenetic analysis of Eupelmus (Macroneura) vesicularis: several species hiding under one name for 240 years, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 181 (3), pp. 519-603 : 561-562

EUPELMUS (MACRONEURA) BALCANICUS SP. NOV.

FIGS 44 , 60 , 69, 78 (♀)

Etymology: From the type locality situated in the Balkan Peninsula.

Description: Female. Length = 2–3 mm. Body almost uniformly dark brown, with faint metallic luster ( Fig. 44 ). Head brownish-black with dark green or bluish-green and violet lusters to almost entirely dark violet; vertex and parascrobal area with coppery or bronze metallic luster, lower face and gena with bronze-green to coppery-red metallic luster, interantennal area frequently violet and scrobal depression sometimes golden-green; frons usually more or less distinctly tricoloured with dark green luster along inner orbits (except immediately near them where narrowly dark violet) and mesally coppery to dark violet below level of anterior ocellus. Antenna with scape yellow to brownish-yellow with faint metallic luster on outer surface, pedicel and flagellum dark brown with green luster on pedicel and variably distinct bronze to violet lusters on basal funiculars. Mesosoma similar in colour to head, mostly dark brown with slight dark greenish, bronze, and violet lusters under some angles of light; mesoscutal plate moderately setose with setation progressively sparser posteriorly and broadly asetose in front of scutellum, dark bronze-green, and concave part with a large triangular violet spot with variably wide blue to greenish-blue outer borders and posteriorly with variably extensively bronze to golden luster partially masking the violet colour; basally the spot about as wide as the base of mesoscutal plate and reaching with its pointed apex the anterior V-shaped sculptured region ( Fig. 60 ); axillae uniformly dark yellowish-brown to dark brown with faint green luster anteriorly, only slightly contrasting with the dark brown to greenish-black scutellum ( Fig. 60 ); scutellar-axillar complex with brownish hair-like setae except setae slightly lanceolate and lighter toward frenal line. Front leg mostly dark brown, except coxa with violet and coppery to green metallic luster and knee, apex and dorsal edge of tibia, and basal tarsomeres pale. Middle leg similar in colour to front leg except coxa less metallic, apex of tibia more broadly pale with distal third to distal half whitish-yellow and anterodorsal angle of femur with a whitish spot or femur more extensively pale along anterior edge of dorsal and ventral surfaces; mesotarsal pegs dark. Hind leg with similar colour pattern as front leg except knee at most obscurely lighter in colour and tibia paler along ventral surface. Metasoma with short and very sparse hair-like setae, on Gt2–Gt4 distance between sockets of two adjacent setae about equal to or greater than seta length ( Fig. 69 ); Gt1 dorsally asetose or with three to nine setae in single row; dark brown except Gt1 translucent in distal half with the underlying yellowish-white internal structures visible to variable extent and dark basally with strong greenish-blue with violet to golden-green metallic luster; Gt2 sometimes also extensively metallic dorsally. Ovipositor sheaths dark brown in about apical third, along ventral margin and at extreme base, with a yellowish elongate spot in basal half.

Head in lateral view hemispherical, in dorsal view 2–2.1× as broad as long, in frontal view 1.1–1.2× as broad as high. Vertex finely coriaceous, appearing shiny under low magnification, frons mostly coriaceous-imbricate to slightly reticulate. Pedicel plus flagellum 1.15–1.4× head width. Pronotal ridge with erect setae shorter than pronotal collar. Mesoscutal plate with flat, V-shaped anterior region differentiated by minute reticulate sculpture and posteromedial region mostly smooth mesally and shiny or with almost effaced sculpture and shallowly concave. Scutellum and axillae weakly convex. Acropleuron imbricate to slightly reticulate, with microsculptured region medially. Fore wing base extended to near petiole; basal cell densely setose dorsally; apical part normally abruptly bent upward, comparatively long, 1.7–2.2× as long as basal part, with marginal and postmarginal veins extended along straight leading margin and without a trace of the stigmal vein, posterior and leading margins obliquely angled to rounded apex (cf. Figs 111–113 ). Hind wing concealed beneath fore wing and apically reflexed. Middle leg with row of five to seven mesotibial apical pegs; mesotarsus with asymmetrical peg pattern on basitarsus, anterior margin with 8–12 pegs differentiated into two medially overlapping rows and posterior margin with two to four (usually three) pegs within basal half and with or without one peg apically, second tarsomere with one to three pegs on anterior margin and one peg on posterior margin, and third and fourth tarsomeres with one apical peg on either side ( Fig. 78 ). Metasoma ovoidal and comparatively narrow, 1.8–3.0× as long as wide, Gt5 alutaceous-granular. Syntergum and anal plate forming truncate to somewhat obliquely inclined surface above ovipositor sheaths and gaster extending to about apex of second valvifer. Ovipositor sheaths 0.5–0.6× as long as metatibia, 0.3–0.4× as long as metasoma, and 1.1 × as long as head.

