Distictus ardens, Supeleto & Santos & Aguiar, 2019

Supeleto, Fernanda A., Santos, Bernardo F. & Aguiar, Alexandre P., 2019, Revision of Distictus Townes, 1966 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Cryptinae), with descriptions of ten new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 542, pp. 1-64 : 15-18

Distictus ardens sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6934BC39-2745-4E36-A4C0-2AE74B0D2E1F

Figs 5 , 16E ; Table 1

Etymology

From the Latin ‘ ardens ’, meaning ‘burning, glowing’; in reference to the overall colour pattern of the body, which is somewhat reminiscent of a piece of amber.

Material examined

Total of 2 specimens, 2 ♀♀.

Holotype

PERU • ♀ (pinned; apex of both antennae and right fore femur, tibia and tarsus missing; otherwise in good condition); Machu Picchu ; 29 Nov. 1965; H. Townes and M. Townes leg.; USUC {0}.

Paratype

PERU • 1 ♀; Machu Picchu ; alt. 1900 m; 4–18 Sep. 1964; C. Porter leg.; FSCA {1}.

Description

Female (holotype)

SIZE. Fore wing 11.60 mm long.

HEAD. Clypeus basally moderately convex, at midlength not distinctly emarginate, CHW 0.41; median tubercle small, pointed, placed entirely on apical area; apical area very narrow. Mandible densely pilose, MLW 1.38, MWW 0.49. MSM 0.76. Supra-clypeal area densely pilose, minutely coriarious. Antenna missing. Supra-antennal area minutely but distinctly coriarious, medially and near ocelli rugulose, ventrally very slightly concave, with distinct median line.

MESOSOMA. Pronotum moderately pilose, weakly striate along posterior margin and collar, elsewhere minutely rugulose; epomia delicate, complete, short, ending far from dorsal margin of pronotum, after diverging from pronotal collar aproximately straight. Mesoscutum densely covered with short hairs, coriarious, 1.17 × as long as wide; notauli medially distinctly convergent, apex destroyed by pin; scutoscutellar groove deep, distinctly carinulate. Mesopleuron coriarious-lineate, otherwise punctate; subalar ridge narrow, elongate, somewhat keeled; epicnemial carina irregular, reaching about 0.85 of distance to subalar ridge; sternaulus moderately deep, posterior 0.4 almost indistinct, with distinct vertical wrinkles; sulcus between sternaulus and scrobe distinct; mesopleural fovea a small pit, otherwise shallow; mesopleural suture weakly carinulate inside. Metapleuron rugulose, densely pilose; juxtacoxal carina vestigial. Hind coxa coriarious-rugulose.

PROPODEUM. Densely pilose; anterior margin medially concave; spiracle oval, SWL 1.27; anterior area coriarious; posterior area strigate-rugulose; anterior transverse carina laterally approximately straight, medially distinctly arched forwards; posterior transverse carina represented by slight but distinct sublateral crests.

WINGS. Fore wing vein 1M+Rs anteriorly straight, posteriorly curved; crossvein 1cu-a convex, arising slightly basad of 1M+Rs; crossvein 1m-cu irregular, distinctly longer than vein 1-Rs+M; limit between veins 1m-cu and 1-Rs+M more or less traceable; vein 1-Rs+M with bulla placed near basal 0.4; vein 2Cua 1.22 × as long as crossvein 2cu-a; 3r-m nebulous, about as long as 2r-m; vein 3-M about as long as 2-M; AWH 0.95, AAW 0.43; areolet 0.35 × as high as wide; APH 1.29; vein 4-M nebulous, approximately straight. Hind wing with 10 hamuli, vein M+Cu apically moderately convex; vein M forming distinctly obtuse angle with Cua; HW1C 1.49; vein Cub almost straight, very slightly convex, forming straight angle with Cua; vein 2-Rs apically nebulous.

