Pseudonortonia incola, Selis & Nguyen, 2024

Selis, Marco & Nguyen, Lien Thi Phuong, 2024, The Oriental species of the genus Pseudonortonia Giordani Soika (Hymenoptera Vespidae: Eumeninae), Zootaxa 5477 (2), pp. 171-194 : 183-185

Pseudonortonia incola sp. nov.

( Fig. 8 )

Diagnosis. The female of this species can be distinguished from the other Oriental species of Pseudonortonia by the following combination of characters: clypeus sparsely and finely punctate; occipital carina shallow and straight on gena; pronotal carina almost entirely absent dorsally; propodeal shelf as long as metanotum and shallowly furrowed, slightly below level of scutellum; T1 1.05× as long as apically wide and densely punctate, interspaces forming reticulation; T2 with a series of large and elongate pits preceding the short smooth apical part, apical lamella with long and pointed basal costulation; S2 evenly convex basally.

Material examined. HOLOTYPE: ♀ labeled “Kolambugan / Mindanao // HOLOTYPUS / bhamensis / incola [red label] // Pseudonortonia incola / HOLOTYPUS ♀ / Det. Marco Selis [red label]” ( MSNVE).

Description. Female holotype. Body length 8.3 mm; fore wing length 6.9 mm.

Head in frontal view about 1.2× as wide as high. Inner eye margin converging below, interocular distance about 1.5× wider at vertex than at clypeus. Clypeus in frontal view 1.15× as wide as high; basal margin very weakly convex, narrowly separated from antennal toruli; apical margin shallowly emarginate, 0.25× as wide as clypeus, lateral teeth apically rounded and slightly pointing out; clypeus in lateral view weakly and evenly convex, shallowly depressed near apex. Gena 0.55× as wide as eye at level of bottom of ocular sinus; distance from posterior ocellus to occipital carina about 1.65× as distance from posterior ocellus to inner eye margin; cephalic foveae very small and close to each other, placed in a barely developed smooth area just behind ocellar triangle; occipital carina complete, higher on gena and middle of vertex, almost disappearing on sides of vertex, weakly and evenly curved on gena. Mandible with five teeth. Scape 3.2× as long as apically wide; F1 1.45× as long as wide, F2–3 subquadrate, F4–9 wider than long. Mesosoma 1.5× as long as wide. Pronotal carina strong and sharp on lateral faces of pronotum, strongly produced and angled on humeri, where it forms a lobe that is triangular in frontal view and spiniform in dorsal view; pronotal carina barely indicated on dorsal face, slightly sharper for a short median portion. Mesoscutum 1.1× as long as wide; notauli deep but present only in the posterior fourth; mesoscutum in lateral view weakly convex, somewhat flattened posteriorly. Scutellum smoothly passing into mesoscutum, barely convex from side to side; anterior margin crenate and forming five pits, the median and the most lateral ones larger; median longitudinal furrow present but very shallow. Metanotum weakly sloping, with convex sides and shallow median furrow. Tegula broadly rounded, with anterior third of outer margin nearly straight, posterior lobe more or less right-angled and reaching apex of parategula; parategula digitiform and angled. Epicnemial carina complete and strong but not sharp, almost reaching pronotal margin. Posterior face of propodeum with barely developed and irregular median carina; dorsal faces of propodeum meeting along mid-line and forming a propodeal shelf, which is as long as the metanotum and shallowly furrowed; dorsal carinae present but weak and irregular, ventral carinae sharp, lateral carinae barely indicated by a rounded fold of the surface; submarginal carina produced into a subtriangular but apically rounded lobe above valvula; propodeal valvula with emarginate posterior margin, not completely fused to submarginal carina. T1 subpetiolate and narrower than T2, in dorsal view about 1.05× as long as apically wide, sides evenly diverging from carina to apex; T 1 in lateral view with a barely developed basal petiole, then abruptly swollen with evenly convex dorsal margin, shallowly depressed apically; transverse carina strong on dorsal face and pointed in the middle, angled on sides and rapidly disappearing on lateral face. S1 subtriangular with concave apical margin, completely separated from T1 and bearing a pair of large but shallow carinae running from basal petiole to posterior corners. T 2 in dorsal view with sides convex and diverging in basal third, then almost straight and parallel, barely constricted apically; T 2 in lateral view convex in basal third, then flattened with shallow apical depression; apical margin with a series of large and dense elongate pits, delimiting a smooth area which is about as long as the pits and slightly longer than the apical hyaline lamella; apical lamella with elongate and sharp costulation, covering almost the whole length of the lamella. S 2 in lateral view as long as T2 and evenly convex, less bulging basally than T2; apical margin similar to T2 but pits much smaller and sparse and apical lamella shorter. Prestigma subquadrate and very short; second recurrent vein almost interstitial.

