Aphanogmus yala, Salden & Peters, 2023

Salden, Tobias & Peters, Ralph S., 2023, Afrotropical Ceraphronoidea (Insecta: Hymenoptera) put back on the map with the description of 88 new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 884 (1), pp. 1-386 : 60-63

Aphanogmus yala sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1B202DCC-63FF-4B10-B62F-30CC49F9D32E

Fig. 15

Diagnosis

Mesoscutum width 1.65 × mesoscutellum width; Weber length 1.64 × mesoscutum width. Male genitalia: harpe finger-shaped apicoventrally in ventral and dorsal view and broadened in lateral view; harpe/ gvc index 0.32; ventromedial margins of harpes indistinct at distoventral margin of gvc, ventromedial margin of harpe convex and harpes overlapping in basal half, concave in apical half and harpes touching in apical part; ventral margin of harpe straight, dorsal margin indistinct, lateral margin slightly convex and oriented distomedially in basal half, straight and oriented distomedially in apical half; Weber length 2.88 × genital length; genitalia moderately sclerotized with strongest sclerotization at distal margin of harpe.

Etymology

The species is named after the Yala River close to the type locality.

Material examined

Holotype

KENYA • ♂; Western Province, Kakamega Forest; 00°12′09 N, 34°52′6 E; 1553 m a.s.l.; 2 May 2007; F. Hita Garcia leg.; Transect 28; primary rain forest; Winkler leaf litter extraction; ZFMK; ZFMK- HYM-00037037 .

Description

Male

BODY LENGTH. 0.81 mm.

COLOUR. Head brown, mesosoma brown, metasoma brown except anterior third lighter; scape and pedicel light brown, flagellum light brown; legs brown except joints and tarsi lighter; fore wing venation light brown, fore and hind wing disc hyaline and weakly melanized.

ANTENNA. 11-segmented, flagellomeres trapezoidal; scape 4.0× as long as pedicel, scape longer than F1 and F2 combined, F1 2.4× as long as wide, F1 1.8 × as long as pedicel, F1 1.4 × as long as F2, F1 shorter than F7 and F8 combined, F1 shorter than F9, F6 1.8× as long as wide, F6 shorter than F7 and F8 combined, F6 1.2× as high as F9; numerous distinctly small multiporous plates on flagellomeres, sensillae on flagellomeres erect and longer than width of flagellomeres.

HEAD. Head width 1.19 × head height; head width 1.58 × interorbital space; maximum eye diameter 1.25 × minimum eye diameter; head height 1.60 × maximum eye diameter. Dorsal margin of occipital carina ventral to dorsal margin of lateral ocellus in lateral view; preoccipital furrow indistinct; preoccipital carina present. OOL:POL:LOL 1.00:1.65:0.87; OOL 1.44 × lateral ocellus diameter. White, thick setae on upper face absent; supraclypeal depression present; lateral margin of torulus slightly raised; intertorular carina present; posterolateral processes of gena absent.

MESOSOMA, METASOMA. Mesosoma compressed laterally. Head width 1.23 × mesosoma width; Weber length 288 µm. Mesoscutum densely setose, setae curved backwards; median mesoscutal sulcus absent; interaxillar sulcus superficial, scutoscutellar sulcus not adjacent to transscutal articulation, scutoscutellar sulcus straight; dorsal axillar area setose, setae curved backwards; mesoscutellum setose, setae curved backwards or straight. Mesoscutum width 1.65× mesoscutellum width; posterior mesoscutal width 1.29 × mesoscutellum width; mesoscutellum length 1.71 × mesoscutellum width; mesoscutellum length 1.32 × posterior mesoscutal width; Weber length 1.64 × mesoscutum width; Weber length 1.59 × mesoscutellum length. Anteromedian projection of the metanoto-propodeo-metapecto-mesopectal complex absent; mesometapleural sulcus absent; posterior propodeal projection absent; posterior mesosomal comb absent. Basal transverse carina of petiole (on syntergum) absent; longitudinal carinae on syntergum absent; translucent patches on metasoma absent.

FORE WING. Length 2.70 × width; stigmal vein as long as pterostigma marginal length.

MALE GENITALIA. Genital length 100 µm; Weber length 2.88× genital length; gvc width 56 µm; genital length 1.78× gvc width; gvc width less than three quarters of gvc length; gvc width 1.17× distal gvc width. Proximodorsal margin of gvc strongly convex; distodorsal margin of gvc descending proximomedially ( Fig.15C );proximoventral margin of gvc concave;distoventral margin of gvc descending proximomedially ( Fig. 15A ); ventral area of gvc straight; dorsal area of gvc convex ( Fig. 15B ); proximolateral margin of gvc convex and strongly ascending ventrally; distolateral margin of gvc convex, more strongly descending dorsally ( Fig. 15B ). Harpe finger-shaped apicoventrally in ventral and dorsal view and broadened in lateral view; harpe/gvc index 0.32; lateral articulation site of harpe with gvc not flush ( Fig. 15A, C ); ventral margin of harpe straight, dorsal margin indistinct half ( Fig. 15B ), lateral margin slightly convex and oriented distomedially in basal half, straight and oriented distomedially in apical, widest point of harpe at lateral articulation site with gvc ( Fig. 15A, C ); ventromedial margins of harpes indistinct at distoventral margin of gvc, ventromedial margin of harpe convex and harpes overlapping in basal half, concave in apical half and harpes touching in apical part ( Fig. 15C ), apex of harpe pointed, oriented distomedially ( Fig. 15A, C ). Harpe with at least one lateral seta restricted to basal third, longest lateral seta more than three quarters as long as harpe, lateral seta oriented distolaterally and distoventrally; harpe with at least one ventral seta restricted to apical half, longest ventral seta more than half as long as harpe length, ventral seta oriented distolaterally and distoventrally; harpe with at least two apical setae, longest apical setae one quarter as long as harpe, apical setae oriented distodorsally, distomedially and distoventrally; median setae indistinct. Aedeagus + gonossiculus indistinct. Genitalia moderately sclerotized with strongest sclerotization at apical margin of harpe.

Female

Unknown.

Variation

Unknown.

Biology

Host unknown, specimen collected from leaf litter.

Distribution

Afrotropical: Kenya.

Remarks

Comparison with similar species

The male genitalia of A. yala sp. nov. are similar to those of A. isiukhu sp. nov. in having the apical margins of the harpes showing the strongest sclerotization. However, apart from this specific similarity, the two species are easily distinguishable (e.g., Weber length 1.64 × mesoscutum width in A. yala and Weber length 1.29× mesoscutum width in A. isiukhu , mesoscutum width 1.65 × mesoscutellum width in A. yala and mesoscutum width 1.82 × mesoscutellum width in A. isiukhu , genital length 1.78 × gvc width in A. yala and genital length 1.45–1.57 × gvc width in A. isiukhu , and ventromedial margin of harpe convex in basal half and concave in apical half, with harpes overlapping in basal half and apices of harpes touching in A. yala and ventromedial margin of harpe straight and slightly converging and touching distomedially in basal two thirds and straight and slightly diverging distolaterally in apical third in A. isiukhu ).

Condition of type material

Holotype is immaculate.

Taxa in open nomenclature

In the following, four additional potentially new species of the Aphanogmus clavicornis species group are described but not named.

Figures

Fig. 15. Holotype of Aphanogmus yala sp. nov. (ZFMK-HYM-00037037). A–C. Male genitalia in ventral (A), lateral (B) and dorsal (C) views. D. Habitus in lateral view.