Aplochares Banks, 1944

Pitts, James P. & Sadler, Emily, 2017, Association and description of the male of Aplochares imitator (Smith) (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae), Zootaxa 4300 (1), pp. 135-141 : 136

Aplochares Banks

Aplochares Banks, 1944 , Zoologica, 29: 111 [Type species: Pompilus imitator Smith, 1864 , monobasic].— Banks, 1947, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 99: 411–413.

Batozonoides Haupt, 1950, Explor. Parc Nat. Albert, miss. DeWitte, 69: 51 [Type species: Batozonoides bruneipes Haupt, 1950 (= Aplochares adrastes Banks, 1947 )]. Synonymized by Evans (1966).

Generic characters. Length 9–16 mm. Coloration ( Figs 1, 3 , 10, 11 ). Integument black to dark brown, covered with light brown, cinereous, or silvery pubescence; male with white to yellowish stripe on posterior margin of pronotum and with yellowish stripe between two dorsal rows of tibial spines on hind leg ( Fig. 5 ). Female with head and mesosoma having limited amount of erect setae and propodeum laterally with fine setae; metasomal venter and last two terga with strong setae, but none thick, bristle-like. Male with head and mesosoma having more erect setae especially on front and vertex, and posteriorly on propodeum.

Head. Mandible of female tridentate with two small teeth on inner margin; bidentate in male. Malar space short. Clypeus large ( Figs 2, 4 ), somewhat elevated, much wider than lower front in female, slightly so in male; apical margin of clypeus with sharply defined median emargination in female ( Fig. 2 ); truncate to rounded in male ( Fig. 4 ). Labrum apex emarginate with only extreme apex visible. Palpal formula 6:4. Mentum with medial longitudinal carina, covered in dense short setae that are longer anteromedially; posterior margin bituberculate, each tubercle located halfway between lateral margin and midline. Antennae long and slender, LA 3 in female much exceeding UID, LA 3 in male more than 2× as long as thick, more than 2× as long as segment two.

Mesosoma. In lateral profile, short, dorsum strongly arched ( Figs 1, 3 , 10, 11 ). Pronotum short, sloping steeply, without dorsal surface, posterior margin arcuate ( Figs 1, 3 , 10, 11 ). Scutellum prominent; postnotum narrow transverse band that narrows laterally. Propodeum sloping strongly for most of its length, without distinct dorsal face in female, with smooth contours; in male with more distinct dorsal face ( Figs 1, 3 , 10, 11 ). Legs strongly spinose ( Figs 1, 3, 5 , 10, 11 ); tibia and tarsus with long spines; spines of tibia and tarsal segments with associated apical grooves, more obvious in male; female with tarsal comb of four spines and also with strong spines on outer side of front tibia; female with apical tarsal segments with median row of spines beneath and with unusually long lateral spines at apex of penultimate tarsal segments that are over half length of apical tarsal segment; male lacking tarsal comb, lacking spines beneath apical tarsal segments, and with normal length spines at apex of penultimate tarsal segments, but with strong spines on outer side of front tibia. Hind tibial brush continuous, but narrowing just prior to apex. Female claws dentate; male claws bifid with inner ray close to outer ray; apical segment of front tarsus of male symmetrical, unmodified. Pulvillar pad of female large, with about 15–17 setae; pad of male smaller, with about 9–11 rays. Wings folding longitudinally at rest. Fore wing with stigma small, ~0.17× length of marginal cell measured on wing margin ( Figs 6, 7 ); marginal cell large, removed from wing tip by less than its own length; 3 SMCs present; both SMC2 and SMC3 wide above; third discoidal cell long, second recurrent vein arising much more than half way out on subdiscoidal vein; hind wing with anal vein arching up to meet median vein at or slightly before cubital fork; anal lobe small, 0.3–0.4 as long as submedian cell.

Genitalia. Male subgenital plate moderately broad ( Fig. 8 ), simple, genitalia with parameres broad and strongly setose at basal half, apical half very slender and setose, digiti expanded and setose apically, parapenial lobes simple, nearly straight, slightly exceeding slender aedeagus ( Fig. 9 ).

Distribution. Neotropics from Honduras south to Brazil.

Included species. Aplochares imitator , the type species, and A. adrastes Banks.

Remarks. This genus seems to be closely related to Agenioideus Ashmead (1902) , but can be differentiated from it by the presence in the females of the large pulvillar pad, elongate lateral spines on the penultimate tarsal segment, and the clypeal emargination, and by the presence in the males of bifid claws.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. Aplochares imitator; Fig. 1. Habitus, female; Fig. 2. Habitus, male; Fig. 3. Face, female; Fig. 4. Face, male; and Fig 5. Mesosoma and legs, male, dorsal view.

FIGURES 10 – 11. Aplochares adrastes; Fig. 10. Habitus, female; and Fig. 11. Habitus, male.

FIGURES 6 – 7. Aplochares imitator; Fig. 6. Wings, female; and Fig. 7. Wings, male.

FIGURES 8 – 9. Aplochares imitator; Fig. 8. Male, subgenital plate; and Fig. 9. Male genitalia, dorsal right, ventral left.