Heptascelio dispar Masner & Johnson

Johnson, Norman F., Masner, Lubomír, Musetti, Luciana, Noort, Simon Van, K, Rajmohana, Darling, Christopher & Polaszek, Antonia Guidotti Andrew, 2008, Revision of world species of the genus Heptascelio Kieffer (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea, Platygastridae), Zootaxa 1776, pp. 1-51 : 15-17

Heptascelio dispar Masner & Johnson , new species

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:788F2AC2-1C41-4763-89FB-7440C5594986 urn:lsid:biosci.ohio-state.edu:osuc_concepts:223414 Figures 31–36; Morphbank34

http://www.morphbank.net/?id=224264

http://atbi.biosci.ohio-state.edu/HymOnline/map-large.html?id=223413 33. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:specimen:95727A55-C5E5-4607-B828-124F5C982E96 http://www.morphbank.net/?id=224263

Description. Female body length: 2.4–3.0 mm (n=20). Male body length: 2.4–2.9 mm (n=20). Body color of female: bicolored: head and mesosoma dark brown, metasoma yellow. Color of female antenna: A1–A2 pale brown, A3–A6 brown, A7–A12 dark brown. Color of wing membrane: generally hyaline throughout. Color of legs: coxae and femora dark brown, tibiae and tarsi yellow. Body color of male: entirely dark brown. Color of male antenna: light brown throughout.

Sculpture of occiput and posterior vertex: with strong transverse rugae. Sculpture of frons below ocellus in female: dorsoventrally striate. Shape of dorsal margin of frontal scrobe: distinctly incised medially, strongly produced anteriorly. Sculpture of frontal depression in female: transversely striate ventrally, with smooth field dorsomedially. Sculpture of gena: with irregular dorsoventral rugae. Setation of gena: with numerous strong, erect, dark bristles amid shorter setation. Shape of mandibles: normal length, crossed transversely below head when closed, tips overlapping.

Sculpture of dorsal pronotum: longitudinally aciculate, with smooth interspaces. Notaulus: absent or obscured by coarse surface sculpture. Sculpture of mesoscutum in female: finely longitudinally aciculate with smooth interspaces. Sculpture of mesoscutum in male: finely longitudinally aciculate. Parapsidal line: absent. Mesoscutellum shape: Sculpture of female mesoscutellum: coarsely reticulate, with distinct longitudinal elements. Scutellar points of female: flattened, broadly rounded apically. Sculpture of male mesoscutellum: coarsely reticulate, with distinct longitudinal elements. Scutellar points of male: apex of mesoscutellum transverse, posterolateral corners very weakly produced. Posterior surface of propodeum: with distinct straight longitudinal paramedian keel arising from apex of inner propodeal projection. Length of outer propodeal projection in female: rather short, extending at most to midlength of T1, distinctly longer than inner propodeal projection. Sculpture of propodeum between inner and outer propodeal projections: areolate rugose. Netrion shape: strongly narrowed, nearly linear, foveae on surface nearly as high as wide. Netrion setation: glabrous. Sculpture of lateral pronotum posterior to epomial carina: with large smooth field dorsally, elsewhere finely rugulose. Setation of posterior half of lateral pronotum: largely glabrous, setae limited to small patch near spiracle. Sculpture of mesopleural scrobe: finely microreticulate to smooth. Sculpture of lower mesepisternum: rugulose to punctate. Sculpture of metapleuron: areolate rugose above, with smooth or finely sculptured field ventrally. Fore wing venation: reduced to basal stub of R, with pale pseudostigma in wing disk. Submarginal vein bristles: with 1–2 dark bristles near base of fore wing. Long dark bristles on legs: present on all femora, tibiae.

T1 depression: glabrous or sparsely setose. Sublateral lamella on T1: absent. Sculpture of T2–T4: longitudinally striate, with fine cross striae, punctures, smooth or finely punctulate transverse band apically. Setation of laterotergites: glabrous. Sculpture of S2, S3 of female: nearly smooth, with scattered small punctures. Sculpture of S2, S3 of male: nearly smooth, with scattered setigerous punctures. Distribution of felt fields: present on S3–S4.

Diagnosis. Heptascelio dispar shares the strongly notched dorsal margin of the scrobe only with H. aquilinus , a species known so far only from the male sex. Males of the former may be distinguished by the finely striate mesoscutum (Fig. 36) and the short, normal mandibles (Fig. 35). Females of H. dispar may be distinguished from all other Heptascelio by the bicolored body (Figs. 31–33).

Etymology. The epithet dispar , meaning unlike or different, is meant to stress the many characters in which this species differs from our previous concept of the genus based on the type species H. lugens .

Link to Distribution Map.35

Material Examined. Holotype female: BOTSWANA: Serowe, Farmer’s Brigade, V.1989, Malaise trap, P. Forchhammer, OSUC 164363 (deposited in USNM)36. Paratypes (54 males, 57 females): BOTSWANA: 11 males, 22 females, OSUC 209126–209136 ( CNCI); OSUC 156981, 156982 ( EMEC); OSUC 164247– http://atbi.biosci.ohio-state.edu/HymOnline/map-large.html?id=223414

36. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:specimen:4CF3C43D-C431-4B53-A270-E59C87331D2C 164250, 164267, 164364–164370, 164430, 185691, 210366 ( OSUC); OSUC 186111–186114 ( USNM). NAMIBIA: 2 males, OSUC 207745–207746 ( BMNH). SOUTH AFRICA: 41 males, 36 females, OSUC 209053–209096, 209098–209125 ( CNCI); OSUC 179110, 59558, 59559 ( OSUC); OSUC 174727, 210365 ( PPRI).

Comments. This species and the closely related H. aquilinus , are very unusual in many respects. Heptascelio dispar is the only known species in which the female is bicolored, having a dark brown head and mesosoma, and a yellow metasoma (Figs. 31–33). The male, in contrast, is uniformly dark brown (Figs. 35, 36). In both species the dorsal margin of the frontal depression is deeply indented. Some other species, particularly among the males, have a suggestion of this condition in that the dorsolateral portions of the margin of the depression are produced anteriorly. The felt fields in these two species are well developed, but are found on S3 and S4, one segment posterior to the condition in all other species of the genus. The fore wing venation is abbreviated, and the number of dark bristles on R are similarly reduced. The presence of long dark bristles on the legs is shared with a two other species, H. striatosternus (Fig. 77) and H. orarius . These characters, along with the very different general habitus of these species suggests that they are not particularly closely related to the remaining Heptascelio species.