Cotesia reidarum, Fagan-Jeffries & Austin, 2020

Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P. & Austin, Andrew D., 2020, Synopsis of the parasitoid wasp genus Cotesia Cameron, 1891 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) in Australia, with the description of seven new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 667 (667), pp. 1-70 : 42-44

Cotesia reidarum sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:F2856B1F-B81F-4910-8A9E-8FDC012CF367

Figs 2B , 25

Diagnosis

Cotesia reidarum sp. nov. can be separated from all other species of Cotesia currently described from Australia and Papua New Guinea by the following combination of characters: all of T3 pale; T1–2 mostly dark; antennae dark; anteromesoscutum sculpturing intermediate between punctate reticulate and reticulate rugose.

Etymology

Named for Ellen and Jean Reid, who run the Australian Bible Museum Butterfly Garden and provided numerous microgastrine specimens with valuable host data to the authors over recent years.

Material examined

Holotype

AUSTRALIA • ♀; Queensland, Burra Range, White Mountains National Park ; 20.72461° S, 145.17805° E; coll. 4 Apr. 2017; emg. 22 Apr. 2017; M.F. Braby leg.; reared from larva of Candalides delospila (Waterhouse, 1903) ( Lepidoptera : Lycaenidae ; BOLD AUMIC491-18; Genbank COI: MH138904 ); QM T246703 .

Description

Female

COLOUR. Head, antenna and mesosoma dark; T1 dark, T2 dark with orange centre area, rest of dorsal metasoma pale and then darkening, non sclerotised areas of T1–2 and anterior sternites pale; (fore-, mid-, hind coxa) dark, dark, dark; femora (fore-, mid-, hind femur) pale, pale, pale darkening distally; tibiae (fore-, mid-, hind tibia) pale, pale, pale darkening distally; tegula and humeral complex dark; pterostigma dark; fore wing veins light brown to dark.

BODY LENGTH. Head to apex of metasoma: 2.5 mm.

HEAD. Antenna slightly longer than body length; OOL/posterior ocellus diameter 2; POL/posterior ocellus diameter 2; antennal flagellomere 2 length/width 2.3; antennal flagellomere 14 length/width 2.5.

MESOSOMA. Anteromesoscutum sculpturing intermediate between punctate reticulate and reticulate rugose, less strong at anterior centre and lateral edges; number of pits in scutoscutellar sulcus 8; scutellar disc with distinct pits; maximum height of mesoscutellum lunules/maximum height of lateral face of mesoscutellum 0.6.

WINGS. Fore wing length 2.7 mm; length of veins r/2RS 1.1; length of veins 2RS/2M 1.4; length of veins 2M/(RS+M)b 1.0; pterostigma length/width 3.0.

LEGS. Hind tibia inner spur length/metabasitarsus length 0.7 (hind tarsi broken off and lost in holotype after measurement taken).

PROPODEUM. Medial carina present, but smooth and indistinct in centre, rest of propodeum rugose, with some carinae more prominent than others.

METASOMA. T1 length / T1 width at posterior margin 1.1; parallel sided, slight bulge before curving inwards at posterior corners, mostly smooth, some wide shallow punctures in posterior third; T2 width at posterior margin / T2 length 2.5, trapezoid shaped with curved sides, smooth other than presence of setae, border with T3 very shallowly crenulate; T2 length / T3 length 0.8; T3 sculpture smooth and shiny; ovipositor sheaths length/hind tibial length 0.1.

Male

Unknown.

Distribution

Only known from type locality in the White Mountains National Park, Queensland, but the host extends westward throughout the northern parts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia, reflecting the possible distribution of this parasitoid.

Host

Candalides delospila (Lycaenidae) . Solitary.

Remarks

This species constitutes BIN BOLD:ADL4430, and is 2.31% divergent from the nearest neighbour on BOLD.

Figures

Fig. 2. A. Cotesia ocellata sp. nov., T1 (SAMA 32-44404). B. Cotesia reidarum sp. nov., T1 (QM T246703). C. Cotesia deliadis (Bingham, 1906), T1 (paralectotype, NHMUK).

Fig. 25. Cotesia reidarum sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (QM T246703). A. Habitus in dorsal view. B. Habitus in lateral view. C. Head in dorsal view. D. Head in anterior view. E. Propodeum. F. Fore wing.