Afronympha eminpashai Gumovsky & van Noort, 2022
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5104.2.4 |
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lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C139FE1C-602B-4A8F-8E85-CBA601599B5B |
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https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03DF87A9-FFE3-4747-FF01-FE5B3B7FFC50 |
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Plazi |
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Afronympha eminpashai Gumovsky & van Noort |
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gen. et sp. nov. |
Afronympha eminpashai Gumovsky & van Noort gen. et sp. nov.
Figures 1–3 View FIGURE 1 View FIGURE 2 View FIGURE 3
Description
FEMALE ( Figs 1 View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2 , 3D View FIGURE 3 ). Length 1.21–1.25 mm.
Antenna with scape pale brown, pedicel and flagellum dark metallic. Body dark copper green, face and vertex smooth. Mesoscutum, anterior part of mesoscutellum and axillae very lightly striate. Propodeum lightly striate ( Uganda specimens) or with somewhat more distinct striae ( DR Congo specimen). Coxae, trochanters and first three tarsomeres pale, femora dark brown, tibiae pale to brownish. Petiole dark brown. Fore wing hyaline, wing interference pattern as in Fig. 1B View FIGURE 1 .
Head in dorsal view ( Figs 1D View FIGURE 1 , 2B View FIGURE 2 ) 2.5× as broad as long. POL 1.6× OOL. Head in frontal view about 1.2× wider than long (if measured vertically to clypeal notch), mouth opening 2.3–2.4×, eye about 2.4–2.5× as long as malar space. Antennal toruli inserted at level of lower eye margin ( Fig. 2A, C, D View FIGURE 2 ). Antennal scrobes join shortly below frontal suture. Antennal scape nearly 4.5–5.0×, pedicel about 2.0× and F1 as long as F3. F3 slightly longer than broad and slightly longer and broader than F2. Clava about 1.7–1.8× as long as funiculars, each of its two clavomeres as long as average length of a funicular segment.
Head 1.2× as wide as mesosoma, mesosoma 1.6× as long as broad, mesoscutum 1.5× as broad as long, mesoscutellum slightly longer than broad. Mesoscutum with 2–3 pairs of setae, mesoscutellum with one pair of setae. Propodeum as for the genus: with a wide groove along anterior margin ( Fig. 1D View FIGURE 1 ), very lightly striate; propodeal callus with 2 setae.
Fore wing hyaline, with densely setose disc and closed speculum, 2.6× as long as broad, postmarginal vein about 0.6× as long as stigmal vein. Marginal fringe about 3.0× as long as marginal vein at its broadest.
Metasoma slightly longer than mesosoma. Petiole as a short, transverse, narrow strip. Gaster suboval or subpentagonal in dorsal view ( Fig. 1A View FIGURE 1 ).
MALE ( Fig. 3A–C View FIGURE 3 ). Length about 1.0 mm.
Similar to female in structure of head and mesosoma, but antenna ( Fig. 3B View FIGURE 3 ) with wider scape (2.6× as long as broad), flagellomeres slightly wider, petiole slightly wider and with small denticles on sides, gaster subpentagonal.
Biology. Unknown.
Distribution. East ( Uganda: Western Region) and Central ( DR Congo: Ituri province) Africa.
Material examined.
HOLOTYPE ♀, Uganda: Western Region, Kibale National Park, Kanyawara , Makerere University Biological Field Station , 1587 m, 0˚33.408’N, 30˚22.603’E, 30.vii–5.viii.2005, Malaise trap, degraded mid-altitude rainforest, UG05-M09 (S. van Noort), SAM-HYM-P067803 ( SAMC). PARATYPES (2♀, ♂): ♀, ibid., SAM-HYM-P067804 (SAMC); ♀, DR Congo, Ituri Province, Djugu Territory, Mongbwalu mining headquarters, N 01˚56’49.40”, E 30˚02’19.58”, 75 YPTs, “Mr Beguin’s house” 01–08/03/2015, DNA extract F7 (Gumovsky) (NHMUK); ♂, ibid., Mongbwalu mining headquarters, Yellow Pan traps, 24/01/2014 (Gumovsky) (NHMUK).
Etymology. The species is named after Emin Pasha (Eduard Schnitzer), one of the famous explorers of East and Central Africa, the territories of the contemporary Uganda and DR Congo, in particular. Noun in the genitive case.
