Glyptapanteles clanisae, Gupta, Ankita, 2013

Gupta, Ankita, 2013, Three new species of reared parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) from India, Zootaxa 3701 (3), pp. 365-380 : 369-374

Glyptapanteles clanisae sp. nov.

Plates.III, IV & V.

Female. Body length = 2.4–2.65 mm.

Description. Holotype. Female. Body length = 2.4 mm. Body colour: Black. Fore, mid and hind legs light yellow except coxae and tarsal claws dark brownish black. Trochantellus with brown infuscation. Hind femur light yellow, fore and mid femur and tibia yellow, hind tibia yellow (except light brown patch at extreme apical end just above the tibial spur), hind tarsi with brown infuscation on apical half of basitarsus and tarsal segments (2–5), all tarsal claws dark brown. All tibial spurs yellowish white. Scape yellow with brown infuscation apically and on apical edge. Pedicel light brown. Metasoma black. Antenna brownish, palpi dirty yellow, labrum brown yellow, mandibles brown with dark brown edges, tegula dark brown black, ovipositor dark brown. Scape yellow (except apical edge brownish black), pedicel brownish yellow and remainder of antenna brownish; ocelli light brown; tarsal claws brownish black.Wings hyaline, fore wing veins translucent; dark brown pterostigma with a basal hyaline patch and C+SC+R very light brown; hind wing veins translucent.

Head. Black. Face and eyes fully setose with medium density except on clypeus and ocellar region. Head height /width = 0.86; compound eye height = 0.38 mm; intertentorial pit distance = 0.17 mm; tentorial pit distance (0.17)/distance tentorial pit to compound eye (0.06)= 2.8; width of face at dorsal clypeal edge = 0.28–0.29 mm; clypeus width/height = 1.9; inter ocellar distance = 0.11 mm; length of first flagellomere = 0.19 mm; width of first flagellomere = 0.05 mm; length of second flagellomere = 0.19 mm; width of second flagellomere = 0.05 mm; terminal flagellomere length = 0.11 mm; penultimate flagellomere length = 0.08 mm; terminal flagellomere length/ width = 2.2; malar space height/basal width of mandible = 0.59; ocell-ocular distance/lateral ocelli distance = 1.1.

Clypeus with fine sculpture; face with shallow punctations, frons laterally with fine punctate sculpture and dense near the scrobes, vertex shiny with fine sculpture.

Mesosoma . Mesosoma length = 0.72 mm; mesosoma length/width = 0.78. Mesonotum with dense punctate sculpture that almost reaches the scutellar groove; scuto-scutellar groove straight with 10 costulae, costulae smaller towards the lateral edges; scutellum medial area essentially nitid, scutellum lateral area with narrow costulate sculpture which elongates towards posterior edge; metanotum subrectangular; propodeum with lateral longitudinal carinae (diverging towards sides) present in the apical 1/3rd, areola absent; spiracles oval.

Hind femur length = 0.61 mm; hind femur length/width = 2.7; hind tibia length/hind femur length = 1.3.

Wings. Fore wing length = 2.7 mm; 1RS length = 0.10 mm; 1CUa length (0.13)/1CUb length (0.22) = 0.59; length RS+Ma = 0.37 mm; length M+CU = 0.9 mm; pterostigma length (0.27)/height (0.23) = 1.17. Hind wing: 1M length = 0.33 mm; 1M length/M+CU length (0.35) = 0.94; length r-m (0.16)/length cu-a (0.24) = 0.6; 1A length = 0.25 mm.

Metasoma. First tergum basal width = 0.21 mm; first tergum length (0.36)/distal width (0.09) = 4; second tergum length (0.14)/distal width (0.4) = 0.35; hypopygium length = 0.15 mm.

First metasomal tergum with deep dorsal concavity basally; widest pre-apically; almost parallel sided medially; apically narrower and curvaceous; shallow sculpture apically; fine transverse striations basally. Second metasomal tergum nitid; triangular; ovipositor short and stout, not exserted from hypopygium. Ovipositor sheaths broad in lateral view; hypopygium short in length, ovipositor sheath with setation all over except at both the extreme ends; setae long and scattered.

Male. Similar to female except for genitalia.

Distribution. India: Karnataka.

