Platygaster lobata, 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 : 96-97

Platygaster lobata sp. n.

Figs 51–54

Etymology: Derived from Latin lobus (lobe); in reference to the characteristic long mid lobe of mesoscutum.

Diagnosis: Female A9 1.15× as long as wide; notauli absent; mid lobe of mesoscutum extended over anterior 0.4 of scutellum; propodeal carinae strongly diverging; female metasoma slightly longer than rest of body.

Description:

Female.

Body length 0.9 mm. Dark reddish brown with blackish head, A1–A5, mandibles and legs rather uniformly yellowish brown, last segment of all tarsi slightly darkened; A6–A10 dark reddish brown. Head from above ( Fig. 51 ) 2.2× as wide as long, 1.25× as wide as mesosoma, rather dull due to very fine reticulate microsculpture; occiput also with weak, semi-circular transverse striation over most of width; vertex and frons without other sculpture (vertex with a few transverse elements postero-medially); occiput margined anteriorly but without a distinct carina. OOL=LOL. Head in frontal view 1.25× as wide as high. Antenna ( Fig. 52 ) with A1 0.85× as long as height of head, longer than distance between (measured at midlength of frons) inner orbits (about 12:11); A9 about 1.15× as long as wide. Mesosoma 1.4× as long as wide, 1.05× as high as wide. Sides of pronotum smooth, with sparse setation over most of surface. Mesoscutum bare along middle, the rest with sparse and slightly unevenly distributed setae; disc with very fine microsculpture, almost smooth all over; notauli absent; hind margin with a wide prolongation medially, covering anterior 0.4 of scutellum, at each side with about seven long setae over scuto-scutellar grooves. Mesopleuron smooth. Scutellum ( Fig. 53 ) with only a few setae, at level of mesoscutum, evenly sloping down from end of mesoscutal prolongation. Metapleuron with pilosity all over. Propodeal carinae short, markedly diverging; area between them smooth, as long as the width between carinae at their anterior end. Fore wing hardly surpassing tip of metasoma, 0.7× as long as entire body, 2.5× as long as wide, almost clear, with fine and dense microtrichia; length of marginal cilia 0.08× width of wing. Hind wing 5.7× as long as wide, with two hamuli; marginal cilia nearly 0.4× width of wing. Metasoma ( Fig. 54 ) slightly longer than head and mesosoma combined (28:27), 0.9× as wide as mesosoma. T1 with weak longitudinal crenulation and three slightly more prominent longitudinal carinae. T2 with weak longitudinal striation in basal foveae to 0.4× length of tergite, between basal foveae are four longitudinal carinae reaching hardly 0.2 length of tergite. T3–T6 almost smooth, each with a transverse row of setae inserted in shallow punctures: six on each of T3–T4, eight on each of T5–T6.

Comparison: This species is somewhat similar to P. sonnei Buhl, 2011 , and P. tricarinata sp. n., because of the prolonged mid lobe of mesoscutum. It runs to P. sonnei in Buhl’s (2011 b) key, but that species has A5 distinctly shorter and narrower than A4 (in P. lobata , A5 is fully as long and as wide as A4), A9 as wide as long, propodeal carinae parallel, less elongate wings with sparse microtrichia, and metasoma only 0.9× as long as rest of body, as wide as mesosoma, with slightly longer striation on base of T2. P. tricarinata has A9 as wide as long, longer notauli, shorter prolongation over base of scutellum, and parallel propodeal carinae. Cf. also description of P. tricarinata below.

Holotype: ♀ TOGO: Région des Plateaux, Akloa, at creek Domi coming from the Cascades d’Akloa (07°30'46"N 00°36'36"E), 22.iv. 2008, 280 m, cocoa and avocado plantation, swept, M. von Tschirnhaus.

Figures

Figs 51–54. Platygaster lobata sp. n., female: (51) head in dorsal view; (52) antenna; (53) scutellum and propodeal carinae in lateral view; (54) metasoma in dorsal view.