Minagenia brevicornis Banks, 1934

Decker, Brenna L., Pitts, James P., Yuan, David & Rodriguez, Juanita, 2020, Re-examination of Australian and Oriental species of Minagenia Banks, 1934 (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae), with a new record for the genus in Australia and a new species description, Zootaxa 4768 (3), pp. 383-394 : 389-391

Minagenia brevicornis Banks, 1934 ( Fig. 3a, b )

Pseudagenia (Minagenia) brevicornis Banks, 1934 . Proc. Amer. Acad. Art Sci. v. 69, pg. 64–65.

Diagnosis. The males of Minagenia brevicornis can be distinguished from other Australasian and Oriental Minagenia species by the combination of the following characteristics: the parameres are broad and flat, with long setae along the margins, and without a basal ridge; and the SGP marginal setae shorter towards the base and gradually increases in length towards the apex. The females can be distinguished by the combination of the following characteristics: body length is approximately 5.5 mm, and the hind femora are black.

Re-Description. MALE. Body length 5.1–5.5 mm. Fore wing length 4.3–4.6 mm.

Coloration. Integument black except: mandibles, fore femur, last four fore tarsomeres, tegula, mid and hind legs, T1–2 brown; fore tibia and basitarsus, apical three segments of palpi, underside of scape and pedicel light brown; wing subhyaline, veins light brown, forewing apical third infuscate, hindwing apical fourth infuscate; pubescence silver over full body, brown on wings.

Integument. Pubescence dense, short, appressed; setae on mesosoma, lower clypeus, some on mandibles longer, more conspicuous. Punctation shallow, fine, dense on head, pronotum; larger on scutum, inconspicuous on metasoma.

Head. Head round; inner orbits parallel, eyes large, protuberant, almost obscuring gena in lateral view; TFD 1.2 × FD, MID 0.6 × FD. WC 2.1 × LC. Vertex convex, extending above top of eyes in frontal view. Ocelli in obtuse triangle, positioned slightly above top of eyes; OOL = POL. Mandible with one apical tooth besides apex. Clypeus wide, truncated apically, upper edge slightly indented medially. LA3 2.5 × its width; ratio of A1–A4 2:1:2:2; LA1 0.5 × UID.

Mesosoma. Posterior margin of pronotum gently arched; anterior face flat. Metapostnotum with weak horizontal striations, posterior edge slightly rounded. Fore wing setose; 3rs-m evenly curved but does not exactly match 2rs-m; 2m-cu curved inward posteriorly, meeting SMC3 slightly beyond or at midway from base to apex of cell; M reaching wing margin. Hind wing cu-a joins M+CuA much before juncture of M with CuA; anal lobe oblong. Mesosternum plates with posterior pointed projections. Inner fore tarsal claw, both mid tarsal claws bifid; outer fore tarsal claw unidentate, curved under; hind tarsal claws unidentate, curved at nearly 45° angle.

Metasoma. Metasoma covered by short, appressed setae, not obscuring integument. S2 lacking well-defined transverse groove. SGP small, margins converge apically to rounded tip, margins slightly curved under creating convex appearance in lateral view; setae conspicuous, suberect fringe along margin, gradually lengthening towards apex ( Fig. 3b ).

Genitalia. ( Fig. 3a ). Paramere wide, flat; tip broadly rounded; thin long setae line full outer margin, apex, apical half of inner margin. Digitus thick, curved outward, rounded apex; 0.5 × length of paramere. Basal hooks with two projections. Cuspis broad, shallow without distinctly defined margins.

Paratype, FEMALE. ( MCZ _17170) Body length 5.4 mm. Fore wing length 5.4 mm .

Coloration. Similar to male allotype except: palpi brown; mid femur, mid tibia light brown. Fore wing subhyaline, apical third infuscate, darker spots within apical wing cells.

Integument. Body pubescence similar to male holotype. Punctation very fine and dense throughout body; S4 and S5 median apical margin with sparse erect longer setae.

Head. Similar to male allotype except: TFD 1.2 × FD, MID 0.5 × FD, OOL = POL. LA3 4.2 × its width; ratio of A1–A4 20:10:25:27; LA3 0.5 × UID. A6–A12 stout, LA6 1.7 × its width. Antennal sensilla begin at apical half of A5.

Mesosoma. Similar to male allotype except: fore tarsal claws symmetrical, hind tarsal claws bifid.

Metasoma. S6 compressed laterally; bristles long, thin, sparse ventrally; no thicker bristles along ventral ridge. Stinger straight, lighter on apex.

Type examined. Paratypes. 1♂, Surigao, Mindanao , Baker, USNM _ 51161 (allotype); 1♂, Cuernos Mts. Ne- gros , 1♂, Surigao Mindanao , 1♀, Mt. Limay Luzon , MCZ _17170.

Remarks. The female holotype of M. brevicorni s is presumed lost at this time, but the allotype male (USNM_ 51161) and paratype female and males (MCZ_17170) were available for examination. Genitalia were drawn from a slide mount from a male paratype from MCZ.

The males of M. brevicornis look very similar to M. fulvifemoralis Ji & Ma, 2014 , particularly the genitalia and SGP. A single lateral image was available and provided by Ma Li at the Yunnan Agricultural University, China, for both holotype female and allotype male of M. fulvifemoralis ; the specimens were not available for loan or examination. The genitalia parameres have a similar shape and setae pattern, with M. brevicornis having more compact and longer setae compared to M. fulvifemoralis . Additionally, the SGP apex of M. fulvifemoralis has a distinct tuff of conspicuously long setae, whereas the SGP of M. brevicornis has a gradual transition of short to longer setae along the margin. Both have yellow coloration on the inner fore tibia and tarsi, and similar fore and hind wing vein structure.

The description of M. brevicornis females does not provide coloration except for the wings. In the original publication, Banks describes the female as having two bands on the fore wing, the apical one more prominent. However, on the paratype from MCZ, the female fore wing only has one band on the apical portion (a character used in the key within this paper). Additionally, characters from the sparse described in Banks’ 1934 publication are similar to that of a specimen at EMUS identified as M. fulvifemoralis and the illustrations in Ji et al. (2014). However, the paratype female specimen of M. brevicornis from MCZ, designated by N. Banks, has a fully brown body, unlike the female described for M. fulvifemoralis , which has reddish femora. The localities of these two species are drastically different; Minagenia brevicornis was first described on the islands of Luzon and Mindanao, Philippines, while M. fulvifemoralis was described from Yunnan in mainland China.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Genitalia and subgenital plate illustrations of Minagenia brevicornis Banks and Nipponodipogon pempuchiensis (Tsuneki). Minagenia brevicornis paratype MCZ_17170 genitalia slide, male, a) genitalia, ventral view on left side, dorsal view on right, b) SPG, ventral view. Nipponodipogon pempuchiensis, EMUS_800, male, c) genitalia, ventral view on left side, dorsal view on right, and d) subgenital plate, ventral view.