Dolichogenidea forrestae Fagan-Jeffries & Austin, 2019

Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P., Cooper, Steven J. B. & Austin, Andrew D., 2019, New species of Australian microgastrine parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) documented through the ‘ Bush Blitz’ surveys of national reserves, Zootaxa 4560 (3), pp. 401-440 : 415-416

Dolichogenidea forrestae Fagan-Jeffries & Austin sp. nov.

( Fig. 11 )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3FDC2335-3A17-4169-AAC0-D23E6386031C

Material examined (including Genbank numbers of DNA barcodes). Holotype: South Australia: ♀ Great Victoria Desert between Oak Valley and 64km NW, 29°00'24.23"S, 130°15'37.37"E to 29°24'57.70"S, 130°43'51.83"E, 3/ix/2015, J.A. Forrest, R. Leijs, vehicle net, Euc. woodland (SAMA: 32-036145; Genbank COI:

MK 073917 ). Other material: South Australia: ♂ Great Victoria Desert , Cook Road , 28.9684°S, 130.0772°E to 29.0449°S, 129.9475°E, 29/viii/2015, J.A. Forrest, R. Leijs, vehicle net ( SAMA: 32-036146; Genbank COI: MK 073916 ) .

Diagnosis. Dolichogenidea forrestae can be separated from D. biroi , D. ilione , D. lipsis , and D. tasmanica by the absence of a white gena blotch. Dolichogenidea bonbonensis , D. carposinae , D. coequata , D. cyamon , D. finchi , D. gentilis , D. heterusiae , D. hyblaeae , D. ilione , D. inquisitor , D. iulis , D. kelleri , D. labaris , D. lobesiae , D. mediocaudata , D. miris , D. platyedrae , D. stantoni , and D. xenomorph all have ovipositor sheaths at least 0.7 x as long as the metatibia, generally much longer, whilst D. forrestae has ovipositor sheaths only 0.6 x the length of the metatibia. Dolichogenidea bonbonensis , which has ovipositor 0.7 x the metatibia, is also differentiated by a more clearly differentiated areola. Dolichogenidea brabyi , D. eucalypti , D. garytaylori , and D. hyposidrae all have the propodeal areola at least partially defined, whilst D. forrestae only has several fine diverging carinae at the posterior centre of the propodeum. Dolichogenidea orelia has a complete areola and shorter ovipositor sheaths compared to D. forrestae . Dolichogenidea acratos has a similar ovipositor sheath to metatibia ratio (0.5) to D. forrestae (0.6) but has a strongly carinate, complete propodeal areola easily separated from the indistinct areola of D. forrestae . Dolichogenidea agonoxenae is described as having a strongly formed propodeal areola and costulae which distinguishes the species from the indistinct areola of D. forrestae . Dolichogenidea expulsa can be differentiated from D. forrestae by a complete areola, T1 broadening posteriorly ( D. forrestae has T1 with parallel margins) and T2 densely rugose ( D. forrestae has T2 almost smooth). Dolichogenidea upoluensis is described as having an indistinct areola and costulae with very weak carinae, implying that the costulae carinae are still able to be distinguished, which separates this species from D. forrestae which has a propodeum with no trace of lateral carinae ( Table 1).

Description. FEMLAE. Colour: all dark, antenna dark; coxae (pro-, meso-, metacoxa) dark, dark, dark; femora (pro-, meso-, metafemur) dark, dark to paler at posterior end, dark; tibiae (pro-, meso-, metatibia) dark, dark with lighter area anteriorly, dark with lighter area anteriorly; tegula and humeral complex pale; pterostigma dark; fore wing veins mostly dark, M+CU1, 1-M and 1-SR+M pale. Head: antenna approximately equal to body length; body length (head to apex of metasoma) 2.5 mm; ocular–ocellar line/posterior ocellus diameter 1.6; interocellar distance/posterior ocellus diameter 2.3. Mesosoma : anteromesoscutum punctate, punctures mostly evenly sized and spaced, but generally smaller and more distinct over notauli; mesoscutellar disc with numerous tiny shallow scattered punctures associated with setae; number of pits in scutoscutellar sulcus 21–22; maximum height of mesoscutellum lunules/maximum height of lateral face of mesoscutellum 0.5–0.6. Wings: fore wing length 2.5 mm; length of veins r/2RS 1.5; length of veins 2RS/2M 1.3; length of veins 2M/(RS+M)b 2.0; pterostigma length/width 2.6. Legs: metatibia inner spur length/metabasitarsus length 0.6. Propodeum: generally smooth, scattered shallow punctures, areola only indicated by slight depression and area of rugosity in posterior centre of propodeum and multiple short diverging carinae posteriorly. Metasoma: T1 length/width at posterior margin 1.2; T1 shape broad, rectangular, almost parallel-sided, T1 sculpture punctate; T2 width at posterior margin/length 3.5; T2 sculpture almost smooth; T3 sculpture smooth and shiny; hypopygium with central membranous area mid-ventrally; ovipositor sheaths length/metatibial length 0.6.

Etymology. This species is named for Jan Forrest (OAM) who collected the specimens, and who once supervised a young high school student (author EPF-J) volunteering in the South Australian Museum entomology collection and exposed her to the world of professional insect collections for the first time. The species name is an invariable genitive.

Distribution. So far only collected from the Great Victoria Desert, in western SA.

Remarks. We include in the examined material a male specimen from the same location that resembles the female in the form of the propodeum, but with T1 narrower and longer (T1 length/width at posterior margin ratio larger) and much smoother, and T2 more triangular. The differences in the tergites between the male and female specimens were quite pronounced and larger than what we would generally consider species-level variation. However, the sequenced COI barcode has a divergence of only 5 SNPs (0.08% divergent), well within the normal genetic threshold of a microgastrine species. As such, we include it here, but with the substantial morphological variation we question the validity of the DNA barcode, and do not include this specimen in the type series. The BOLD BIN for D. forrestae is BOLD:ADO7795.

Figures

FIGURE 11. Dolichogenidea forrestae: holotype. A. propodeum, T1–2; B. anterior head; C. lateral habitus; D. anteromesoscutum, mesoscutellar disk; E. hypopygium and ovipositor sheaths.