Canalirogas prangchudasringae, Quicke & Butcher, 2016

Quicke, Donald L. J. & Butcher, Buntika A., 2016, A new species of Canalirogas van Achterberg & Chen, 1996 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Rogadinae) from Papua New Guinea, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 209, pp. 265-274 : 269-272

Canalirogas prangchudasringae n. sp.

Figures 1, 2

DIAGNOSIS — Differs from all other known Canalirogas in its colour pattern with white metasomal tergites 1 and 2 sharply contrasting with more posterior black tergites. The only species previously known from the island of New Guinea is Canalirogas heijningeni van Achterberg, 1996 , known from Irian Jaya (as well as from Halmahera; ( van Achterberg & Chen 1996)). It differs from C. prangchudasringae n. sp. in having the first metasomal tergite 1.9-2.1× longer than apically wide, the head dark brown, contrasting with yellowish-orange mesosoma, hind femur and tibia infuscate and the wing membrane sub-hyaline.

TYPE MATERIAL — Holotype, female. Papua New Guinea. Province Madang, Wanang 3 station, 5.22767° S, 145.0797° E, 175 m, 22-23.xi.2012, leg. Basset, plot 1, understory; Malaise-MAL-WAN01-D05 P4904. (DNA voucher DQ-BKK00024, GenBank accession numbers: CO1 barcoding region KU 745532 , 28 S rDNA D2-3 expansion region KU 745531 ).

DISTRIBUTION — So far known only from Papua New Guinea.

DESCRIPTION — Length of body 9.5 mm, of fore wing 7.5 mm and of antenna 12 mm. Antenna with 63 flagellomeres. Terminal flagellomere acuminate. Median flagellomeres more than twice longer than wide. First flagellomere 1.1x longer than both the 2nd and 3rd separately, 2x longer than wide. Face smooth and shiny with punctures at the bases of setae ( Figure 1B). Width of head: width of face: height of eye = 2.1: 1.0: 1.15. Inter tentorial distance: height of clypeus: shortest distance between tentorial pit and eye = 2.6: 1.15: 1.0. Malar suture deep. Frons flat, smooth, without midlongitudinal sulcus ( Figure 1C). Shortest distance between posterior ocellus and eye equal to transverse diameter of posterior ocellus. Occipital carina strong (lamelliform) dorsally, obliterated ventrally. Mesosoma 1.5x longer than high, largely with rather dense, fine short, pale setosity and with conspicuous punctures at bases of setae ( Figures 1D, 2A). Sides of pronotum with some vertical rugae anteriorly, largely smooth posteriorly ( Figure 2A). Notauli finely crenulate along whole length, meeting at short midlongitudinal groove postero-medially. Scutellar sulcus wide with strong medial and submedial carinae. Scutellum with narrow crenulate groove subposteriorly. Precoxal sulcus hardly impressed, short, indicated by a few weak rugae. Propodeum with deep mid-longitudinal groove and several strong transverse carinae on posterior half that extend across medial groove ( Figure 2B). Legs. Tarsal claws simple, with rounded basal lobe and only two or three small pectinate spines near extreme base of lobe. Fore tarsus 1.23x fore tibia. Lengths of hind femur [excluding trochantellus]: tibia: basitarsus= 1.5: 1.86: 1.0. Hind femur 6.4x longer than maximally wide. Hind basitarsus 15x longer than maximally wide. Wings. Fore wing: Lengths of veins r-rs: 3RSa: 3RSb = 1.0: 3.0: 5.1. 1CUa: 1CUb = 1.0: 4.5. Hind wing: 1Ma 1.1x M+CU. Vein m-cu absent. Metasomal tergites largely coarsely longitudinally striate-rugose with finely sculptured interspaces. First tergite 1.3x longer than posteriorly wide; sides sub-parallel ( Figure 2C). Second metasomal tergite with small mid-basal triangular area, midlongitudinal carina hardly differentiated from other longitudinal striation. Second metasomal suture rather shallow and broad. Tergites 3-6 with only weak medial depressions, and longitudinal striation only weakly diverging posteriorly. Posterior margin of 5th tergite rather raised forming an anteriorly directed medial point ( Figure 2D). Color. Antennae black becoming slightly browner at apex; palps not infuscate; scapus, head, mesosoma, fore legs, mid coxae [remainder of middle legs missing] and hind coxae orange-red; first metasomal tergite white; hind legs beyond coxae, metasomal tergites 2-6 black; hypopygium whitish with dark brown blotch on either side; wings grey-brown with dark brown venation and pterostigma.

ETYMOLOGY — Named after Ms Prang Chudasring, daughter of the senior author’s friend Piya Chudasring.

DISCUSSION

Most species of Canalirogas described so far are rather monotonous in their coloration, being predominantly yellowbrown with somewhat of an ophionoid facies and most specimens have been collected at light. The bright, presumably aposematic, colour pattern of the new species is typical of many parasitic wasp species, especially medium-sized Braconidae , from the Australasian region ( Quicke et al. 1992, 2014; Austin et al. 1994; Butcher & Quicke 2014). It seems probable that the new species is predominantly diurnal like many of the more conspicuously colored Rogadinae .

A BLAST search (http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi?PROGRAM=blastn) of the barcoding gene sequence carried out on 17/2/2016 gave the best matches with only 87% similarity to various Canalirogas species and an 87% match to a sequence lodged as ‘ Triraphis ’ (also Rogadinae ) (voucher QL-2013, GenBank accession number KF385877 ), from an unpublished study by Q. Li, S.J. Wei, and X.X. Chen of braconid mitochondrial genomes. BLAST searching on the corresponding part of the ‘ Triraphis ’ sequence similarly yields closest matches between 90 and 97% similarity to Canalirogas sequences, suggesting that perhaps the identity of the Chinese ‘ Triraphis ’ needs confirmation.