Acanthormius indicus Gupta & Quicke, 2018

Gupta, Ankita & Quicke, Donald L. J., 2018, A new species of Acanthormius (Braconidae: Lysiterminae) reared as a gregarious parasitoid of psychid caterpillar (Lepidoptera: Psychidae) from India, Zootaxa 4388 (3), pp. 425-430 : 426-427

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4388.3.8

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:115FD523-A9F7-4A2C-8243-990D7A9782FB

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5979850

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/FC344844-F343-BB31-FF57-FE35B3A4E3D6

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Acanthormius indicus Gupta & Quicke
status

sp. nov.

Acanthormius indicus Gupta & Quicke sp. nov.

Figs 1 View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2

Key diagnostic characters: Antenna with 18-20 antennomeres, brown; scape and pedicellus and first two to three antennomeres yellowish brown. Malar space 0.68× as long as height of eye; apical width of first tergite 1.5× its length; second apically 1.4× as wide as long medially and 1.7× longer than third tergite. Apical tooth nearly straight and about 0.3× as long as median length of third tergite, rather short. Ovipositor sheath short; about 0.7× as long as combined length of second and third tergite.

Description. Colour. Body dark brown to brown. Antenna brown, but scape and pedicellus and first two to three antennomeres yellowish brown. Labrum, mandible yellow (except dark brown apices), and palpi pale yellow. Ocellar region dark brown. Tegula yellowish brown. Legs yellow, coxae and trochanters pale yellow, femora and tibiae distally with faint brownish tinge along the edges. Wings subhyaline, pterostigma hyaline and veins brownish yellow.

Holotype. Female, length of body 2.4 mm, of ovipositor 0.5 mm, of fore wing 1.8 mm, antenna 2.37. Head in dorsal view 1.85× as wide as long (0.48: 0.26) ( Fig. 1C View FIGURE 1 ), eye 1.6× as long as temple (0.18: 0.11), temple receding, occipital carina strong. Ocelli small and oval, POL nearly half as long as OOL (0.036: 0.09). Eye in lateral view 1.1× as high as wide (0.19:0.17), temple broadening ventrally and its minimum width about 0.5× width of eye (0.10: 0.19). Malar space 0.68× as long as height of eye (0.13: 0.19) and 2.2× as long as basal width of mandible (0.13: 0.06). Head smooth. Antenna filiform and little shorter than body (2.5: 2.7), with 20 antennomeres.

Mesosoma ( Fig. 2A View FIGURE 2 ). In dorsal view 1.8× as long as wide (0.76: 0.42). Notauli evenly deep; punctate and setose similar to the rest of mesosoma. Propodeal areola elliptical and wide, transversely rugose medially with faint rugosity in apical half. Mesonotum punctulate, pronotum and metapleuron rugose, mesopleuron smooth and glabrous medially.

Wings. Macropterous ( Figs 1A View FIGURE 1 , 2D View FIGURE 2 ). Fore wing: pterostigma narrowly triangular, 5.0× as long as wide (0.42: 0.086) and issuing radial vein little beyond the middle; vein r 1.08× longer than width of pterostigma (0.086: 0.079), 3-SR 1.6× as long as r (0.137:0.086), and 0.7× 2-SR (0.193), SR1 straight and reaching tip of wing; m-cu postfurcal.

Legs. Hind femur 5.8× as long as wide (0.52: 0.09), hind tibia as long as hind tarsus, hind basitarsus a little shorter than the remainder of tarsus.

Metasoma ( Figs 2E, G View FIGURE 2 ). 1.23× as long as head and mesosoma combined (1.3: 1.05). First tergite widening posteriorly, its apical width 1.5× its length (0.48: 0.32). Second tergite transverse, apically 1.4× as wide as long medially (0.59: 0.42) and 1.7× longer than third tergite (0.42: 0.25). Third tergite with a rather short pair of posterolateral projections (teeth) approximately 0.3× as long as median length of tergite (0.08: 0.25). In lateral view lower margin of tooth nearly straight ( Figs 2F, G View FIGURE 2 ). First-third tergites longitudinally striate, without transverse interstriations. Ovipositor sheath in lateral view 1.4× as long as first tergite (0.46: 0.32) and 0.29× fore wing.

Colour. Dark brown to brown. Antenna brown, but scape and pedicellus and first two to three antennomeres yellowish brown. Cheek, labrum, mandible yellow (except dark brown apices), and palpi pale yellow. Ocellar region dark brown. Tegulae yellowish brown. Legs yellow, coxae and trochanters pale yellow, femora and tibiae distally with faint brownish tinge along the edges. Wings subhyaline, pterostigma hyaline and veins brownish yellow.

Male. Not known.

Biology. Gregarious parasitoid of Psychidae ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 ).

Variation. Female 2♀ paratypes: body 1.8−1.9 mm long. Antenna with 18‒20 antennomeres.

Type material. Holotype ♀, INDIA, Karnataka, Bangalore, Hebbal, 13.03°N 77.59°E, 10.viii.2011, ex: caterpillar ( Lepidoptera : Psychidae ), coll. S.K. Rajeshwari, code - NBAIR /Brac/Acan/10811A ( NBAIR). Paratypes: 4♀, 10.viii.2011, same collection locality as holotype, codes - NBAIR /Brac/Acan/10811B ( NBAIR). Paratype 1♀, 10.viii.2011, same data and host individual as holotype, to be deposited in Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata.

Notes. Runs in the key by van Achterberg (1995) to the Indian species A. balanus Papp 1986 , but the new species differs in malar suture 0.68× as long as height of eye (vs equal in A. balanus ). Differs from the other Indian species in the following characters: ovipositor sheath about 0.7× as long as combined length of second and third tergite (vs equal in A. bakeri ); antennomeres 18¯20 (vs 16 in A. gilvus and 21 in A. propensus ); pterostigma 5× as long as wide (vs 7× in A. obstitus ); ovipositor much shorter than metasoma (vs equal in A. alius ).

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hymenoptera

Family

Braconidae

Genus

Acanthormius

GBIF Dataset (for parent article) Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF