Habronyx punensis Porter, 2007

Porter, Charles C., 2007, Habronyx Foerster (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Anomaloninae) in Andean and Neantarctic South America with description of new species from Bolivia and Chile, Insecta Mundi 2007 (20), pp. 1-8 : 5-6

Habronyx punensis Porter , new species

( Figure 4-6)

Description. Female Holotype. Similar to H. citrinus from which it differs as follows. Color: second gastric tergite faintly blackish on dorsum toward middle; fourth tergite with black on much of its apical 0.5; fore and mid trochanters largely black with some orange above and apically; hind leg with trochantellus blackish with obscure orange staining, tibia rather dull orange on about its basal 0.3 but otherwise black, and first tarsomere dull orange with black on its apical 0.3; wings hyaline.

Length of fore wing: 9.3 mm. First flagellomere 2.6 times as long as deep at apex. Front with a sharp carina running from median ocellus ventrad to between antennal scrobes. Vertex: line from hind ocellus to occipital carina about 0.4 times the width of ocellus. Mesopleural disc on its lower 0.5 with strong, medium sized to large not at all recticulately confluent punctures which are mostly subadjacent or a little sparser with smooth, shining interspaces. Wing venation: nervulus only 0.2 times its length postfurcal; discoidella traceable throughout but spectral, largely desclerotized. Hind leg with femur 5.8 times as long as deep, second tarsomere 2.6 times as long as deep. Gaster with postpetiole 1.4 times as long as wide at apex.

Male Allotype. Differs from female as follows: Color: fore and mid trochanters more largely orange than in female; hind tibia orange with dusky staining on basal 0.4 and black on distal 0.6.

Length of fore wing 8.6 mm. First flagellomere 3.0 times as long as deep at apex. Mesopleuron: lower 0.5 of disc with punctures a little larger and more crowded than in female but not reticulately coalescing. Wing venation: discoidella desclerotized and barely traceable on basal 0.5, a little better developed on distal 0.5. Second hind tarsomere 3.3 times as long as deep at apex.

Type material. Holotype female, BOLIVIA, La Paz, Huaraco-Aroma , 23-III-1994, colectado en cultivos de quinua, salió de larvas de Noctuidae [ FSCA] . Allotype male, BOLIVIA, La Paz, Murillo, Laboratorio de Entomología en Cota Cota , 23-III-1994, colectado en cultivos de quinua, salió de larvas de Noctuidae [ FSCA] .

Relationships. This species is very similar to the Chilean H. citrinus but differs in its more nearly hyaline wings, more extensively black gaster and legs, presence of a sharp median carina on the front, strongly but not reticulately punctate mesopleural disc, more briefly postfurcal nervulus, and more weakly sclerotized or even in part spectral nervellus.

Some of these characters may not hold up when more specimens are at hand to show a fuller range of variation. However it would be unusual for a single species to occur from central Chile all the way north into the Andean steppe of Bolivia, although many temperate South American genera are represented by closely related species in each area.

For example, as described by Porter (1967), the ichneumonid genus Trachysphyrus Haliday has the Metallicus species group at 3000-4000 m in the highlands of Bolivia and Perú, while its presumed sister taxon, the Irinus species group, occurs in Neantarctic central Chile from Atacama to Malleco (27 th- 37 th parallel) and at altitudes of 300-3000 m , with most records from below 2300 m.

Hosts. These specimens were reared from an unidentified noctuid moth larvae on Chenopodium quinoa Willd. (Angiospermae: Chenopodiaceae ).

Habitat Notes. The type series was collected near La Paz, Bolivia at more than 3000m in the high Andean steppe or Puna Biogeographic Province as defined by Cabrera and Willink (1973). Chenopodium quinoa , host plant of the noctuid larva from which H. punensis was reared, is a desertic halophyte, native to the Andean highlands of Bolivia and Perú, where it is cultivated for its edible seeds and leaves.

Specific Name. An adjective derived from the Quechua word puna by addition of the Latin locative suffix -ensis.