Dolichogenidea franklinharbourensis Fagan-Jeffries & Austin, 2021

Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P., Austin, Andrew D. & Investigators, Citizen Science Participants Of Insect, 2021, Four new species of parasitoid wasp (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) described through a citizen science partnership with schools in regional South Australia, Zootaxa 4949 (1), pp. 79-101 : 87-89

Dolichogenidea franklinharbourensis Fagan-Jeffries & Austin sp. nov.

( Fig. 4 )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:01E75EAA-CC91-4A7D-B689-0E57C6C381B1

Material examined. Holotype: South Australia: ♀ Cowell Area School, -33.684293 136.917315, 16.iii–30.iii.2020, E. Fagan-Jeffries & Cowell Area School 4/5 class, 10 m, M/T, EFJ2020MT31, Extraction 1039 ( SAMA: 32-45152, BOLD: AUMIC548-20 ).

Paratype: South Australia: ♀ Andamooka Station, -30.8198802 137.1783585 to -30.6998403 137.1574435, R. Leijs, Vehicle net, Bush Blitz Lake Torrens, Extraction 568 ( SAMA 32-035788 , BOLD: AUMIC360-18 ) .

Diagnosis. This species is morphologically very similar to D. kelleri Fagan-Jeffries, 2019 , but clearly distinct using both COI and Wingless DNA barcodes. In the specimens currently available, it can be differentiated by T3 with only sparse setae in the anterior half ( D. kelleri with T3 regularly setate over whole length).

Of the Australasian species without sequence data, this species most closely resembles D. miris , and can be separated from it by T2 smooth and shining (T2 shallowly sculptured in D. miris ) and by flagellomere 14 slightly longer (antennal flagellomere 14 length/width 1.6 – 1.7, whilst in D. miris flagellomere 14 length/width approximately 1.2).

Dolichogenidea franklinharbourensis can be separated from the remaining Australasian Dolichogenidea species in the following ways:

• From D. biroi ( Szepligeti, 1905) , D. ilione ( Nixon, 1967) , D. lipsis ( Nixon, 1967) , D. tasmanica ( Cameron, 1912) by the absence of a white gena blotch.

• From D. acratos ( Nixon, 1967) , D. brabyi Fagan-Jeffries & Austin, 2019 , D. eucalypti Austin & Allen, 1989 , D. expulsa ( Turner, 1918) , D. forrestae Fagan-Jeffries & Austin, 2019 , D. garytaylori Fagan-Jeffries & Austin, 2019 , D. hyposidrae ( Wilkinson, 1928) , D. orelia ( Nixon, 1967) by having ovipositor sheaths of similar length to the metatibia (all species listed here have ovipositor sheaths significantly shorter than metatibia).

• From D. coequata ( Nixon, 1967) , D. cyamon ( Nixon, 1967) , D. finchi Fagan-Jeffries & Austin, 2018a , D. labaris ( Nixon, 1967) , D. mediocaudata Fagan-Jeffries & Austin, 2018 , D. platyedrae ( Wilkinson, 1928) , D. xenomorph Fagan-Jeffries & Austin, 2018a by having ovipositor sheaths of similar length to the metatibia (all species listed here have ovipositor sheaths significantly longer than metatibia).

• From D. bonbonensis Fagan-Jeffries & Austin, 2019 , D. lobesiae Fagan-Jeffries & Austin, 2019 by having a clearly differentiated white patch on the proximal third of the pterostigma.

• From D. agonoxenae ( Fullaway, 1941) , D. carposinae ( Wilkinson, 1938) , D. gentilis ( Nixon, 1967) , D. heterusiae ( Wilkinson, 1928) by having T2 completely smooth.

• From D. hyblaeae ( Wilkinson, 1928) , D. inquisitor ( Wilkinson, 1928) , D. iulis ( Nixon, 1967) , D. stantoni (Ashmead, 1904) by the absence of a complete areola in the anterior half of the propodeum.

• D. upoluensis ( Fullaway, 1941) , reared from a leaf-mining caterpillar on Ficus in Samoa, was described from a single male specimen, which was unable to be examined. Despite being unable to examine the holotype, we feel that D. upoluensis is highly unlikely to be the same species as that described here. Fullaway’s character, the “first tergite…a little wider at apex than at base, the sides then hardly parallel though straight” ( Fullaway, 1941) could possibly be used to differentiate the species, as D. franklinharbourensis has T1 parallel sided.

Description. FEMALE. Colour. Head, antenna and mesosoma all dark; all tergites and most of metasoma dark, non sclerotised areas of T1–2 and anterior sternites dark (but paler than sclerotised areas of dorsal tergites); hypopygium dark laterally and mostly dark ventrally, ovipositor sheaths dark; (fore-, mid-, hind coxa) dark, dark, dark; (fore-, mid-, hind- trochanter) all transitioning from dark to pale; femora (fore-, mid-, hind femur) mostly pale (in paratype, missing in holotype), pale with dark line along length, mostly dark with pale area at proximal end; tibiae (fore-, mid-, hind tibia) mostly pale (in paratype, missing in holotype), pale, pale transitioning to dark distally; hind tarsi light brown, all paler proximally than distally; tegula and humeral complex dark; pterostigma dark with small pale patch proximally; fore wing veins dark.

Body length. Head to apex of metasoma: 2.8 mm.

Head. Antenna approximately equal to body length; OOL/POD 1.9 (2.2); POL/ POD 2.7 (2.5); antennal flagellomere 2 length/width 2.7 (2.5); antennal flagellomere 14 length/width 1.6 (1.7).

Mesosoma. Anteromesoscutum relatively smooth and shiny, shallowly and regularly punctate; number of pits in scutoscutellar sulcus 12 (13); scutellar disc very smooth and shiny, with only shallow pits associated with setae; maximum height of mesoscutellum lunules/maximum height of lateral face of mesoscutellum 0.6. Propodeal areola clearly differentiated in posterior half of propodeum, with lateral carina clearly visible. In anterior half, areola only differentiated by denser sculpturing than surrounding area. Rest of propodeum mostly smooth and shiny with scattered punctures concentrated in the anterior third.

Wings. Fore wing length 3.0 mm; length of veins r/2RS 1.3; length of veins 2RS/2M 1.4; length of veins 2M/(RS+M)b 1.1; pterostigma length/width 2.8 (2.4).

Legs. Hind tibia inner spur length/hind basitarsus length 0.4.

Metasoma. T1 length / T1 width at posterior margin 1.1; parallel sided, reticulate rugose sculpturing in posterior half with some areas verging on strigose, smooth area in posterior centre, T2 width at posterior margin / T2 length 3.8 (4.2), short and wide with curved lateral sides, very smooth, border with T3 very subtle, only very shallowly indented; T3 sculpture smooth and shiny with scattered setae concentrated in lateral posterior corners; ovipositor sheaths length/hind tibial length 1.1; ovipositor sharply angled approximately 45 degrees below the horizontal in the posterior third.

MALE. Unknown.

Etymology. This species is named by the 2020 Year 4/5 class of students of Cowell Area School, after the collection locality of the type specimen and the district where the school is located. The species epithet is an adjective.

Distribution. This species is only known from South Australia, from one locality on the Eyre Peninsula and one locality in the central arid regions near Lake Torrens.

Host. Unknown.

Molecular information. Dolichogenidea franklinharbourensis forms BIN BOLD:ADL4429 and is 5.31% divergent from the nearest relative on BOLD.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Dolichogenidea franklinharbourensis holotype A) Dorsal habitus B) Fore wing C) Dorsal mesosoma D) Dorsal head E) Lateral habitus F) Anterior head.