Apanteles (Choeras) fujianensis 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 : 516-518

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

( Figure 6. a–k )

Description. Female. Length of body 6.1 mm, of fore wing 7.1 mm.

Head. 2.3 times as wide as long, slightly narrower than mesoscutum. Antenna with 18 segments, with short setae, almost as long as the body, subapical antennal segments much elongated, 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 2.0, 2.0, 2.5, 2.6 and 2.3 times as long as their width, respectively. In dorsal view length of eye 1.7 times as long as temple. Ocellar triangle finely pubescent and shiny. Ocelli in a very low triangle, the posterior transverse tangent to the median ocellus cutting deeply into the posterior pair; ocelli large, their diameter longer than the distance between the hind and fore ocellus. OOL: OD: POL= 24: 14: 17. Frons smooth and distinctly concave medially, punctulate and slightly strigose laterally, setose laterally and posteriorly. Temple and vertex smooth, shiny and densely pubescent. Face strigose near the antennal sockets, the remainder strongly punctate and finely setose. Clypeus strongly punctate, and densely pubescent. Face with a distinct median longitudinal carina. Length of malar space 0.6 times as long as basal width of mandible.

Mesosoma. Length of mesosoma 1.2 times as long as its height. Side of pronotum smooth, densely and finely setose, with a narrow ventral furrow with a few longitudinal carinae. Propleuron smooth and strongly shiny. Prepectal carina and precoxal sulcus absent. Mesopleuron largely smooth, glabrous, shiny, but narrowly punctulate and setose anteriorly and ventrally. Mesoscutum softly shiny, densely punctulate and setose. Notauli absent. Scutellar sulcus wide with several longitudinal carinae, its width about 1.1 times as long as scutellum. Scutellum relatively sparsely pubescent and strongly shiny. Side of scutellum with rather narrow crenulate depression, lunula large-sized and semicircular. Propodeum shiny and largely smooth, finely and sparsely setose medio-anteriorly and laterally, with a strong median longitudinal carina which bifurcates into several short oblique carinae, more distinct at its base.

Wings. Fore wing evenly covered with brown fine hairs, denser towards the apex. Pterostigma relatively narrow, 3.4 times as long as wide. Vein 1-R1 1.5 times as long as pterostigma and 4.7 times as long as the distance from it to the top of marginal cell. Vein r more or less straight and 1.2 times as long as 2-SR, r arising far beyond the middle of pterostigma and much longer than breadth of pterostigma. Vein 2-SR distinctly curved. Areolet very small and triangular, vein r-m arising from vein 2-SR at a considerable distance proximal to the junction of vein r and 2-SR. 1-CU1: 2-CU1= 7: 6. Vein 1-SR pointing to middle of 1-CU1. Hind wing evenly covered with brown setae. Vein cu-a straight. Edge of vannal lobe beyond its widest part slightly concave and without a fringe of hairs.

Legs. Hind coxa strongly shiny and smooth, densely pubescent, but sparsely pubescent postero-dorsally and laterally. Length of hind coxa about equal to half of mesosoma. Tarsal claws setose. Hind basitarsus relatively long and thin. Longer spur of middle tibia reaching apex of middle basitarsus and terminating in a long bristle. Length of femur, tibia and basitarsus of hind leg 3.0, 5.5 and 6.4 times as long as their width, respectively. Length of hind tibial spurs 0.2 and 0.5 times as long as hind basitarsus, respectively. Hind femur rather densely setose and punctulate.

Metasoma. Tergite I very long and distinctly quadrangular, narrowed apically and lateral sides more or less straight but slightly concave apically, its basal width 1.6 times as long as its apical width which is almost equal to median length of tergite II; with a relatively wide and shallow smooth excavation at basal half which is smooth, the remainder sparsely setose. Tergite II quadrangular, apical margin convex which is 2.3 times as long as both its length and basal width; smooth, strongly shiny and sparsely setose. Remaining tergites smooth, shiny and sparsely setose apically. Ovipositor sheath strongly curved downward and finely hairy, very slender at base and apex, but wider and nearly parallel-sided medially, its length (total length) 2.0 times as long as hind tibia. Hypopygium subhyaline and largely sclerotized, but membranous only near the median line, tightly folded along the middle line, with longitudinal creases laterally, and acute apically.

Colour. Head black. Labrum yellow. Clypeus yellowish brown. Mandibles yellowish brown but brown apically. Face largely brownish but yellowish brown medially. Scape largely yellowish brown but brown laterally. Pedicel and flagellum largely dark brown but basal segments brownish ventrally. Mesosoma yellowish brown except metapleuron brown posteriorly and propodeum black. Wing membrane subhyaline and weakly infuscate. Pterostigma and veins dark brown except vein 1-R1 of fore wing yellowish brown. Fore and middle legs yellow except femur reddish brown. Hind coxa dark reddish brown. Hind trochanter and femur reddish brown. Hind tibia yellowish brown at median 0.7 and the remainder reddish brown. Hind tarsus dark reddish brown. Tibial spurs pale yellow. Tergite I yellow. Tergite II dark brown. Remaining tergites pale yellow with indefinite dark brown streaks. Ovipositor reddish brown, its sheath dark brown.

Male. Unknown.

Biology. Unknown.

Material examined. Holotype, ♀, China, Fujian Prov., Wuyishan, 1989. IX. 7, Wang Jiashe, No. 963958 ( ZJUH).

Distribution. China (Fujian) ( Fig. 21 ).

Remark. The new species is similar to Apanteles (Choeras) apo ( Wilkinson, 1929) , but can be distinguished by the mouthparts not thus lengthened (the latter greatly lengthened); the length of longer hind tibial spur slightly shorter than half of hind basitarsus (the latter about 0.75 times); and the length of ovipositor sheath (total length) 2.0 times as long as hind tibia (the latter rather shorter than hind tibia).

Etymology. The specific name “ fujianensis ” derives from the Fujian province of China, referring to type locality of the species.

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 6. a – k. Apanteles (Choeras) fujianensis Song & Chen, sp. n. a, habitus, lateral view; b, antennae; c, fore wing; d, hind wing; e, head, frontal view; f, head, dorsal view; g, T 1 – T 3, dorsal view; h, metasoma, lateral view; i, scutellum, dorsal view; j, propodeum, dorsal view; k, mesosoma, lateral view.