Clypeus with very sparse and barely impressed punctures, interspaces equal to several puncture diameters and strongly shiny, with very sparse micropunctures. Frons with dense deep punctures, interspaces narrower than puncture diameter and forming a shiny and shallowly convex reticulation. Vertex and gena similar to frons but with sparser punctures, most interspaces equal to puncture diameter in width; lower narrow part of gena with irregular and denser punctures; occipital carina crenate on middle of vertex and less evidently on gena, with a short longitudinal carina in the middle. Scape with sparse micropunctures and few scattered fine macropunctures. Pronotum similar to frons but punctures larger and interspaces slightly wider; anterior face with deep rounded punctures in the dorsal two thirds, dense with interspaces variable in width. Mesoscutum similar to pronotum but punctures denser, interspaces shiny and forming distinct longitudinal ridges in the area between the notauli. Scutellum similar to mesoscutum, interspaces generally as wide as puncture diameter. Metanotum with very few large punctures in the middle of posterior margin, sides mostly smooth and shiny. Tegula strongly shiny and micropunctate, more densely on the anterior half. Mesepisternum with punctures similar to mesoscutum, partly arranged in oblique series; epicnemium crenate along border of foramen, with deep punctures on mesosternum. Dorsal plate of metaepisternum with strong longitudinal ridges, median ridge particularly developed; ventral plate largely shiny and micropunctate, with crenate anterior margin and small deep punctures on anteroventral corner. Dorsal faces of propodeum coarsely punctate, punctures large and deep, interspaces strongly raised and forming reticulation; lateral faces with shallower and smaller flat-bottomed punctures, mostly arranged in longitudinal series; posterior face shagreened and silky-shiny, with large shallow punctures along dorsolateral margins and irregular short striae on sides of median carina. Postcarinal area of T1 with deep and coarse punctures, larger and coarser along carina, interspaces very narrow and forming a strong reticulation; pre-carinal area mostly smooth with deep punctures arranged in several curved series; apical swollen margin mostly smooth. T2 with deep punctures, slightly denser and more oblique basally, interspaces generally as wide or wider than puncture diameter; T2 preapically bearing a narrow area where punctures become rapidly denser with sharp ridge-like interspaces, followed by the preapical series of elongate pits; area between pits and apical lamella completely smooth and shiny. T3–6 shagreened and with deep oblique punctures becoming progressively sparser and weaker. S1 irregularly rugose in the area between the longitudinal carinae, transversely ridged on sides. S2 with sparse fine punctures, similar to those on disc of T2; apical smooth area preceded by an irregular series of larger punctures. S3–6 similar to respective tergites. Pale golden setae on whole body, longer on frons and sides of mesosoma, shorter and very sparse on tergites; short and dense pubescence on lower part of face including clypeus, gena, sides of mesosoma and posterior face of propodeum; metasoma with dense and darker pubescence, scattered setae denser on sternites than on tergites.

Black; following parts yellow (turned to red post-mortem, probably for KCN): clypeus except longitudinal band originating from basal margin and reaching the middle, mandible except inner margin, elongate interantennal spot, lower face of scape, spot behind upper lobe of eye, wide band along pronotal carina not reaching humeri and fused to line along posterior pronotal margin, tegula, parategula, metanotum, narrow apical band on T1 shortly curved on sides, spots on lateral angles of basal carina of T1, wide bisinuate band on T2 and S2, apical third of fore femur, apex of mid femur, outer face of all tibiae (except apex of hind tibia); flagellum orange below. Wings hyaline with weakly darkened anterior margin and suffused spot at apex of marginal cell.

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. Philippines: Mindanao ( Fig. 10 ).

Etymology. The holotype of this taxon was labeled as holotype of “ bhamensis incola ” by Giordani Soika. Although treated as a species and not a subspecies, the name incola is retained. It is a noun in apposition.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Pseudonortonia incola sp. nov., female holotype. A, habitus, dorsal view. B, habitus, lateral view. C, labels. D, head, frontal view. E, mesosoma, dorsal view. F, T1–2, dorsal view.

FIGURE 10. Distribution map of the Oriental species of Pseudonortonia.