Aulacus enarotadi 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 : 23-24

Aulacus enarotadi Jennings & Austin , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 , 4–6 )

Material examined. Holotype. ♀, " New Guinea: (NW) Wisselmeren, Enarotadi, 1830 m , 2–3.VIII.1962 " " J. Sedlacek " (BPBM). Right antennal flagellomeres 7 to tip missing, apical half of right hind wing missing.

FEMALE. Length. 8.8 mm, excluding ovipositor.

Colour. Body and head black except antenna, metasomal T1 and T2, and ovipositor brown; legs brown except distal half of hind tarsal segment 1 and segments 2–4 cream-coloured; wings hyaline, with pale brown tint.

Head. 1.15 x wider than long when viewed dorsally ( Fig. 4 ); face rugose punctate, with scattered short setae; subantennal groove absent; frons rugose punctate, without lateral medial carina above toruli, with scattered short setae; vertex rugose punctate, with scattered short setae; gena rugose punctate, with scattered short setae; posterior margin of head slightly concave in dorsal view; occipital carina absent; malar space 0.3 x eye height; clypeus 2.4 x as wide as high, margin weakly sinuate, short medial process; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 0.58 x distance between lateral ocelli ( Fig. 4 ); scape 1.25 x length pedicel; first flagellomere 1.05 x as long as scape, 0.46 x as long as second flagellomere.

Mesosoma. Propleuron rugulose, pubescence short, ventro-lateral carina weak; pronotum without angular process, rugose; mesoscutum in lateral view rounded anterodorsally, medial and lateral lobes coarsely strigate ( Fig. 5 ), with scattered short setae, admedial lines present; scutellum and axilla coarsely strigate ( Fig. 5 ); metapostnotum scrobiculate, posterior margin weakly convex; mesepisternum rugose, with short pubescence; mesepimeron broad, carinate; metapleuron rugose, with short pubescence; propodeum coarsely rugose, posterior margin smooth; hind coxa strigate dorsally, pubescence short laterally, ovipositor guide on inner surface ( Fig. 6 ), medial, angled posteriorly; hind trochanter imbricate, with scattered short setae; hind prefemur present; hind femur imbricate, with scattered 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 short robust spines, segment 1, 1.56 x length segment 2; segment 2, 1.8 x length segment 3; segment 3, 3.3 x length segment 4; segment 4, 0.55 x length segment 5; hind tarsal claw simple, 0.45 x length segment 5; fore wing vein 2-Rs+M long, second discal cell elongate, vein 2r-m absent medially and 3r-m complete; hind wing venation complete, R+Rs, M+Cu, Cu, r-m and 2-M present, spectral, with 3 hamuli.

Metasoma. 1.7 x length of mesosoma; T1 and T2 narrow when viewed dorsally, glabrous; ovipositor 13.4 mm.

MALE. Unknown

Remarks. Aulacus enarotadi has an ovipositor guide on the hind coxae which is somewhat medial on the inner surface and angled slightly posteriorly ( Fig. 6 ) and, in this respect, it differs from the other Aulacus species from New Guinea, although it is similar to a number of Australian species, including several as yet undescribed species from northern Queensland. In A. sedlaceki , the hind coxa has a flattened inner surface and has a slight extension on the inner disto-ventral surface, extending posteriorly for a distance about equal to one-quarter the length of the trochanter ( Fig. 9 ). The ovipositor guide is an elongate and posteriorly-pointing depression extending to the tip of the hind coxal extension, and with a margin fringed with stout setae ( Fig. 9 ). It also differs from A. wau in which the ovipositor guide is also a shallow depression but in this species it is almost horizontal on the lower ventro-medial inner surface of the hind coxae (Fig. 11).

The species name is named after the type locality, Wisselmeren, Enarotadi , West Papua, Indonesia ( Fig. 1 ). Nothing is known of its host biology.

Figures

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

FIGURES 4 – 9. Aaulacus enaratodi sp. nov., holotype female: 4. dorsal view of head; 5. dorsal view of mesosoma; 6. dorsal view of hind coxae; arrow indicates ovipositor guide. Aulacus sedlaceki sp. nov., holotype female: 7. dorsal view of head; 8. dorsal view of mesosoma; 9. dorsal view of hind coxae; arrow indicates ovipositor guide. Scale bars: 4 – 5 = 500 μm; 6 – 9 200 μm.