Methocha emarginata Lin, 1966

Narita, Keisuke & Mita, Toshiharu, 2021, A review of the subfamily Methochinae from Taiwan (Hymenoptera: Tiphiidae) with description of a new species and redescription of the known species, Zootaxa 4964 (2), pp. 303-329 : 313-314

5. Methocha emarginata Lin, 1966

Figs 45–51

Methocha emarginata Lin, 1966: 193–195 . Type locality: Mt. Ali-shan , Chiayi. Fig 5 .

Material examined. Type material. Holotype, ♀, Alt. 2400, Mt. Ali-shan , Chiayi, 20–24.v.1956, K. S. Lin leg. [ TARI] . Non-type materials. 1♀, Fenshuiling, Manchou , Pingtung, 28.iii.2004, T. Mita leg. [ ELKU] .

Diagnosis. This species can be distinguished from other Asian Methocha species by a combination of the following characters: the smooth frons; the absence of the frontal tubercles; the incurved clypeal apex; the distinguishable mesoscutum and mesoscutellum from each other; the reddish brown mesosoma; the subapical tooth shorter than the apical one on the mandible; the slightly shorter basal tooth than the subapical one on the tarsal claws.

Redescription. Female.

Head ( Figs 49, 50 ). Head 0.9 times as long as wide in frontal view; temple weakly rounded in dorsal view; ocelli forming regular triangle, POL:AOL:DAO = 1.0:1.0:0.3; vertex sparsely punctate, with smooth interspaces; frons inconspicuously coriaceous and punctate: several punctures larger on vertex, punctures 1.0–5.0 puncture diameters apart, frontal tubercles absent, frontal line absent but medial depression present, reaching clypeus; gena sparsely punctate; clypeus inconspicuously convex, anterior third rugulose, clypeal apex incurved; mandible not distally narrowed, lower tooth longer than upper one; maxillary palpus slightly shorter than pronotum, ratio of length to width of palpomeres III–VI: 3.5:3.5:4.5:10; ratio of length to width of flagellomeres I–III: 1.7:1.0:1.3.

Mesosoma ( Figs 47, 48 ). Collar of pronotum costate dorsally; pronotal disc smooth; mesoscutum longitudinally striated, separated from mesoscutellum and mesepisternum by faint groove; mesoscutellum smooth, elevated, rounded in profile, postero-lateral corner with deep notch, suture between mesoscutum and mesoscutellum absent, almost fused but marginal region clearly marked off from them; tegula present; mesepisternum smooth, inconspicuously convex, separated from mesoscutum or mesoscutellum by faint groove; metanotum with anterior crescentic depression, inconspicuously costate on metanotal-propodeal margin; metapleural region slightly coriaceous; propodeum trapezoidal, smooth with sparse punctures, surface around posterior margin faintly rugose.

Legs. All tarsal claws ( Fig 51 ) strongly curved in apical half, tridentate, apical tooth sharp, subapical one truncate, shorter than apical one, basal one developed, slightly shorter than subapical one.

Metasoma. Oval, polished, sparsely punctate by minute punctures; petiole costate, with rugulose interspaces.

Color. Head, flagellomeres VI–X, and metasoma black, maxillary palpus pale yellow, mesosoma reddish brown.

Measurements. BL 3.0 mm, HL 0.6 mm, HW 0.7 mm, WF 0.4 mm, EL 0.4 mm, ML 1.3 mm, MW 0.4 mm.

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. Central and southern Taiwan.

Figures

FIGURES 45–48. Methocha emarginata Lin, 1966, individual, female. 45 Dorsal habitus, 46 lateral habitus, 47 mesosoma, dorsal view, 48 mesosoma, lateral view.

FIGURES 49–51. Methocha emarginata Lin, 1966, individual, female. 49 Head, frontal view, 50 head, lateral view, 51 hind tarsal claw. Scale bars are given in mm.

FIGURES 4–11. Methocha alutacea Lin, 1966, individual, male. 4 Head, frontal view, 5 head, lateral view, 6 propodeum, 7 hind tarsal claw, 8 T1, dorsal view, 9 right paramere, lateral view (right side is dorsal), 10 aedeagus, dorsal view, arrow indicating median membranous lobe, 11 aedeagus, lateral view. Scale bars are given in mm.