Material examined. Holotype, female on card, INDIA, Karnataka, Bangalore, 12°58’N 77°35’E, 22.xi.2011, emerged from cottony cocoon mass from parasitized caterpillar of Clanis phalaris Cramer larva ( Lepidoptera : Sphingidae ) on Pongamia pinnata (L.), leg. Venkatesh. Code NBAII/Micro/Gly/clan/2211. Paratypes six females and two males on card and two females, dissected, on slide, with same data as holotype. All types deposited in National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects (NBAII), Bangalore, India.

Hyperparasitoid. Eurytoma sp. ( Eurytomidae ) was also bred from C. phalaris larva along with G. clanisae sp. nov. Ten eurytomid wasps were recovered from one parasitized larva along with nearly 150 wasps of G. clanisae sp. nov.

Comments. The most distinctive character include hard mass of cocoons tightly webbed together with cottony fibers giving appearance of a cotton ball. One cocoon mass/caterpillar harbours nearly 300 wasps of G. clanisae sp. nov. when there is no case of hyperparasitism. However percentage of primary parasitism drops down to nearly half when hyperparasitoid Eurytoma sp. is present. Antenna with scape yellow, brown infuscation apically and on apical edge; scuto-scutellar groove distinctly crenulate with 9–10 deep costulae; all legs light yellow (except coxae and tarsal claws brownish). Hind tibia yellow (except light brown patch at extreme apical end just above the tibial spur), hind tarsi with brown infuscation on apical half of basitarsus and on tarsal segments (2–5), propodeum smooth and nitid with lateral longitudinal carinae diverging towards sides in apical 1/3rd, areola absent; spiracles conspicuously large and oval.

First metasomal tergum with deep dorsal concavity basally; widest pre-apically; almost parallel sided medially; apically narrower and curvaceous; with shallow sculpture apically; with fine transverse striations basally. Second metasomal tergum nitid; triangular; ovipositor short and stout, not exserted from hypopygium.

PLATE III. 8–13. Glyptapanteles clanisae sp. nov. (card mounted) (8) Head frontal view, female. (9) Mesosoma , female. (10) Propodeum and tergum I, II & part of III, female. (11) Full dorsal view, female. (12) Lateral view, female. (13) Larva of Clanis phalaris with the cottony cocoon mass of Glyptapanteles clanisae sp. nov.

PLATE IV. 14–19. Glyptapanteles clanisae sp. nov. (slide mounted) (14) Head frontal view, female. (15) Part of mesosoma dorsal view, female. (16) Propodeum, female. (17) Tergum I, II & part of III, female. (18) Fore wing, female. (19) Hind wing, female.

PLATE V. 20–27. Glyptapanteles clanisae sp. nov. (slide mounted) (20) Antenna, female. (21) Fore leg, female. (22) Mid leg, female. (23) Hind leg, female. (24) Metasoma, female. (25) Genitalia, female. (26) Genitalia, male. (27) Ovipositor.

Discussion. Glyptapanteles clanisae is compared with four closely allied Indian species viz., G. spodopterae , G. melanitisi , G. hypermnestrae , and G. bhupali . The types of G. hypermnestrae and specimens of G. spodopterae were examined. However, original description of G. melanitisi and G. bhupali was consulted as types could not be located.

Glyptapanteles clanisae is compared with the original description of G. spodopterae and it resembles in having a row of long hairs on basal half of hind wing but differs in having a weakly concave margin of vannal lobe (margin of vannal lobe smooth and convex in G. spodopterae ); mid femur entirely yellow (mid femur entirely black in G. spodopterae ); and first metasomal tergum with deep dorsal concavity having fine transverse striations basally and shallow sculpture apically (first metasomal tergum smooth and shiny in G. spodopterae ).

In G. melanitisi first tergum rugose and much narrower apically, and second metasomal tergum more rugulose and triangular in G. melanitisi (second tergum smooth and nitid in G. clanisae ).

In G. hypermnestrae first tergum almost smooth except for some very fine striations pre apically; apex of first tergite much wider, and second tergite smooth and subrectangular (second tergite smooth, shiny and triangular in G. clanisae ).

Glyptapanteles clanisae differs from G. bhupali in having propodeum smooth and shiny with shallow lateral longitudinal carinae diverging laterally, areola absent; spiracles conspicuously large and oval (propodeum more rugose and sculptured with median carina, spiracles small and oval, first tergite rugose-reticulate and ovipositor sheath with few distal setae in G. bhupali ).

Host Record. Clanis phalaris Cramer larva (Fig. 13) ( Lepidoptera : Sphingidae ) on Pongamia pinnata (L.) (Leguminosae).

Etymology. Gender, neutral. This species is named after the host ‘ Clanis phalaris ’.