Apterogyna flavicapillata Soliman & Gadallah

Soliman, Ahmed M., Gadallah, Neveen S., Al-Shahat, Ahmed M. & Pagliano, G., 2015, The genus Apterogyna Latreille, 1809 in Egypt, with three new species (Hymenoptera: Bradynobaenidae: Apterogyninae), Zootaxa 3905 (2), pp. 209-220 : 211-213

Apterogyna flavicapillata Soliman & Gadallah , sp. nov.

( Figs 1−7 )

Material examined. Holotype ♀: Egypt, Saint Catherine, S. Sinai [28°34'01"N, 33°57'31"E], 12−13.xi.2014 (leg. Ahmed M. Al-Shahat) Pitfall trap [ CUE]. Paratype 1 ♀: Egypt, Saint Catherine, S. Sinai [28°34'01"N, 33°57'31"E], 28.v.2014 (leg. Ahmed M. Al-Shahat) [ CUE].

Description. FEMALE (holotype). Body length 10 mm. Colour. Red, except metasomal segments 2−6 black; mid and hind tibial spurs waxy white; eye black. Pubescence. Face (upper half) clothed with recumbent golden setae ( Fig. 2 ), lower half and scape of antenna clothed with white recumbent setae; clypeus, occiput and basal third of mandible with long erect white setae, denser on clypeus; mesosomal dorsum clothed with erect golden setae ( Fig. 5 ); mesopleuron, metasoma and legs clothed with long erect whitish setae; T1, T2 with moderately-developed tuft of white setae apicomesally ( Fig. 6 ); metasomal segments 3−5 with apical fringe of such setae, more pronounced on T3.

Head. In dorsal view as broad as pronotum, gently convergent behind eyes; subrounded in frontal view, its width 1.3 × head height; vertex convex when seen from frontal view, densely subcontiguously punctate, gently sloping posteriorly; face densely punctate; eye small, subspherical, slightly prominent, with middle-transversal axis located slightly above midline between free margin of clypeus and vertex ( Fig. 2 ); malar space 0.8 × as long as longitudinal eye diameter (LED); distance between antennal tubercles 0.5 × tubercle length; clypeus strongly convex; gena without tubercle at the level of lower ocular margin; mandible slender, with weak subapical tooth ( Fig. 3 ). Scape gently convex; F1 scarcely longer than F2, F2 and F3 equal in length. Palpal segments slender.

Mesosoma . Dorsally foveate-reticulate, foveae larger on dorsal face of propodeum than elsewhere ( Fig. 4 ); pronotum with anterior face gently declivous, humeral angle gently rounded and posterior margin slightly concave ( Fig. 4 ), longitudinally ridged laterally; propodeal posterior face gently declivous and obliquely ridged. Mesopleuron longitudinally ridged anteriorly and coarsely punctate posteriorly ( Fig. 5 ); metapleuron coarsely ridged ( Fig. 5 ); mesosternum polished and impunctate.

Metasoma. T1 widened posteriorly (pear-shaped), as long as its maximal width, superficially foveate ( Fig. 6 ); apicomesal tuft of T1 0.8 × as wide as that on T2 ( Fig. 6 ); T2 0.6 × as long as wide, bell-shaped; T2, T3 closely ellipsoid punctate ( Fig. 6 ); T6 triangular, with continuous (not interrupted) longitudinal ridges, bordered laterally with sharp teeth that progressively reduce in size distally ( Fig. 7 ). S1 smooth on its posterior broad part, with superficial sparse punctures anteriorly; S2, S3 puncticulate, punctures large and contiguous laterally, leaving transverse smooth area apically; S4, S5 smooth; S1−S5 with a row of fine punctures along their apical margins (setal insertion); S6 smooth except for few punctures apicolaterally.

MALE unknown.

Distribution. Egypt: South Sinai.

Remarks. This species resembles Apterogyna olivieri except for the following: body with scattered setae (dense in A. olivieri especially on head); face (upper part) and mesosomal dorsum with scattered erect golden setae (with dense recumbent whitish setae intermixed with erect ones in A. olivieri ( Fig. 18 )); setal tufts on T1 and T2 moderately-developed (well-developed in A. olivieri ( Fig. 17 )). It also resembles A. mateui Giner Marí, 1945 (distributed in Algeria, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania and Western Sahara) but differs in the following: metasomal T2 and T3 with ellipsoid punctures, without ridges in between ( Fig. 6 ) (with oblong punctures and few ridges in between in A. mateui ); head especially upper face and mesosomal dorsum clothed with golden setae ( Fig. 2 ) (whitish in A. mateui ).

Etymology. The name flavicapillata (Latin, adjective) refers to the golden setae covering the head and mesosoma .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 7. Apterogyna flavicapillata sp. nov., holotype, ♀. 1. Habitus, dorsal view; 2. Head, frontal view; 3. Mandible; 4. Mesosoma, dorsal view; 5. Mesosoma, lateral view; 6. T 1 – T 2; 7. T 6.

FIGURES 16 – 22. Apterogyna olivieri Latreille. 16. Habitus, dorsal view ♀; 17. T 1 – T 2 ♀; 18. Head and mesosoma, lateral view ♀; 19. Mesosoma, lateral view ♂; 20. Mesosoma, dorsal view ♂; 21. T 1 – T 2 ♂; 22. T 3 ♂.