Pristomerus albescens (Morley, 1917)

Rousse, Pascal, Villemant, Claire & Seyrig, André, 2013, Ichneumonid wasps from Madagascar. VI. The genus Pristomerus (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Cremastinae), European Journal of Taxonomy 49, pp. 1-38 : 7-9

Pristomerus albescens (Morley, 1917)

Fig. 3

Pristomeridia albescens Morley, 1917: 224 .

Diagnosis

Small species; face pale yellow; head and mesosoma pale yellow with brown markings, metasoma dark brown, tergite 4 and following lighter, more or less yellow maculated; head strongly constricted behind eyes; face transverse and ventrally narrowed, densely punctate, clypeus smooth, narrow, convex in profile; mesoscutum densely punctate, scutellum moderately punctate with posterior face striate; area superomedia about 2 x longer than wide; female femoral tooth small, sometimes reduced to a small angulation; ovipositor moderately short, its tip straight; POL 1.9; OOL 1.1; CT 1.4; ML 0.5; OT 1.3; FFT 1.

Differential diagnosis

Closely related to P. moramora , but readily distinguishable by the straight tip of ovipositor, the transverse head and the relatively narrow clypeus.

Etymology

Euphonic arrangement of letters.

Material examined

Lectotype

SOUTH AFRICA: ♂ (SAM-HYM-P001199), Mfongosi, 28°43’ S, 30°48’ E, verbatim label data: “Mfongosi, Zulu L., W.E. Jones, April 1926 ”, metasoma, antennae and most of legs lacking.

Paralectotype

SOUTH AFRICA: ♀ (SAM-HYM-P001223), same label data.

Other material examined

MADAGASCAR: ♀ ( MNHN EY3550), Ampandradava, 23°50’ S, 44°52’ E, verbatim label data: “Madagascar, Bekily [Ampandrandava], reg. sud de l’île, VI.34”, complete; 5 ♀♀, 9 ♂♂ ( MNHN EY3551, EY8671–8683), same locality, Apr. 1934, May, Sep.-Nov. 1936, Jan., Mar. and May 1937, Sep. and Oct. 1938; 4 ♀♀, 8 ♂♂ ( MNHN EY8684–8695), Behara, Mar. and Apr. 1937, Feb. and Apr. 1938, Jan. 1941; 1 ♀ ( MNHN 1 EY8696), Ankaratra, Feb. 1941; 8 ♀♀ Bekily, May, Sep.-Oct. 1936, Sep. 1938 (one to each of the above mentioned institutions). – TANZANIA: 6 ♀♀ ( ISAM), Mkomazi game reserve, Dec. 1995 - Apr. 1996. – SOUTH AFRICA: 2 ♀♀ ( ISAM), Western Cape, Gamkaberg game reserve, Dec. 2008 - Jan. 2009.

Description

Female

LENGTH. 3.5, 3.4 (3.1–3.5) (10 specimens).

HEAD. Strongly constricted behind eyes. Temple short. Ocellar triangle anteriorly acute. Face distinctly narrowed ventrally. Frons and vertex granulate, face densely but superficially punctate. Clypeus rounded

and convex, almost smooth. Mandible short and stout, teeth subequal. Malar line short. Antenna with 30–31 flagellomeres.

MESOSOMA. Stout, about 1.6 x longer than high. Pronotum almost smooth with few punctures centrally. Mesonotum matt, densely punctate-granulate, some punctures confluent. Scuto-scutellar groove longitudinally striate. Scutellum moderately punctate, shining, its vertical posterior margin longitudinally striate. Mesopleuron densely punctate and shining, metapleuron more granulate. Propodeum shining, moderately punctate, area petiolaris transversally wrinkled. Area basalis opposite (sometimes petiolate or truncate), area superomedia about 2 x longer than wide and slightly shorter than area petiolaris. Legs: femoral tooth distinct but small, sometimes only present as a weak protuberance.

METASOMA. Post-petiole, tergite 2 and base of tergite 3 finely aciculate. Tergite 2 slightly shorter than tergite 1, about 2.5 x longer than apically wide. Thyridia elongate-oval. Ovipositor moderately long, its tip straight.

COLOR. Antenna brown, scape and pedicel ventrally orange. Head and mesosoma yellow with dark maculae. Dark brown to brown: frons, vertex, lobes of mesonotum, a transverse spot on mesopleuron and metapleuron, scuto-scutellar groove, apex of scutellum and post-scutellum, metanotum and median basal half of propodeum (in some individuals, the dark marking is faded on pleurae, scutellum and propodeum). Legs yellow, front and mid coxae and all trochanters white, hind leg more orange with tarsus and tibia basally and apically infuscate; dorsal margin of hind tibia white. Wings hyaline, pterostigma light brown. Metasoma brown, tergites 1–3 dark brown, their apex more or less bordered with yellow, lateral margins of tergite 2 sometimes bordered with yellow, other tergites brown orange. Thyridia yellow. Ovipositor sheath brown.

Male

Length: 3.3. (3.1–3.4) (10 specimens). Posterior ocelli equally distant from each other as from eyes (POL = OOL = 0.9). Hind femur swollen, femoral tooth long and sharp, followed by a row of small denticles. Otherwise similar to female.

Distribution

Madagascar (Toliara province), Tanzania (new distribution records), South Africa.

Remarks

The straight ovipositor is a very rare feature in Pristomerus spp. mentioned by Townes (1971) in only one undescribed Afrotropical species.

Figures

Fig. 3. Pristomerus albescens (Morley). A. ♀, habitus, profile. B. ♀, habitus, dorsal. C. ♀, head, facial. D. ♀, hind femur, profile. E. ♂, hind femur, profile.