Afrepsilon minor gen. et sp. nov., 2024

Selis, Marco & Carpenter, James M., 2024, Revision of the Afrotropical genus Afrepipona Giordani Soika, 1965 and description of Afrepsilon gen. nov. (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae), European Journal of Taxonomy 944, pp. 1-80 : 70-72

Afrepsilon minor gen. et sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:7CE814A2-9BE8-4104-B764-891F97185B20

Figs 25 , 27Q

Diagnosis

Recognized by the following characters: punctures on pronotum, mesoscutum and scutellum dense but with flattened and distinct interspaces; metanotum nearly vertical, short and subrectangular when seen from above; metasoma with brownish short pubescence, not hiding surface of tergite; preapical ridge of T2 lamellate but short, in middle covering basal half of lamellate apical margin ( Fig. 25D ); apical margin of T3 and some of following tergites ferruginous and translucent; body largely marked with red and yellow. Genitalia in Fig. 27Q .

Etymology

The specific epithet refers to this species being similar to Afrepsilon ferrugineoaureum gen. et sp. nov. and A. hybridum gen. et sp. nov. but smaller in body length and size of F11.

Type material

Holotype

TANZANIA • ♂; Mount Kilimanjaro; 03°20′06.2″ S, 37°29′31.9″ E; elev. 1275 m; 17 Oct. 2014; OLML.

Paratypes

TANZANIA • 2 ♂♂; same data as for holotype; JMU, MSVI .

Description

Male

MEASUREMENTS. Body length 6.3–7.5 mm (holotype 6.3 mm); fore wing length 6.0–7.0 mm (holotype 6.0 mm).

MORPHOLOGY. Head 1.35 × as wide as long in frontal view. Clypeus 1.15 × as wide as long, apical margin evenly emarginate between apical teeth, 0.3 × as wide as maximum width of clypeus, emargination 0.2 × as deep as wide; apical teeth subtriangular, rounded at apex, with short longitudinal fold but not distinctly carinate; clypeus in lateral view distinctly convex at base. Vertex 1.4 × as long as distance from posterior ocellus to inner eye margin; gena 0.55 × as wide as eye at bottom of ocular sinus, deeply depressed along occipital carina; occipital carina complete, sharp but not raised on vertex, shortly lamellate on gena, evenly curved in lower half. F1 1.6 × as long as wide and 1.25 × as long as F2, F2–3 subquadrate, F4–7 wider than long, F8–9 subquadrate, F11 finger-shaped, reaching base of F9 and weakly curved in lateral view, parallel-sided with rounded apex in dorsal view, apex weakly depressed dorsoventrally. Mesosoma 1.2 × as long as wide. Sides of pronotum in dorsal view convex and converging in dorsal view, weakly sinuate behind humeri; pronotal carina complete, sharp and raised but not lamellate dorsally, shorter on sides, evenly rounded on humeri; pretegular carina distinct but not sharp, disappearing above; lateral faces of pronotum smoothly passing into dorsal face, weakly depressed in lower half. Mesoscutum 0.8 × as long as wide, evenly convex in lateral view. Scutellum weakly convex; anterior margin crenate, median pit larger than others. Metanotum almost vertical and flattened in lateral view, with slightly raised anterior margin. Tegula not equaling parategula, outer margin strongly convex the middle, posterior lobe very short and blunt, shallowly depressed; parategula small and curved. Epicnemial carina strong and distinct but dull, reaching epipleural suture above and mesosternum below. Propodeum falling vertically behind metanotum in lateral view; posterior face shallowly concave but sharply separated from other faces; lateral faces distinctly depressed with convex posterodorsal margin; submarginal carina shallowly produced above valvula. T1 almost semicircular, 0.45 × as long as wide in dorsal view; horizontal face shallowly depressed on disc; posterior margin thin with a short hyaline lamellar margin. T2 0.8 × as long as wide in dorsal view, apical margin shortly lamellate, transition between tergite and lamella marked by a raised lamellar ridge covering about half of the true apical margin, making the apex duplicate. T3–5 lamellate apically, lamella not distinctly separated from rest of tergite. S2 evenly convex in lateral view.

