Methocha plana 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 : 323-324

9. Methocha plana Lin, 1966

Figs 95–101

Methocha plana Lin, 1966: 185–186 . Orig. desig. Type locality: Mt. Ali-shan, Toroyen , Chiayi. Figs 1F–1I .

Material examined. Type material. Holotype, ♀, Alt. 2400 m, Mt. Ali-shan, Toroyen , Chiayi, 16.x.1918, J. Sonan leg. [ TARI].

Diagnosis. This species can be distinguished from other Asian Methocha species by combination of the following characters: the punctate frons; presence of the frontal tubercles; the fused mesoscutum with the mesoscutellum and the mesepisternum; the developed subapical tooth as long as the apical one of the tarsal claws. The most similar species is M. maai , but can be easily distinguished by the dark reddish brown mesosoma and the wide gena in the lateral view.

Redescription. Female.

Head ( Figs 99, 100 ). Head 0.7 times as long as wide in frontal view; temple weakly rounded in dorsal view; ocelli forming acute triangle, POL:AOL:DAO = 0.9:1.0:0.4; vertex sparsely punctate; frons punctate: punctures 2.0–5.0 puncture diameters apart, pair of frontal tubercles developed, lateral slope rugulose, frontal line absent; gena sparsely punctate, not narrowed ventrally; clypeus distinctly convex, anterior third rugulose, clypeal paex truncate; mandible not distally narrowed, lower tooth longer than upper one; ratio of length to width of flagellomeres I–III showing following ratio: 1.7:1.1:1.3.

Mesosoma ( Figs 97, 98 ). Collar of pronotum inconspicuously costate dorsally; pronotal disc smooth; mesoscutum smooth, lateral surface striated; mesoscutellum smooth, elevated, rounded in profile, postero-lateral corner with deep notch; suture between mesoscutum and mesoscutellum or mesepisternum absent, completely fused; tegula present; mesepisternum convex, smooth; metanotum with anterior crescentic depression; propodeum trapezoidal, smooth.

Legs. All tarsal claws ( Fig 101 ) strongly curved in apical third, tridentate, apical tooth sharp, subapical one developed, truncate, basal one minute, shorter than half subapical one.

Metasoma. Metasoma oval, polished, sparsely punctate by minute punctures; petiole rugulose.

Color. Head and metasoma except T7 black, flagellomeres VI–X brown, mesosoma dark reddish brown, T7 brown.

Measurements. BL 4.6 mm, HL 0.6 mm, HW 0.9 mm, WF 0.4 mm, EL 0.5 mm, ML 1.4 mm, MW 1.0 mm.

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. Central Taiwan.

Figures

FIGURES 95–98. Methocha plana Lin, 1966, holotype, female. 95 Dorsal habitus, 96 lateral habitus, 97 mesosoma, dorsal view, 98 mesosoma, lateral view.

FIGURES 99–101. Methocha plana Lin, 1966, holotype, female. 99 Head, frontal view, 100 head, lateral view, 101 hind tarsal claw. Scale bars are given in mm.

FIGURES 1–3. Methocha alutacea Lin, 1966, individual, male. 1 Dorsal habitus, 2 lateral habitus, 3 mesosoma, lateral view.