Keratodellitha basilisci, 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 : 1403-1405

KERATODELLITHA BASILISCI JOUAULT, MARÉCHAL, WANG & PERRICHOT SP. NOV.

( FIGS 1, 2 )

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: C67E5240-F1BC-4836-86F7-3B9D1D375AA8

Holotype: NIGP174738 , preserved in a rectangular piece of amber measuring 17 mm × 10 mm × 6 mm.

Type locality and horizon: Noije Bum Hill, Hukawng Valley, Kachin State, Myanmar; upper Albian to lower Cenomanian, mid-Cretaceous.

Etymology: The specific epithet refers to the basilisk (Latin basiliscus), a mythical animal that intermingled 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 a genitive case.

Diagnosis: Scape long, ~3.5 times longer than pedicel; outer (external) pretarsal claw of foreleg with two preapical teeth; fore wing vein Rs+M as long as 2Rs; third submarginal cell as long as second one; 1rs-m meeting Rs slightly before r-rs; 2rs-m tubular; second discal cell short (twice as long as wide); hind wing with six hamuli; gaster laterally compressed (as in Evaniidae ), rounded in shape.

Description: Female. Total length as preserved 4.4 m m (e x c l u d i n g a n t e n n a e a n d o v i p o s i t o r); fore wing 2.7 mm long; integument dark brown except metasoma lighter; body largely glabrous except legs bearing short, thick setae; integument without pronounced sculpturing or punctation, largely finely imbricate; propodeum coarsely and strongly areolate; wings clear and hyaline, veins brown to light brown in preserved colour.

Head slightly shorter than wide in frontal view, width 0.95 mm and length 0.87 mm; genal width 0.2 mm; compound eyes ovoid, without prominent circumocular carina, 0.51 mm long, 0.3 mm wide; ocelli present and situated in a small triangle on top of vertex above compound eyes and immediately behind facial prominence, ocelli separated by approximately their diameter and from posterior border of head by about twice their diameter. Prominent facial horn projecting to a length of 0.37 mm in profile (from anterior toruli margin to apex of the horn). Antenna with scape ~3.5 times pedicel length, 0.43 mm long, 0.07 mm wide; pedicel more than twice as long as wide; flagellomeres each longer than wide except two apical most; flagellomere I the longest (0.31 mm long). Clypeal base indistinct from frons (epistomal sulcus lacking), with strong medial longitudinal ridge, ridge extends posteriorly with a small sharp tooth and anteriorly projects as small triangular prominence between mandibles. Palp formula (maxillary–labial) at least 6-3. Mandible massive, square shaped in frontal view, with straight outer and apical margins meeting in a rounded orthogonal angle; inner margin with ridges demarcating blunt ‘teeth’, apical tooth well projected without overlapping opposing mandible.

Mesosoma laterally compressed, longer than high, length 2.2 mm, height 1.41 mm; pronotum prominent, with well-developed concave anterior surface, with poorly defined raised posterior surface, medially longer than wide, lateral surfaces large and slightly depressed; propleura long but not projecting anterior to pronotum; mesoscutum 0.53 mm long, notauli distinct; mesoscutellum convex in profile, 0.27 mm in its medial length; mesopleuron with small, oblique row of faint areolae demarcating border with pronotal lateral surface and more distinct, single row of areolae along border with metepisternum; propodeum weakly areolate, with prominent dorsal surface, dorsal length between metanotum and articulation with petiole equal to 0.3 mm. Legs long, with slender tarsi; meso- and metacoxae closer to each other than to procoxa; metafemur 1.81 mm long, metatibia 1.71 mm long; metabasitarsus elongate but slightly shorter than combined lengths of remaining tarsomeres, metabasitarsus length 0.8 mm, lengths of remaining tarsomeres (from base to apex), 0.34, 0.3, 0.16 and 0.23 mm. Formula of tibial spurs 1-2-2. Apex of all tarsi with a plantula. Outer pretarsal claw of foreleg tridentate (bearing two small pre-apical teeth), all other claws bidentate (with a single pre-apical tooth).

Fore wing with costal space apically slightly broader than pterostigma; pterostigma longer than wide, tapering gradually in width to acute apex, margin inside marginal cell faintly convex; vein M+Cu forking after Sc+R midlength; 1M straight, nearly aligned with and longer than 1Rs; 1Rs originating prior to pterostigma a distance inferior to its length; 1rs-m meeting Rs slightly before r-rs; 2Rs longer than 1Rs; 2M small, meeting 1m-cu, then M abscissa extending toward wing apex; 2Rs slightly curved; r-rs originating from basal third of pterostigmal length, elongate, softly sinuous, as long as 2Rs; marginal cell broad, three time as long as wide, greatest width near tangent of pterostigmal apex; 3Rs mostly straight for majority of marginal cell length; two rs-m cross-veins present; second submarginal cell about as long as third and slightly widening towards the wing margin; third submarginal cell slightly wider posteriorly than anteriorly; first discal cell almost forming strongly slanted rhomboid (not distinctly pentagonal owing to exceptionally short 2M); 1m-cu straight and subparallel to 1M; cu-a originating at M+Cu fork, nearly aligned with 1M; 2m-cu present but weaker than surrounding veins; A2 present and meeting Cu apically in a small 2cu-a vein (demarcating second subbasal cell); vein 2A present. Hind wing with venation nearly complete, lacking only C; R with six distal hamuli and not meeting 2Rs apically; rs-m oblique, about twice as long as 1Rs, shorter than first free abscissa M; Cu+cu-a present, nearly orthogonal to M+Cu; apical abscissa Cu not visible if present; jugal lobe lacking.

Metasoma with first segment forming tubular petiole 0.57 mm long, tergum and sternum fused without apparent indication of individual sclerites; gaster 1.72 mm long, compressed laterally, ovoid in profile, obviously longer than high, maximum height 0.84 mm, widening to the third gastral segment and then narrowing toward apex; ovipositor exerted, ≥ 1 mm long (not totally visible), with five minute teeth present on apical declivitous face; sheaths slightly longer than ovipositor.

Male unknown.

Figures

Figure 2. Keratodellitha basilisci. Holotype NIGP174738 (female).A, head in full-face view. B, head in right profile view. C, head in dorsal view. D, wings. E, line drawing of wing venation with nomenclature. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.