Apanteles (Choeras) grammatitergitus Song & Chen

Song, Sheng-Nan, He, Jun-Hua & Chen, Xue-Xin, 2014, The subgenus Choeras Mason, 1981 of genus Apanteles Foerster, 1862 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from China, with descriptions of eighteen new species, Zootaxa 3754 (5), pp. 501-554 : 519-521

Apanteles (Choeras) grammatitergitus Song & Chen , sp. n.

( Figure 7. a–j )

Description. Female. Length of body 3.0 mm, of fore wing 3.3 mm.

Head. 2.0 times as wide as long, equal to the width of mesoscutum. Antenna with 18 segments, segments finely setose and matt, shorter than the body length, subapical antennal segments moniliform and cubic, length of 16th segment equal to 15th segment, length of third segment equal to fourth segment, length of third, fourth, 15th, 16th and penultimate segments 3.0, 3.0, 1.0, 1.0 and 1.0 times as long as their width, respectively. In dorsal view length of eye 1.3 times as long as length of temple. Ocellar triangle sparsely setose and softly shiny. Ocelli in a moderately high triangle, the posterior transverse tangent to the median ocellus not touching the posterior pair; ocelli small, their diameter longer than the distance between the hind and fore ocellus, closer to each other than to the eyes. OOL: OD: POL= 17: 6: 11. Frons strongly shiny, smooth and distinctly concave medially, narrowly punctulate and setose laterally and posteriorly. Temple and vertex densely punctulate and pubescent. Face and clypeus punctulate and setose, softly shiny. Face with a median longitudinal carina. Labrum flat and sparsely pubescent. Length of malar space 0.5 times as wide as basal width of mandible.

Mesosoma. Length of mesosoma 1.5 times as long as its height. Side of pronotum slightly rugose and sparsely setose, with distinct ventral furrow and dorsal furrow which with a few longitudinal carinae. Propleuron smooth and shiny. Prepectal carina completely absent. Precoxal sulcus shallow, smooth, glabrous and shiny, almost 0.3 times as long as mesosoma. Mesopleuron distinctly punctulate and setose, but smooth and glabrous medially and postero-dorsally. Mesoscutum softly shiny, densely setose and punctulate, but indistinct posteriorly. Notauli absent. Scutellar sulcus with crenulation, its width about 0.8 times as long as scutellum. Scutellum slightly convex medially, rather sparsely punctulate and setose. Side of scutellum with wide crenulate depression, lunula smallsized and obtusely triangular. Propodeum largely faintly rugose and sparsely setose, medio-posteriorly with some crenulate rugae, no median carina.

Wings. Fore wing evenly covered with brown hairs, denser towards the apex. Pterostigma relatively wide, 2.5 times as long as wide. Vein 1-R1 1.1 times as long as length of pterostigma and about 4.1 times as long as the distance from it to the top of marginal cell. Vein r 0.8 times as long as 2-SR and slightly curved, vein r arising beyond the middle of pterostigma and equal to breadth of pterostigma. Vein 2-SR straight. Stub of vein r-m of fore wing short, resulting in an open second submarginal cell. 1-CU1: 2-CU1= 8: 9. Vein 1-SR pointing to 1-CU1. Hind wing evenly covered with brown setae. Vein cu-a straight. Edge of vannal lobe beyond its widest part straight and here without a fringe of hairs.

Legs. Hind coxa sparsely punctulate and setose laterally, but densely punctulate and pubescent ventrally and dorsally. Length of hind coxa shorter than half of thorax. Tarsal claws slender and setose. Longer spur of middle tibia not reaching apex of middle basitarsus. Length of femur, tibia and basitarsus of hind leg 3.1, 5.0 and 5.4 times as long as their width, respectively. Length of hind tibial spurs 0.4 and 0.3 times as long as hind basitarsus respectively. Hind femur densely punctulate and setose.

Metasoma. Tergite I distinctly quadrangular, slightly narrowed apically and basally, its basal width 1.2 times as long as its apical width which is 3.7 times as long as median length of tergite II; basal 0.3 with a shallow basal excavation which is smooth and shiny, the remainder slightly rugose and sparsely setose. Tergite II transversely rectangular and very broad, almost linear, apical side slightly curved which is 2.2, 8.0 times as long as basal width and its length; area of tergite II slightly and faintly rugose, sparsely setose and punctulate apically. Tergite III longer than tergite II. Remaining tergites smooth, densely setose. Ovipositor sheath hairy, very slender at base, but broadening conspicuously towards apex and apical acute, length of it (total length) 1.2 times as long as hind tibia. Hypopygium largely sclerotized but membranous near the median line, tightly folded along the middle line but without longitudinal creases laterally and acute apically.

Colour. Head black. Mandible yellowish brown and dark reddish brown apically. Clypeus black. Labrum yellowish brown. Antenna dark brown. Mesosoma black. Wing membrane subhyaline. Pterostigma dark brown. Veins of fore wings brown and veins of hind wings weakly pigmented. Fore and middle legs yellow except distal tarsi black. Hind coxa black. Hind trochanter and femur yellow. Basal part of hind tibia yellow and remainder yellowish brown. Hind tarsi brown except basal part of basitarsus yellowish. Tibial spurs yellow. Tergite I yellow basally half and remainder black. Tergite II black. Remaining tergites dark brown with white tinge. Ovipositor yellowish brown, its sheath dark brown.

Variation. Body length 3.0– 3.4 mm. Fore wing length 3.3–3.7 mm. Paratype almost with the same characteristics as holotype.

Male. Unknown.

Biology. Unknown

Material examined. Holotype, ♀, China, Ningxia Prov., Jingyuan, Liupanshan, Qiuqianjia Forest Farm, 2008. VII. 8, Liu Jingxian, No. 200905480 ( ZJUH). Paratypes: 1♀, China, Sichuan Prov., Wolong Natural Reserve, 2006. VII. 21, Zhang Hongying, No. 20061253 ( ZJUH).

Distribution. China (Sichuan, Ningxia) ( Fig. 21 ).

Remark. The new species is similar to Apanteles (Choeras) zerovae ( Kotenko, 2007) , but can be distinguished by the tergite I distinctly quadrangular and slightly tapering towards the posterior margin (the latter almost parallelsided and slightly concave apically); the apical width of tergite I 3.7 times as long as median length of tergite II (the latter about 2.0 times); the propodeum with no median carina (the latter with a distinct median longitudinal carina); and the vein r 0.8 times as long as 2-SR (the latter much longer).

Etymology. The specific name “ grammatitergitus ” derives from the Latin adjective “grammatus” and adjective “tergitus”, referring to the tergite II transversely rectangular, very narrow and broad.

Figures

FIGURE 21. Distribution map of Choeras species in China II. ●: Apanteles (Choeras) flavicorpus Song & Chen, sp. n.; ■: Apanteles (Choeras) fujianensis Song & Chen, sp. n.; ▲: Apanteles (Choeras) grammatitergitus Song & Chen, sp. n.; Δ: Apanteles (Choeras) infirmicarinatus Song & Chen, sp. n.; ┼: Apanteles (Choeras) longitergitus Song & Chen, sp. n.; ○: Apanteles (Choeras) longus Song & Chen, sp. n..

FIGURE 7. a – j. Apanteles (Choeras) grammatitergitus Song & Chen, sp. n. a, habitus, lateral view; b, antenna; c, fore wing; d, hind wing; e, head, dorsal view; f, head, frontal view; g, mesoscutum and scutellum, dorsal view; h, mesosoma, lateral view; i, metasoma, lateral view; j, propodeum and T 1 – T 3, dorsal view.