Pristaulacus laloki Jennings & Austin

Jennings, John T. & Austin, Andrew D., 2006, Aulacid wasps (Hymenoptera: Aulacidae) of New Guinea, with descriptions of five new species, Zootaxa 1365, pp. 19-35 : 31-33

Pristaulacus laloki Jennings & Austin , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 , 15–20 )

Material examined. Holotype: ♀, " Papua New Guinea, Central District, Lolaki [sic], 20.ix.1974, D.P.A. Sands " ( ANIC ).

Paratype: Papua New Guinea: 1♀, Lolaki [sic], VI.1974, D. Sands ( CNIC ).

Other material examined: Papua New Guinea: 1♂, same data as paratype ( CNIC ).

FEMALE. Length. 10.0 (9.5–10.5) mm, excluding ovipositor.

Colour. Body yellow-orange; head dark brown-black, except for clypeus paler, broad cream-coloured stripe along inner margin of eye on malar space, face and frons, antenna brown except for apical half of flagellomere 4, flagellomeres 5 and 6, and basal quarter of flagellomere 7 cream, metasomal T1 dark brown-black, and hind legs except coxa brown, basal quarter of hind tibia cream, ovipositor sheath brown. Wings hyaline except for indistinct pale brown spot apically on the marginal and submarginal cells of fore wing ( Fig. 3 ).

Head. 1.45 (1.4–1.5) x wider than long when viewed dorsally ( Fig. 15 ); face rugose punctate and with short scattered setae medially in black area and smooth and glabrous in white area along inner eye margins; indistinct subantennal groove; frons without distinct lateral medial carina above toruli, rugose medially, punctate laterally, with scattered long setae; vertex with a shallow groove behind lateral ocelli, microscopically imbricate, with scattered shallow punctures, each associated with a short seta; gena with a few shallow scattered punctures, each associated with a short seta; posterior margin of head weakly concave in dorsal view; occipital carina distinct; malar space 0.3 x eye height; clypeus 2.9 x as wide as high, margin sinuate, with medial process; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 0.65 (0.6–0.7) x distance between lateral ocelli; scape 1.6 (1.4–1.8) x length pedicel; first flagellomere 1.2 (1.1–1.3) x as long as scape, 0.55 x as long as second flagellomere.

Mesosoma. Propleuron smooth, pubescence long laterally, ventro-lateral carina weak; pronotum without angular process ( Fig. 17 ), rugulose-punctate; mesoscutum in lateral view angular antero-dorsally, medial and lateral lobes deeply incised antero-medially, coarsely strigate ( Figs 16–17 ), with scattered short setae, admedial lines present; scutellum and axilla coarsely strigate; metapostnotum scrobiculate, posterior margin almost straight; mesepisternum rugose, with short pubescence; mesepimeron broad, weakly carinate; metapleuron rugose, with short pubescence; propodeum rugose, with several radiating carinae, posterior margin smooth; hind coxa strigate dorsally, pubescence short laterally, hind coxa with a distinct flange-like ovipositor guide almost distal ( Fig. 19 ); hind trochanter imbricate, with scattered short setae; hind prefemur distinct; hind femur imbricate, with very short setae; hind tibia imbricate, pubescence short, with scattered stout emergent setae; hind femur 0.8 x length hind tibia; hind tibia with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines; hind tarsal segments 1–4 with ventro-apical pecten of very short robust spines, segment 1, 3.85 (3.6–4.1) x length segment 2; segment 2, 1.3 x length segment 3; segment 3, 2.1 (2.0–2.2) x length segment 4; segment 4, 0.5 x length segment 5; hind tarsal claw with 4 median teeth, 0.6 x length segment 5; fore wing vein 2-Rs+M very short, second discal cell more or less quadrate, vein 2r-m absent and 3r-m spectral in posterior two-thirds, hind wing venation complete, M+Cu, Cu, r-m and 2-M spectral, 2-M pale brown for most of its length, with 2 hamuli.

Metasoma. 1.15 (1.1–1.2) x length of mesosoma; T1 and T2 narrow when viewed dorsally, glabrous; ovipositor 8.25 (8.0–8.5) mm.

MALE. Similar to female except length 8.0 mm; flagellomeres entirely brown; metasoma dark brown dorsally except for yellow patches on T3 and T4, and yellow laterally and ventrally; propleuron punctate dorsally, smooth laterally, pubescence long, hind tarsal claw equal in length to segment 5; fore wing vein 3r-m complete, spectral in posterior half; metasoma 1.47 x length of mesosoma; basiparameres broad, imbricate, long pubescence ( Fig. 20 ); digitus broad, about same length as basiparameres ( Fig. 20 ).

Remarks. Both sexes of A. laloki lack the angular process on the pronotum (Fig. 18) which is present in A. kiunga ( Fig. 13 ) and is also present in a number of northern Hemisphere species (see, for example, Konishi 1990; Turrisi 2005), but is generally absent in Australian species (Jennings & Austin unpublished). Both sexes also have a broad cream-coloured stripe along the inner margin of the eye on the malar space, face and frons which is lacking in A. kiunga .

This species named after the type locality, Laloki in the Central District of Papua New Guinea ( Fig. 1 ). Nothing is known of its host biology.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution of Aulacus and Pristaulacus species in New Guinea. ˖ = A. enaratodi;

FIGURES 12 – 17. Pristaulacus kiunga sp. nov., paratype female: 12. dorsal view of head; 13. lateral view of pronotum, showing angular process (arrowed); 14 lateral view of ovipositor guide. Pristaulacus laloki sp. nov., paratype female: 15. dorsal view of head; 16. dorsal view of mesonotum; 17. lateral view of mesonotum and propodeum. Scale bars: 12, 13, 15 – 17 = 500 μm, 14 = 200 μm.

FIGURES 19 – 20. 19. Pristaulacus laloki sp. nov. paratype, female, dorsal view of hind coxae; arrow indicates ovipositor guide (scale = 100 µm). 20. Pristaulacus laloki sp. nov. paratype male, dorsal view of male genitalia (scale = 500 µm).

FIGURES 2 – 3. Fore wings of (2) Aulacus wau sp. nov., holotype female. (3) Pristaulacus laloki sp. nov., paratype female; cells are: 1 = marginal, 2 = submarginal, 3 = discal, 4 = subdiscal, 5 = costal, 6 = basal, 7 = subbasal, 8 = plical. Scale bars: 2 = 0.5 mm; 3 = 1.0 mm.