Pseudapanteles annulicornis Ashmead, 1900

Fernandez-Triana, Jose L., Janzen, Daniel H., Hallwachs, Winnie, Whitfield, James B., Smith, M. Alex & Kula, Robert, 2014, Revision of the genus Pseudapanteles (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae), with emphasis on the species in Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica, ZooKeys 446, pp. 1-82 : 13

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Braconidae

Pseudapanteles annulicornis Ashmead, 1900 Figs 24- 31

Pseudapanteles annulicornis Ashmead, 1900: 292 (original description).

Apanteles annulicornis : Szépligeti 1904: 109 (revised combination).

Pseudapanteles annulicornis : Mason 1981: 86 (revised combination).

Pseudapanteles brunneus Ashmead, 1900: 292 (original description). Synonymized under annulicornis (as Apanteles brunneus ) in Wilkinson 1930: 154.

Holotype.

♀ in BMNH (examined). ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES, St. Vincent Island (no further details known about type locality). B.M. Type HYM. 3.c.1077.

Other material examined.

2 ♀ in CNC, St. Vincent island; 1 ♀ in CNC, Panama, Cerro Campana, 8°40'N, 79°50'W, 850m.

Diagnosis.

It belongs to the annulicornis species-group, and can be separated from other species within that group based on the combination of metasoma entirely orange-yellow, mostly smooth and polished, and antenna brown with flagellomeres 6-8 white (rarely also posterior half of flagellomere 5), the band clearly occupying less than one third of antenna length.

Molecular data.

Sequences in BOLD: 2, barcode compliant sequences: None.

Distribution.

Panama, St. Vincent Island.

Comments.

One female from Panama (in CNC collection) represents the first record of Pseudapanteles annulicornis for Central America, and suggests that the species might be more widespread than previously known. That specimen is morphologically very similar to the holotype and two other females from St. Vincent (not part of the type series; collected in 1972, and deposited in the CNC); the only difference observed was the white band on the antenna (starting on flagellomere 5 for the Panama specimen versus starting on flagellomere 6 on specimens from St. Vincent). Two partial DNA barcodes (99 and 164 base pairs respectively) were obtained and also support the view of a single species, as the partial barcodes differed in 2 base pairs between the Panama specimen and one of the females collected in 1972 in St. Vincent.