Discussion. The new genus belongs to the soft-bodied entedonines with a non-delimited clypeus, which is characteristic of most representatives of the genera Closterocerus Westwood, 1833 , Neochrysocharis Kurdjumov, 1912 , Asecodes , and Ionympha . Gumovsky (2001) synonymized Closterocerus, Hispinocharis Bouček, 1988 , Mangocharis Bouček 1986 , Neochrysocharis and Asecodes , based on their morphological similarity, in particular their possession of subtorular grooves. Burks et al. (2011) demonstrated a basal relationship of Closterocerus with the clade comprising Asecodes + Neochrysocharis , and suggested the potential value of the form of the basiconic peg sensilla for informing the phylogenetic position of the genera.
Afronympha is close to Asecodes in terms of the general habitus, the subtorular grooves, the occiput with median furrow (though weak), the short postmarginal and stigmal veins, and presence of the anterior groove on the propodeum. However, A. eminpashai cannot be classified as a derived species of Asecodes due to the possession of the following character states: (1) scrobal grooves meet below the transverse facial sulcus (ending separately in Asecodes ); (2) flagellum with distinct subdivision into 3-segmented funicle and 2-segmented clava (unlike Asecodes where the subdivision is ambiguous, since the funicular and claval segments are rather similar in shape and length); (3) flagellum with short and symmetric sensilla ampullacea (type I sensu Hansson 2002, basiconic capitate peg sensilla sensu Yang et al. 2018) unlike the L-shaped (type 2 sensu Hansson 2002) sensilla ampullacea in Asecodes . Similar sensilla ampullacea (type I) are peculiar to the genus Neochrysocharis , which is also a sister group to Asecodes ( Burks et al. 2011) . Neochrysocharis is clearly different from Afronympha (apart from the autapomorphies of the genus) in having a clavate antenna with 2-segmented funicle and 3-segmented clava, all flagellar segments being generally transverse.
Afronympha is reminiscent of Ionympha in sharing somewhat enlarged mandibles with two large apical teeth. However, the mandible is robust, and its apical teeth are subequal in Afronympha . Also, there are several tiny dorsal teeth in Ionympha , whereas there is a lamellate wide tooth in Afronympha . Additional differences include: (1) gena is not incised in Afronympha , whereas it bears an incision in Ionympha ; (2) sensory pores on the male scape are present only at the apex in Ionympha , whereas they are restricted to the ventral edge of the scape in the male of A. eminpashai ; (3) ovipositor long and robust in Afronympha (short and slender in Ionympha ); (4) gaster is uniformly darkened in the male of A. eminpashai (a pale subbasal spot is present on male gaster of Ionympha ).
Afronympha is characterized by the produced anterior margin of the clypeus and enlarged mandibles with large teeth. The produced anterior margin of the clypeus occurs in other entedonines, in particular in species of the genus Entedon Dalman, 1820 . All species of Entedon with such a clypeus for which the biology is known have an association with subterranean hosts and are usually parasitoids of beetle larvae which pupate in the ground ( Gumovsky 1999, 2006, 2008). Adult parasitoids negotiate a passage through the soil layer with the assistance of the clypeal margin (used like a spade to push away the surrounding soil particles), and mandibles (used to pulverize large soil particles). The mandibles are large in these entedonines, but similar in structure to mandibles of congeners with different biology. Mandibles similar in structure to those of A. eminpashai occur rarely in Eulophidae , but these rare examples may shed some light on the prospective biology of the new genus.
The robust mandibles with two large apical teeth are peculiar to two eulophid species in the subfamily Tetrastichinae Förster : Chytrolestes alibaba LaSalle, 1994 and Chaenotetrastichus semiflavus ( Girault, 1917) . Both are parasitoids of pompilid wasps which build mud nests. Although the biology of these parasitoids is not fully known, the adult parasitoids must chew their way out of the nest, through the thick layer of the hardened mud wall. This may suggest that A. eminpashai is also an associate of digger or spider wasps, or of another insect host living in a hardened and concealed soil formation.
The vegetation of Kibale National Park is transitional between lowland and montane rainforest and is classified as a mid-altitude, moist, evergreen forest with a canopy height typically between 20 and 30 m, but with some trees exceeding 55 m ( Mucunguzi 2007, Struhsaker 1997, Wrangham et al. 1994). The forest comprises moist evergreen forest (57%), secondary regenerating forest (19%), woodland (4%), grassland (15%), lakes and wetlands (2%), and exotic tree plantations (1%) ( Chapman et al. 1997), with historical selective logging having occurred in the forest ( Struhsaker 1997). The specimens of A. eminpashai were collected in an area of degraded forest and given that the Democratic Republic of the Congo specimens were also collected from disturbed areas, this species appears to be associated with degraded habitats.
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
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