Gulgonga beattiei Oberprieler, Rasnitsyn & Brothers

Oberprieler, Stefanie K., Rasnitsyn, Alexandr P. & Brothers, Denis J., 2012, The first wasps from the Upper Jurassic of Australia (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea, Praeaulacidae), Zootaxa 3503, pp. 47-54 : 51

Gulgonga beattiei Oberprieler, Rasnitsyn & Brothers , sp. nov.

( Figs 2–3 , 5–6)

Type material. Holotype: Talbragar Fish Bed (Upper Jurassic: Kimmeridgian (151 ± 4 Ma), Gulgong, New South Wales, Australia, coll. Robert Beattie; in Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia. Part (AM F. 110544, Fig. 3 ) and counterpart (AM F. 110545, Fig. 2 ) impressions of poor preservation state, with organic matter lost and only partly replaced with mineral matter and/or staining, with fine surface sculpture indiscernible; pronotum, thoracic sides and venter and legs not preserved, metasoma distended due to post-mortem decomposition and with sterna lost or displaced, ovipositor apex lost and distal part weakly traceable.

Etymology. The species is named for its discoverer, Robert Beattie, who has led the excavation of insect fossils at the Talbragar Fish Bed for many years.

Occurrence. Only known from the Talbragar Fish Bed.

Description. Female. Head of moderate size, with comparatively small eyes and swollen temples of nearly same length as visible eye length. Antenna long, setiform, slightly longer than forewing, widest subbasally; with scape wider than flagellum at widest point, longer than wide (precise proportions unknown); pedicel transverse, about as wide as flagellum at widest point; flagellum with individual flagellomeres indiscernible. Mesothoracic dorsum with notauli, medial, transscutal and scutellar sutures complete and crenulated; notauli almost reaching medial suture at transscutal suture; scutellar suture broadly V-shaped, reaching transscutal suture medially; finer surface sculpture indiscernible. Metanotum half as long as scutellum; propodeal dorsum as long as scutellum laterally, shorter medially. Forewing with pterostigma large, moderately wide, hind contour weakly arching, with 1r-rs beyond its midlength; base of RS distant from pterostigma by 0.35 × pterostigmal length; 1st section of RS reclival, about half as long as that of M, meeting with the latter at distinct angle; area of forking of RS+M not preserved; RS broadly rectangularly bent between RS+M and 1r-rs; 1r-rs meeting RS at a point almost half its length basal to junction of RS and 2r-m; 3r-m at least partially present; cells 2–3r-m of subequal length, about 0.7 × as long as cell 1mcu; 1m-cu about as long as 1st section of M and slightly shorter than distally adjacent section of Cu; 2m-cu not preserved but M angulation indicating its position at midlength of cell 3rm; crossvein cu-a not unequivocally preserved, if correctly interpreted meeting M+Cu possibly just before its forking. Hindwing with only R, incomplete RS and r-m preserved, with r-m long and oblique. Metasomal terga short and wide, the first almost as wide as the others; apical metasomal structures difficult to interpret. Ovipositor long (possibly 1.5 × as long as forewing), narrow, slightly downcurved. Body length as preserved 6.7 mm (length in life hardly more than 5.5– 6 mm), antenna length about 4.5 mm, forewing length 4.1 mm, ovipositor minimal length 3.3 but possibly more than 5.7 mm.

Figures

FIGURES 2 – 4. Australian Jurassic Hymenoptera, photographs. 2 – 3. Gulgonga beattiei sp. nov., holotype, female. 2. Counterpart (AM F. 110545). 3. Part (AM F. 110544). 4. Apocrita incertae sedis, female, part (AM F. 137586).