Keratodellitha kirin, 2021

Jouault, Corentin, Maréchal, Arthur, Condamine, Fabien L., Wang, Bo, Nel, André, Legendre, Frédéric & Perrichot, Vincent, 2022, Including fossils in phylogeny: a glimpse into the evolution of the superfamily Evanioidea (Hymenoptera: Apocrita) under tip-dating and the fossilized birth-death process, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 194, pp. 1396-1423 : 1408-1410

KERATODELLITHA KIRIN MARÉCHAL, JOUAULT & PERRICHOT SP. NOV.

( FIGS 5 , 6 )

Z o o b a n k r e g i s t r a t i o n: u r n: l s i d: z o o b a n k. org:act: 47865DDE-514F-4583-AB69-FF0D02A3BD5D

Holotype: IGR.BU-021 , preserved in rectangular piece of amber measuring 9 mm × 6 mm × 3 mm.

Type locality and horizon: Hkamti site, Hkamti District, Sagaing Region, Myanmar; early Albian (~110 Mya), Early Cretaceous.

Etymology: Named in reference to the fabled animal from Chinese mythology, Qilin or Kirin (DZDz). It was a chimeric creature that combined the traits of several animals and is a general allusion to the fierce and enigmatic habitus of the species. The specific epithet is a noun in apposition.

Diagnosis: Scape short, about twice as long as pedicel; pretarsal claws of all legs bidentate; fore wing vein Rs+M longer than 2Rs; second and third submarginal cells equal in length; 1rs-m meeting Rs slightly after r-rs; 2rs-m complete and tubular; second discal cell short (about twice as long as wide); hind wing with five hamuli; metasoma with cylindrical gaster.

Description: Female. Total length as preserved 4.87 mm (excluding antennae and ovipositor); fore wing ≥ 2.35 mm long; hind wing ~ 1.5 mm long; integument largely dark brown or clear brown, glabrous mesosoma without pronounced sculpturing or punctation except on propodeum, which is coarsely and strongly areolate; wings clear and hyaline, veins brown to light brown.

Head wider than long, 0.64 mm wide; genal space ~ 0.2 mm; compound eye 0.42 mm long, 0.30 mm wide; three ocelli arranged in an equilateral triangle on vertex, ~ 0.05 mm in diameter each and distant from each other by 2.5 times their diameter; prominent facial horn projecting 0.44 mm in length (measured at apex); scape longer than wide, ~ 0.24 mm long; pedicel ~ 0.13 mm long, conical and shorter than flagellomere I; flagellomere I the longest, ~ 0.30 mm long; clypeal area partly hidden by debris within amber matrix; mandibles massive, rectangular, ~ 0.15 mm wide, the masticatory margin with large, blunt apical tooth followed by two(?) blunt teeth; outer margin of mandible covered by setae; palp formula (maxillary– labial) at least 5-3.

Mesosoma laterally compressed, thinner than head, longer than high, 1.4 mm long, 0.94 mm high; pronotum well developed, 0.28 mm in maximal length; mesoscutum 0.55 mm long, slightly arched anteriorly; notauli not visible owing to preservation; mesopleuron wide, ~ 0.80 mm in maximal length, with small, oblique row of weak areolae along pronotal margin, and even weaker row of areolae along metepisternal margin; propodeum coarsely and strongly areolate, distinctly setose around petiolar insertion; length of propodeal dorsal surface between metanotum and articulation with metasomal petiole ~ 0.30 mm; legs long, thin, with five thin tarsomeres; meso- and metacoxae closer to each other than to procoxa; metacoxa 0.67 mm long, metatrochanter 0.29 mm long, metafemur 1.49 mm long, metatibia 1.29 mm long; metabasitarsus elongate, combined length of tarsomeres ~ 1.65 mm; tibial spurs formula 1-2-2, protibial spur bifid; pretarsal claws ~ 0.05 mm long, each with a single pre-apical tooth situated at about two-thirds of claw length.

Fore wing with costal space apically about as broad as pterostigma; pterostigma much longer than wide, tapering gradually in width; marginal cell narrow, with vein 1Rs slightly convex; vein M+Cu forking distally at midlength of Sc+R; 1M straight to slightly curved, forming faint angle at junction with 1Rs; 1M shorter than 1Rs; 1Rs originating basal to pterostigma at a distance subequal to pterostigmal width; 1rs-m meeting Rs slightly after r-rs; Rs+M nearly straight; 2Rs greatly longer than 2M but conspicuously shorter than Rs+M; 2M exceedingly short and directed posteriorly to meet lm-cu; r-rs originating slightly before pterostigmal midlength, elongate, longer than 2Rs; marginal cell long and wide; two rs-m crossveins present, both tubular; second submarginal cell with posterior border 0.66 times shorter than that of third submarginal cell; second and third submarginal cells subequal in length; discal cell almost forming strongly slanted rhomboid (not distinctly pentagonal owing to exceptionally short 2M); lm-cu slightly concave, slightly shorter than lCu; 2m-cu conspicuous and tubular; 2cu-a present, enclosing subbasal cell. Hind wing with venation nearly complete, lacking only C; R with five distal hamuli, not meeting 2Rs apically; rs-m oblique, longer than 1Rs; Cu orthogonal to M+Cu; jugal lobe absent.

Metasoma ~ 2.50 mm long; first metasomal segment forming a tubular petiole (0.66 mm long) slightly widening posteriorly, with tergum I and sternum I fused without apparent indication of individual sclerites; gaster slightly ovoid, elongate and laterally compressed (nearly flat, maybe owing to conservation), broadest at about its midlength; six tergites visible, respectively 0.32, 0.40, 0.40, 0.48, 0.72 and 0.16 mm long; ventral base of apical tergite covering ovipositor insertion; ovipositor exerted, moderately long, ~ 0.90 mm long (not totally visible), sheaths slightly longer than ovipositor.

Male unknown.

Figures

Figure 5. Keratodellitha kirin. Holotype IGR.BU-021 (female). A, habitus in left lateral view. B, habitus in right lateral view. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Figure 6. Keratodellitha kirin. Holotype IGR.BU-021 (female). A, head in left profile view. B, head in full-face view. C, wings. D, line drawing of wing venation with nomenclature. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.