METASOMA. T1LW 1.50, T1WW 2.60; spiracle not prominent, at 0.51 of T1 length; median depression distinct; lateral depression distinct; dorsolateral carina represented by blunt ridge; ventrolateral carina sharp, anteriorly indistinct. T2LW 0.92, T2WW 1.86; thyridium about as wide as long. Tergites 2–8 coriarious; pilosity dense and more or less uniform, and dorsally as dense as laterally. Ovipositor slightly downcurved; OST 0.98; dorsal valve scarcely punctate; ventral valve distinctly overlapping dorsal valve, its apex with 7 teeth.

COLOUR. Head and mesosoma mostly black, metasoma reddish-orange. Head black; small spot on base of mandible and labrum except central mark bright yellow. Palpi dark brown. Orbital band narrow, distinct only on about 0.5 of supra-clypeal and supra-antennal areas and on dorsal 0.4 of gena; f7–9 entirely white, f6 and f10 mostly white, f11 with small white mark. Mesosoma black; anterior apex of pronotal collar, small marks on dorsal margin of pronotum, tegula, scutellum and over propodeal crests bright yellow. Fore and mid coxae black with small yellowish and orange marks; fore and mid first trochanters marked with blackish and orange; fore and mid second trochanters, femora, tibiae and t1–2 orange; fore and mid t3–5 blackish. Hind coxa trochanters and femur reddish-orange; hind tibia basal 0.1 orange, remainder of it black; basal 0.15 of t1, apex of t4 and t5 blackish; apical 0.85 of t1, t2–3 and base of t4 whitish. Wings moderately infuscate. Metasoma reddish-orange; T1 dorsally infucate with blackish, posteriorly with very narrow yellow stripe; T5–7 and S6 with sparse, small yellowish marks.

Male

Unknown.

Comments

This is the most distinctive species of the genus, at least in terms of colour pattern ( Fig. 5 A–C). It can be readily recognized by having head and mesosoma almost entirely black, without the extensive yellow marks on the collar, dorsal margin of pronotum, mesoscutum, scutellum, postscutellum, meso- and metapleuron which are found in all other species of the genus. It is also the only species of Distictus with infuscate wings and the supra-clypeal area almost entirely black. Structurally, D. ardens sp. nov. differs from all other species in the genus by having four exclusive features: ventrolateral carina of T1 anteriorly indistinct; epomia complete; hind coxa coriarious-rugulose; and T2–8 with pilosity somewhat dense and more or less uniform. In spite of being a very distinctive species, its general morphology agrees quite well with the definition of the genus.

Although distinctive in colour, D. ardens sp. nov. is similar in structure to D. tibialis , from which it differs in 47 features, the most important of which are as follows: posterior area of propodeum strigate-rugulose (vs rugulose in D. tibialis ); apical area of clypeus very narrow (vs moderately long); ventrolateral carina anteriorly indistinct (vs complete); epomia delicate (vs moderately stout); mesoscutum coriarious (vs punctate-coriarious); hind coxa coriarious-rugulose (vs densely punctate); pronotum weakly striate along posterior margin and collar (vs distinctly striate along posterior margin and collar); epicnemial carina reaching about 0.85 of distance to subalar ridge (vs reaching subalar ridge); fore wing crossvein 1m-cu distinctly longer than vein 1Rs+M (vs not distinctly longer than 1-Rs+M); ovipositor slightly downcurved (vs straight).

Distribution records

Peru.

Figures

Fig. 5. Distictus ardens sp. nov., holotype (USUC), ♀. A. Head, frontal view. B. Propodeum + first two tergites, dorso-lateral view. C. Habitus. D. Apex of ovipositor, left side.

Fig. 16. Distribution records for Distictus spp. A. D. mexicanus Kasparyan & Ruíz, 2005. B. D. ateles sp. nov. C. D. paratibialis sp. nov. D. D. tibialis (Brullé, 1846). E. Least common species: D. commatus sp. nov. (star), D. daelus sp. nov. (triangle), D. asterios sp. nov. (circle), D. notabilis sp. nov. (lozenge), D. ardens sp. nov. (square), D. caligaris sp. nov. (thin lozenge) and D. apaensis sp. nov. (pentagon). F. D. terrosus sp. nov.