Irenangelus acuminatus Binoy & Girish Kumar, 2020

Binoy, C., Wahis, Raymond & Kumar, P. Girish, 2020, Review of the aberrant spider wasp genus Irenangelus Schulz (Pompilidae Ceropalinae) from the Indian subcontinent with the description of a new species, Zootaxa 4860 (2), pp. 257-266 : 259-262

Irenangelus acuminatus Binoy & Girish Kumar , sp. nov.

( Figs 1–12 )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:DC166B27-254C-482C-A10A-538CBD31ECA8

Type material. Holotype, ♂ —“ India: Rajasthan, Sirohi district, Mount Abu (24° 31’ 53.2020’’ N & 72° 44’ 0.0960’’ E, 1220 m), 27.iii.2019, Coll. P. Girish Kumar ” [ ZSIK], Regd. No. ZSI/ WGRC /IR/INV.14316.

Diagnosis. The new species closely resembles I. punctipleuris in general appearance, colouration of the body and in having propodeum transversely striate. It can be separated from I. punctipleuris in having the following set of characters dissimilar: POD almost equal to OOL (in I. punctipleuris POD 0.5× OOD); Gt 1 sessile (in I. punctipleuris Gt 1 petiolate ( Fig. 14 )); flagellum non-crenulate in profile without any angular swelling ventrally (in I. punctipleuris flagellum crenulate in profile with angular swelling below ( Figs 13, 14 )).

Description. Holotype, ♂ ( Figs 1–12 ). Length 4.15 mm; fore wing length 3.1 mm.

Colour. Black with yellow marking as follows: head in frontal view pale yellow with a median isolated black patch just above toruli; clypeus pale yellow; mandibles pale yellow with apices dark reddish brown; cardo of maxilla dark brown with basal and apical yellow spots; other mouth parts pale yellowish brown; in dorsal view head, with median ocellus black, lateral ones reflective red; vertex yellow with area enclosing the ocelli spectacle shaped black patch; occiput black with gena and temples bright yellow; antennal toruli pale yellow; scape and pedicel pale yellow with brown patch dorsally; rest of antennal segments honey brown; pronotum anterior 1/3 rd black, posterior 3/4 th and postero-lateral margins yellow, a yellow patch anterolaterally, a median reddish brown connecting the yellow spots; mesoscutum black with postero-median rectangular yellow patch and yellow streak on margins of lateral flanges; anterior margin and lateral edges of scutellum black with postero-medial large yellow patch; frenum black with medial yellow patch; propodeum medially black with yellow patches laterally; tegulae pale yellow; wings hyaline, iridescent in certain lights; veins deep brown; costal vein yellow; vein R+Sc darker; pterostigma pale brown, moderately translucent; fore and mid legs yellow with the following parts different: fore and mid coxae with dorsal area brown; fore and mid trochanters yellowish brown; fore and mid femora dorso-basally with a brown spot; hind coxa brown with a yellowish streak dorsally; hind trochanter brown with ventrally yellow streak; hind femora brown with apex and ventral streak yellow; hind tibia brownish yellow with dark brown pegs throughout, tibial spur yellow; hind tarsi brown; Gt 1 and Gt 2 yellow with basal half brown; Gt 3 –Gt7 yellow with basal margin black; Gs1–Gs4 brown with yellow markings latero-apically; Gs 6 and hypopygium yellow.

Pubescence. Impressed small white setae on head and mesosoma, metasoma bare; pubescence on propodeum moderate concealing the sculpturing beneath.

Head. Head oblong, in frontal view, 1.04× as wide as long; vertex convex in frontal view; frons with a promi- nent interantennal tubercle ( Fig. 4 ), rest of frons almost flattened at the projection; a median line finely impressed from interantennal area close to anterior ocellus; inner orbits distinctly emarginate at upper 1/3 rd, convergent below; frons at most smooth with scattered punctae throughout, punctae hardly visible over impressed setae ( Fig. 5 ); vertex smooth with small much scattered pits; POD about as long as OOD (2.45: 2.50); scape carinate on ventral half, 1.38× pedicel in profile; flagellomeres on an average 1.42× as long as wide, with short impressed sensillae ventrally; length of fu 1 0.78× fu 2; UID: MID: LID = 1.3:1.5:1; MID 0.68× width of head in frontal view; clypeus truncate ventrally, lateral margins angulate; labrum 1.42× as wide as long, anterior margin straight with short impressed setae ( Fig. 6 ); malar space short; mandibles carinate laterally; gena 0.47× width of eye in profile, dorsally feebly concave; occipital carina strong, complete.