SCULPTURE AND VESTITURE. Clypeus silky shiny, with sparse barely visible punctures almost disappearing in basal half. Frons with shallow flat-bottomed polygonal cells, touching and separated by irregular interspaces reduced to narrow ridges, cells with shiny micropunctate bottom and interspaces matte; vertex shiny with barely visible shagreen and sparse deep punctures, gena densely micropunctate and very shiny with punctures mostly restricted to anterior margin. Scape matte, shagreened with dense very fine punctures. Pronotum, mesoscutum and scutellum with dense deep punctures; interspaces weakly shiny, partly reduced to narrow ridges and partly flattened, but always at most as long as one puncture diameter; lateral faces of pronotum shagreened with shallow punctures, more shiny. Metanotum with coarse oblique punctures in median area, more finely punctate laterally and on anterior margin. Mesepisternum with large flat-bottomed punctures, denser along epicnemial carina and becoming sparser posteriorly, leaving narrow impunctate area on posterior sloping part; epicnemium and mesosternum finely shagreened and shiny, with sparse fine punctures on mesosternum. Dorsal faces of propodeum with very large and coarse punctures, interspaces mostly reduced to very narrow and sharp raised ridges; posterior face very shiny, with very fine oblique striae on lower fourth and some shallow punctures along dorsal margin; metaepisternum and lateral faces of propodeum finely shagreened, lateral faces with very fine sparse striae gradually replaced by elongate flat-bottomed punctures along posterodorsal margin of propodeum. T1 finely shagreened, shiny, with sparse moderately deep punctures, slightly denser on disc; T2 similar to T1 but micropunctate, macropunctures finer, interspaces more shiny; T3–5 with small deep preapical punctures, becoming progressively sparser; T6–7 finely shagreened and micropunctate; S1 silky shiny and irregularly sculpted; S2 similar to T2 but punctures well marked and larger; S3–7 similar to respective tergites. Head and mesosoma with pale brassy suberect setae; clypeus, lower third of frons, gena and sides of mesosoma with dense whitish pubescence; dorsal and posterior faces of propodeum covered in short white setae, longer on lateral corners; metasoma with appressed but not very dense brownish pubescence, T2–7 and S2–6 with preapical series of suberect longer setae.

COLORATION. Black; following parts red: most of mandible, scape, spot at bottom of ocular sinus, anterior and posterior margin of pronotum, anterior margin of metanotum, tegula and parategula, legs; following parts yellow to orange-yellow: interantennal spot, transverse spots near middle of pronotum, narrow preapical band on T1, sinuate preapical band on T2–6, small transverse spots on apical corners of S2; clypeus pale yellow except narrow black basal margin and translucent orange emargination; margins of S2–7 ferruginous-orange. Wings subhyaline, weakly fuscous along costal margin.

Female

Unknown.

Distribution

Tanzania.

Figures

Fig. 25. Afrepsilon minor gen. et sp. nov., ♂, paratype from Mount Kilimanjaro (MSVI). A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Head, frontal view. C. Flagellum, lateral view. D. T2–3, dorsal view. Scale bars = 1 mm.

Fig. 27. Male genitalia: aedeagus in ventral view, aedeagus in lateral view, digitus. A. Afrepipona angusta (de Saussure, 1863) from Adi Keyh (MSVI). B. Afrepipona cellularis sp. nov., holotype from Nyamandhlovu (MSNVE). C. Afrepipona clonata sp. nov., holotype from Nairobi (MSNVE). D. Afrepipona cuprea sp. nov., paratype from Malindi (MSVI). E. Afrepipona lamptoensis Giordani Soika, 1965 from Lamto (AMNH).F. Afrepipona lobulata sp. nov.,holotype from Lubumbashi (AMNH). G. Afrepipona macrocephala (Gribodo, 1894) from Delagoa (MSNVE). H. Afrepipona meridionalis sp. nov., holotype from Durban (MSNVE). I. Afrepipona occidentalis sp. nov., paratype from Lamto (MSNVE).J. Afrepipona punctatissima sp. nov.,holotype from Maralal (MSNVE).K. Afrepipona scabra sp. nov., paratype from Kabongo (MSNVE). L. Afrepipona segregata sp. nov., holotype from Tulear (NHMW). M. Afrepipona tertia Gusenleitner, 2011, holotype from Bangui (OLML). N. Afrepipona ulterior sp. nov., paratype from Pretoria (MSVI). O. Afrepipona vulcanica sp. nov., paratype from Mount Kilimanjaro (MSVI). P. Afrepsilon ferrugineoaureum gen. et sp. nov., paratype from Berea (MSVI). Q. Afrepsilon minor gen. et gen. et sp. nov., holotype from Mount Kilimanjaro (OLML).