Platygaster danyiensis, Buhl, 2014

Buhl, Peter Neerup, 2014, New species and new records of Platygastrinae and Sceliotrachelinae from Togo (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae), African Invertebrates 55 (1), pp. 68-68 : 92-94

Platygaster danyiensis sp. n.

Figs 44, 45

Etymology: Named after the type locality, the Danyi plateau.

Diagnosis:A species slightly more than 1 mm long with head rounded, finely transversely reticulate-striate behind; female A9 1.15× as long as wide; mesosoma 1.15× as high as wide with evenly convex scutellum; notauli absent; female metasoma 1.4–1.5× as long as rest of body, 2.2× as wide as high, T2 striated in basal foveae to 0.4 of length, medially to 0.2.

Description:

Female.

Body length 1.05–1.30 mm. Black; A1, mandibles and legs including coxae yellowish brown; A2–A10, tegulae and last segment of tarsi dark brown. Head from above ( Fig. 45 ) 2.0× as wide as long, 1.35× as wide as mesosoma; occiput finely transversely reticulate-striate, slightly margined in front but without a distinct hyperoccipital carina among the fine striation; vertex finely transversely striated behind ocelli, rest faintly reticulate-coriaceous (not transversely so); frons in upper half smooth, in lower half with very weak, oblique reticulation. OOL=1.6 LOL. Head in frontal view 1.25× as wide as high.Antenna ( Fig. 44 ) with A1 0.8× as long as height of head, about as long as distance between inner orbits; A9 1.15× as long as wide. Mesosoma ( Fig. 45 ) 1.6× as long as wide, 1.15× as high as wide. Sides of pronotum longitudinally reticulate-coriaceous in about anterior 0.4, the rest smooth. Mesoscutum with few setae, most of them along imaginary notaulic courses and sides; disc smooth, with slight rugosity along sides and at anterior ends of imaginary notaulic courses; notauli absent; mid lobe posteriorly blunt, slightly prolonged to base of scutellum, brownish here, at each side with dense, whitish setae over scuto­scutellar grooves. Mesopleuron in upper third with about five weak longitudinal wrinkles, the rest smooth. Scutellum with only a few setae except along sides, and smooth. Metapleuron with pilosity all over. Propodeal carinae very slightly diverging, area between them distinctly transverse and shiny. Fore wing reaching base or apex of T6, 2.95× as long as wide, almost clear, with fine and dense microtrichia; marginal cilia 0.09× width of wing. Hind wing 6.3× as long as wide, with two hamuli; marginal cilia 0.3× width of wing. Metasoma ( Fig. 45 ) 1.4–1.5× as long as head and mesosoma combined, 0.85× as wide as mesosoma, 2.2× as wide as high. 2nd sternite without convexity. T1 with six even, longitudinal carinae. T2 longitudinally striated in narrow basal foveae to almost 0.4 length of tergite, medially with fine striation to 0.2 of length, rest of tergite as well as the following tergites smooth, only T6 with a few spots of fine microsculpture.Apical tergites with a few setae in shallow punctures: about six around midlength on each of T3–T4, about five along each side on each of T5–T6. Comparison: This species is most similar to South African P. applanata Buhl, 2001 , and it runs to this species in Buhl’s (2011 b) key to Afrotropical species of Platygaster , but P. applanata has mesosoma fully 1.1× as wide as high and a less convex scutellum, fore wings only 2.6× as long as wide and with sparse setae, and female metasoma hardly 1.1× as long as rest of body, only 1.8× as wide as high, with T2 striated to 0.4 of entire width.

Holotype: ♀ TOGO: Région des Plateaux, Plateau de Danyi, road from Atigba to Danyi–Apéyémé , at a tributary creek of river Danyi (07°11'04"N 00°41'31"E), 14.iv. 2008, 710 m, creek bank and below shrubs and bamboo, plantation, swept, M. von Tschirnhaus.

Paratype: 1♀ Région des Plateaux, Plateau de Danyi, near Dzogbégan, Monastière de l’Ascension, at river/ creek Danyi (07°14'30"N 00°40'45"E), 14.iv. 2008, 725 m, abandoned plantation ground with three dominant plants ( Eleusine indica , Rhynchelytrum repens , Cyperus sp. ), swept, M. von Tschirnhaus.

Figures

Figs 44, 45.Platygaster danyiensis sp. n., female:(44) antenna, scale bar = 10 μm; (45) body in dorsal view, scale bar = 100 μm.