Male. In NHMV there are two males associated with nine females, all reared from Neaylax salviae (Giraud) ( Hymenoptera , Cynipidae ) at the beginning of the 20th century by Metkovich (presumably in Dalmatia, Croatia, see Appendix 1). They are fragmentary and moulded, but seem indistinguishable from the males of Eupelmus barai .

Comparative diagnosis: Females of E. balcanicus are most similar to those of E. barai because of their dark colour, presence of a violet spot on the mesoscutal plate and long fore wing rudiment, but E. balcanicus differs in having the metasoma much less setose (cf. Figs 69 with 70), and Gt1 asetose or with only three to nine setae in single row. Mesoscutum also less setose, broadly asetose in front of scutellum (cf. Figs 60 with 61), and the sculpture of the mesoscutal posteromedial region and vertex smoother so that the vertex appears shiny ( Fig. 60 ). The colour of the mesoscutal spot is also somewhat different between females of the two species, but this is difficult to quantify. In E. balcanicus , the violet colour is sometimes replaced by a strong bronze to golden luster, such that the violet colour remains as a narrow strip between the bluish outer margin of the spot and its golden central part. In E. barai , this golden luster is much more reduced, being almost completely absent from most specimens, although rarely it is similarly developed as for E. balcanicus . The mesotarsus of E. balcanicus tends to have fewer pegs than in E. barai , with usually three pegs on the basal half of the posterior margin compared to four pegs in E. barai . Females also resemble E. muellneri because of their dark gaster with sparse hairs and comparatively long ovipositor sheaths, and specimens with broken fore wing rudiments are superficially similar to the latter species. See also under comparative diagnosis in E. barai and E. messene .

Biology: Reared from Neaylax salviae (Giraud) (see description of the male).

Distribution: Croatia and Montenegro ( Fig. 124 )

Type material examined: Holotype ♀: MONTENEGRO: KraŠići, Boka Kotor, 28.vi.1982 (Z. Bouček) ( BMNH) . Paratypes: 4♀, same data except 26 July 1982 (1♀), 19 September 1984 (2♀), and 26 July 1987 (1♀, DNA: P. MN 01 f) ( BMNH) . CROATIA: Spalato [Split]: 1♀, 22 June [19]14, (Marian) ( NHMV) . Mts Velebit : 3♀, Sveti Juraj, 400 m, 7 August 1999 (Rozner) ( HNHM, 1♀ AICF with permission from HNHM). 25 km SE Dubrovnik, Poljice environs : 2♀, 26 July 2005 (JanŠta) (DNA: b.CR 05, b.CR 06) ( CNC) .

Figures

Figure 124. Distribution map of the species in the Eupelmus vesicularis complex: E. vesicularis (green squares), E. messene (yellow stars), E. balcanicus (blue triangles), E. barai (white circles). Insert: enlarged map of the area with the most dense records (Eastern Austria, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova).

Figures 43–50. Habitus of Eupelmus (Macroneura) species: E. messene ♀ (43), E. balcanicus ♀ holotype (44), E. vesicularis ♀ (45) and ♂ (46), E. muellneri ♀ (47) and ♂ (48), E. vladimiri ♀ (49) and ♂ (50). Scale bars – 1 mm.

Figures 56–67. Mesosoma in dorsal view in Eupelmus (Macroneura) females: E. aseculatus (56), E. rameli (57), E. seculatus (58), E. falcatus (59), E. balcanicus (60), E. barai (61), E. vesicularis clade B from Canada (62), E. vesicularis from Sweden (63), E. messene (64), E. impennis (65), E. maculatus (66), E. vladimiri (67). Scale bars – 0.2 mm.

Figures 68–87. Metasoma and mesotarsus in Eupelmus (Macroneura) females: E. rameli (68, 77), E. balcanicus (69, 78), E.barai from Romania (70, 79),E. barai from Spain (71, 82), E.messene (72, 80), E.vesicularis from Sweden (73, 83),E.vesicularis from Slovenia (74), E. vesicularis clade B from Canada (75), E. seculatus (76), E. messene (lectotype of Eupelminus coleopterophagus) (81), E. impennis (84), E. falcatus (85), E. muellneri (86), E. vladimiri (87). Scale bars – 0.2 mm.

Figures 111–123. Details of Eupelmus (Macroneura) morphology. Fore wing rudiment in females: E. barai (111–115), E. rameli (116), E. aseculatus (117), E. messene (118–121). Antenna in males: E. barai (122) and E. vesicularis (123). Scale bar – 0.2 mm. wbL – fore wing base length, waL – fore wing apical part length. Numbers by the wings indicate the size of the specimen.