Pristaulacus kiunga 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 : 29-31

Pristaulacus kiunga Jennings & Austin , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 , 12–14 )

Material examined. Holotype. ♀, " Papua: Fly River , Kiunga , 35 m, August, 1969 " " J & M Sedlacek " ( BPBM ).

Paratype. Papua New Guinea: 1♀, same data as holotype ( BPBM ).

FEMALE. Length. 13.0 (12.0–14.0) mm, excluding ovipositor.

Colour. Body and head black; antenna brown except scape light brown, fore and mid legs brown, hind leg darker brown except tarsus pale, ovipositor and sheath brown; metasoma black except T2 and T3 brown dorsally and T1–T5 brown laterally and ventrally; wings hyaline, fuscous spot on apical half of first submarginal cell, second submarginal cell and most of marginal cell of fore wing, this joined on holotype to form a continuous fuscous patch.

Head. 1.45 x wider than long in dorsal view ( Fig. 12 ); face smooth with a few shallow punctures medially, pubescence long; weak subantennal groove; frons without lateral medial carina above toruli, smooth with a few shallow punctures medially, with long pubescence; vertex smooth, rugulose medially near occipital carina, with scattered long setae; gena weakly rugulose, with scattered long setae; posterior margin of head concave in dorsal view; occipital carina narrow; malar space 0.26 x eye height; clypeus 5.0 x as wide as high, margin sinuate, small medial process; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 1.08 (1.00–1.15) x distance between lateral ocelli ( Fig. 12 ); scape 1.2 (1.0–1.4) x length pedicel; first flagellomere 1.42 (1.17–1.67) x as long as scape, 0.53 (0.47–0.58) x as long as second flagellomere.

Mesosoma. Propleuron smooth, pubescence long, ventro-lateral carina pronounced ( Fig. 13 ); pronotum with angular process ( Fig. 13 ), rugose punctate; mesoscutum in lateral view acute antero-dorsally, medial and lateral lobes coarsely strigate, with scattered long setae, admedial lines present; scutellum and axilla coarsely strigate; metapostnotum scrobiculate, posterior margin sinuate; mesepisternum rugose, with long pubescence; mesepimeron broad, carinate; metapleuron rugose, with long pubescence; propodeum coarsely rugose, posterior margin smooth; hind coxa smooth dorsally, pubescence long laterally, ovipositor guide on inner surface, somewhat distal, sloping slightly posteriorly ( Fig. 14 ); hind trochanter imbricate, with scattered short setae; hind prefemur on hind leg present; hind femur imbricate, with short setae; hind tibia imbricate, pubescence short; hind femur 0.67 (0.66–0.68) x length hind tibia; hind tibia with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines; hind tarsal segments 1–4 with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines, segment 1, 3.75 (3.3–4.2) x length segment 2; segment 2, 1.75 (1.5–2.0) x length segment 3; segment 3, 0.64 (0.57–0.71) x length segment 4; segment 4, 0.57 x length segment 5; hind tarsal claw with 3 median teeth, 0.57 x length segment 5; fore wing vein 2-Rs+M short, second discal cell more or less quadrate, vein 2r-m absent, vein 3r-m complete, spectral medially; hind wing venation incomplete, veins R+Rs, M+Cu, Cu, absent, r-m and 2-M spectral, with 2 hamuli.

Metasoma. 1.3 (1.2–1.4) x length of mesosoma; T1 and T2 narrow when viewed dorsally, glabrous; ovipositor 9.7 (9.6–9.8) mm.

MALE. Unknown

Remarks. Pristaulacus kiunga is readily distinguished from the other New Guinean species, P. l a l o k i, by the angular process on the pronotum ( Fig. 13 ) and the entirely black head lacking the broad cream-coloured stripe on the inner eye margin on the malar space, face, and frons.

This species is named after the holotype locality, Kiunga , Fly River, 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.