Mesosoma. Pronotum short, weakly angulate to rounded anteriorly in dorsal view with 2–3 rows of scattered punctures, antero-lateral flange swollen, much produced and not concealed by disc in the dorsal view; mesoscutum with scattered small punctures, scutal groove impressed on posterior 3/4 th, anteriorly shallow, postero-lateral margin narrowly reflexed ( Fig. 7 ); scutellum raised and much convex in profile; metapostnotum with fine transverse striae laterally, with a sharp pointed angle medio-apically, medially raised; mesopleuron with scattered punctae, impressed short setae; metapleura microsculptured, moderately setose ( Fig. 9 ); propodeum sharply declining, laterally round- ed, posterior margin weakly emarginate; 1.56× as wide as long, finely and transversely striate, striae masked by the impressed moderately dense white setae, median carina strong ( Fig. 8 ).

Legs. Hind femora 2× as long as hind coxa; metatibia armed with rows of short pegs; longest spur of metatibia 0.45× length of basi-metatarsomere; tarsal claws bifid.

Wings. Fore wing venation as in Fig. 10 . Fore wing crossvein 2r-rs originating slightly after middle of pterostigma; crossvein cu-a usually originating at point of separation of vein M+CuA; SMC2 sqaure to quadrilateral with 2-rs curved, almost equal to SMC3; receiving crossvein lm-cu at basal half.

Metasoma. Sessile, as wide as and longer than mesosoma; Gt 1 non-petiolate, parallel sided, smooth ( Fig. 11 ); paramere with strong setae apico-medially; parapenial lobe long and slender ( Fig. 12 ).

Prey. Unknown.

Etymology. The species epithet is derived from its distinctive metapostnotum; its medio-apex is modified into a sharp-pointed/acuminate angle.

Distribution. India (Rajasthan).

Note. Irenangelus acuminatus Binoy & Girish Kumar , sp. nov. can be distinguished from I. punctipleuris as follows: vertex oblong to weakly convex in frontal view (in I. punctipleuris vertex strongly convex in frontal view); frons with interantennal tubercle (in I. punctipleuris frons without an interantennal tubercle); vertex immaculate yellow with area obtaining ocelli alone black (in I. punctipleuris vertex black throughout ( Fig. 9 )); eyes deeply emarginated (in I. punctipleuris eyes weakly emarginated ( Fig. 17 )); frons and scutellum with scattered and tiny punctures (in I. punctipleuris punctures dense on frons and scutellum); mesopleuron black, without any yellow spots (in I. punctipleuris mesopleuron with two large contagious yellow spots); propodeum moderately setose, black with pale yellow patch limited to lateral surfaces (in I. punctipleuris propodeum bare, yellow with black emarginated patch basally and submedially); SMC3 1–1.5× as long as basal width, almost quadrilateral (in I. punctipleuris SMC 3 atleast 2× as long as basal width, almost rectangular ( Figs 15, 21 ); vein 2-rs distinctly curved with a distinctly unpigmented part below (in I. punctipleuris vein 2-rs straight and completely pigmented); 3-rs never reaching the apical wing margin (in I. punctipleuris vein 3-rs clearly reaching the apical wing margin ( Fig. 21 )). The new species can also be differentiated from the extralimital species, I. pernix in having anterolateral process of pronotum less projecting, not much beyond disc in dorsal view (in I. pernix anterolateral tubercle of pronotum angulate, markedly projecting beyond disc in dorsal view) and frons not depressed, interantennal tubercle moderately raised with a shallow median line(in I.pernix interantennal tubercle abruptly raised from slightly depressed upper frons, with median line deeply and broadly impressed).

Figures

FIGURES 1–8. Irenangelus acuminatus Binoy & Girish Kumar, sp. nov. Holotype, ♂. 1. Habitus, lateral view; 2. Habitus, dorsal view; 3. Head and antenna, lateral view; 4. Head, dorsal view; 5. Head, frontal view; 6. Clypeus in part and labrum; 7. Mesosoma, dorsal view; 8. Scutellum, metanotum, metapostnotum, and propodeum, dorsal view. Scale bar: Figs 1, 2– 2 mm; Figs 3, 5, 7– 500 µm; Figs 4, 8– 200 µm; Fig. 6– 100 µm.

FIGURES 9–12. Irenangelus acuminatus Binoy & Girish Kumar, sp. nov. Holotype, ♂. 9. Head and mesosoma, lateral view; 10. Fore wing and hind wing; 11. Metasoma, lateral view; 12. Gastral sternites and hypopygium, ventral view.. Scale bar: Figs 9, 10, 11–500 µm; Fig. 12– 200 µm.

FIGURES 13–14. Irenangelus punctipleuris Wahis, 2007. Holotype, ♀. 13. Habitus, lateral view; 15. Data on label with part of fore wing.

FIGURES 15–22. Irenangelus punctipleuris Wahis, 2007. ♀. 15. Habitus, lateral view; 16. Habitus, dorsal view; 17. Head, frontal view; 18. Antenna; 19. Head and mesosoma, dorsal view; 20. Head and mesosoma, lateral view; 21. Fore wing and hind wing; 22. Metasoma, lateral view. Scale bar: Figs 15, 16– 5 mm; Figs 17, 18, 19– 1 mm; Figs 20, 21, 22– 2 mm.