Episyron rufotibius Anju, Girish Kumar & Thejass, 2024

Anju, K., Kumar, P. Girish & Thejass, P., 2024, Review of the spider wasp genus Episyron Schiødte, 1837 (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) from India, with description of three new species, Zootaxa 5405 (4), pp. 562-576 : 571-573

Episyron rufotibius Anju, Girish Kumar & Thejass , sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:F3D00A1D-0A3F-4744-BE96-C9ACE64B531A

Figures 29–40

Type material. Holotype ♀, India: Kerala, Kasaragod district, Ranipuram (12º25’45’’N, 75º21’44’’E), 22.i.2020, Coll. K. Anju, [ ZSIK] ZSIK Regd. No. ZSI / WGRC /IR/INV.24969.

Diagnosis. The new species differs from all other Indian congeners by the following characters: primary colour of hind tibia red, dorsally without any coloured spot, tibial spur yellowish red, fore and mid tibial spurs reddish brown; small yellow spot at medial posterior region of mesoscutum and on T2, paired basolateral transverse fascia on T3 and T5; and propodeum with a steep slope to apex.

Description of Female. Holotype, female ( Figs 29–40 ). Body length 8.53 mm; length of fore wing 6.69 mm.

Colour. Body largely black with following markings pale yellowish: narrow stripes along inner orbits interrupted at vertex in frontal view and stripes along posterior margin of compound eyes, stripes along anterior margin of clypeus subapically, medially interrupted posterior margin of pronotum, small yellow spot at medial posterior region of mesoscutum and on T2, paired basolateral transverse fascia on T3 and T5 and spot on apex of all coxae; mandible black with yellowish red patch subapically; antenna brownish black; lateral corner of pronotum yellowish red; hind tibial spur and hind tibia except at apex yellowish red; fore and mid tibial spurs reddish brown; wings fusco-hyaline, broadly infuscated at apex, veins and pterostigma brown.

Pubescence. Pubescence moderate; pronotum, propodeum and T1 having metallic reflection with bluish white appressed flattened and squamiform setae; head moderately pubescent with whitish pubescence mainly concentrated from antennal region till clypeus; long smooth setae on posterior region of head and lateral sides of pronotum; pronotum with small golden setae in addition to normal genus specific characteristic pubescence; few smooth long setae along lateral regions of mesosoma; silver pubescence at the joining region of scutellum and metanotum; bluish white shiny pubescence on plural region minimum; T6 with numerous long brownish black setae mainly concentrated on lower lateral sides.

Head. Head slightly wider than long (1.17×) in frontal view, wider than mesosoma ( Fig. 31 ); minutely punctate, micropunctations uniform in all facial regions, hardly visible over short pubescence in lower frons region; eyes 1.93× as long as wide ( Fig. 33 ), almost parallel except at upper vertex region, MID and LID almost of equal length, UID 0.63× MID and LID ( Fig. 31 ); ocellar area slightly raised, ocelli equal sized; POD about as long as OOD (0.19: 0.17) ( Fig. 32 ); clypeus large, not convex, more than twice as broad as long, anterior margin widely arched, transverse in the middle ( Fig. 31 ); mandible long crossing each other, bidentate; malar space reduced, less than half of pedicel; toruli situated little above posterior clypeus margin; long antennae closely placed; F1 the largest flagellomere 1.5× as long as scape, scape longer almost twice its width, pedicel as wide as long; F2–F4 almost equal in length; gena narrower than eye in lateral view ( Fig. 33 ); occiput carinate throughout.

Mesosoma. Pronotum 1.7× as wide as long, lateral region of pronotum angulate; mesoscutum large, prominent, 1.2× as long as scutellum in dorsal view ( Fig. 35 ), shallow abbreviated furrow on each side not reaching the anterior margin; scutellum with conspicuous prescutellar sulcus, medially triangularly raised; metanotum curved; metapostnotum much reduced with two curves; propodeum nearly as wide as long along middle (1.02×), no apparent sculpturing ( Fig. 35 ), posteriorly rounded with steep slope at apex, posterior margin transverse.

Legs. Tibiae and tarsi with long spines irregularly scattered throughout, apically with different length spines; fore tarsus with cylindrical tapering spines, tarsomere 1 with three outer spines including the apical one; all tarsal claws bifid; hind basitarsus 0.53× hind tibia, hind tibial spur long, 0.57× as long as hind basitarsus.

Wings. Fore wing with SMC3 smaller than SMC2; length of SMC3 less than half of its distance from the wing apex; SMC2 receiving crossvein 1m-cu beyond middle, SMC3 receiving crossvein 2m-cu almost medially; marginal cell long, more than twice its width; pterostigma elongated, longer than vein r-rs ( Fig. 40 ); crossvein cu-a of hind wing arc-like forming obtuse angle with vein A.

Metasoma. Smooth; as broad as mesosoma, as long as head and mesosoma combined ( Fig. 36 ); subsessile; apical segment aciculate.

Male. Unknown.

Etymology. The species epithet is derived from yellowish red coloured hind tibia, all other segments of the legs and body are black in colour.

Distribution. India (Kerala).

Note. The study of this species is based on a single female specimen, as further attempts did not yield any additional materials.

Comparison. The new species resembles E. vagabundum in general morphology and coloration as described by Bingham (1897), Banks (1934), and Wahis (1980). However the new species can be distinguished from E. vagabundum as follows: propodeum with a steep slope posteriorly (in E. vagabundum , propodeum with a gradual slope); hind tibia yellowish red without any markings (in E. vagabundum , hind tibia dorsally with a yellowish white spot); hind tibial spur 0.57× as long as hind basitarsomere (in E. vagabundum , hind tibial spur almost as long as hind basitarsomere); and wings fusco-hyaline infuscated at apex (in E. vagabundum , wings hyaline infuscated at apex).

Figures

FIGURES 29–36. Episyron rufotibius Anju, Girish Kumar & Thejass, sp. nov. Holotype, ♀. 29, habitus, lateral view; 30, habitus, dorsal view; 31, head, frontal view; 32, head, dorsal view; 33, head, lateral view; 34, mesosoma, lateral view; 35, mesosoma, dorsal view; 36, metasoma, lateral view. Scale bar: 29, 30—1 mm; 36—0.5 mm; 31, 32, 33, 34, 35—0.25 mm.

FIGURES 37–40. Episyron rufotibius Anju, Girish Kumar & Thejass, sp. nov. Holotype, ♀. 37, metasoma, dorsal view; 38, metasoma, ventral view; 39, hind tibia; 40, wings. Scale bar: 40—0.75 mm; 37, 38, 39—0.5 mm.