Apanteles robertmontanoi Fernandez-Triana

Fernandez-Triana, Jose L., Whitfield, James B., Rodriguez, Josephine J., Smith, M. Alex, Janzen, Daniel H., Hallwachs, Winnie D., Hajibabaei, Mehrdad, Burns, John M., Solis, M. Alma, Brown, John, Cardinal, Sophie, Goulet, Henri & Hebert, Paul D. N., 2014, Review of Apantelessensu stricto (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica, with keys to all described species from Mesoamerica, ZooKeys 383, pp. 1-565 : 263-264

Apanteles robertmontanoi Fernandez-Triana sp. n. Fig. 154

Type locality.

COSTA RICA, Alajuela, ACG, Sector San Cristobal, Rio Blanco Abajo, 500m, 10.90037, -85.37254.

Holotype.

♀ in CNC. Specimen labels: 1. San Gerardo, Rio Blanco Abajo, 21-27 August 2007. 2. DHJPAR0024890.

Paratypes.

1 ♀ (CNC). COSTA RICA: Guanacaste, ACG database code: DHJPAR0025089.

Description.

Female. Body color: body mostly dark except for some sternites which may be pale. Antenna color: scape, pedicel, and flagellum dark. Coxae color (pro-, meso-, metacoxa): pale, pale, partially pale/partially dark. Femora color (pro-, meso-, metafemur): pale, pale, anteriorly pale/posteriorly dark. Tibiae color (pro-, meso-, metatibia): pale, pale, mostly dark but anterior 0.2 or less pale. Tegula and humeral complex color: both pale. Pterostigma color: dark. Fore wing veins color: mostly dark (a few veins may be unpigmented). Antenna length/body length: antenna about as long as body (head to apex of metasoma); if slightly shorter, at least extending beyond anterior 0.7 metasoma length. Body in lateral view: not distinctly flattened dorso–ventrally. Body length (head to apex of metasoma): 2.3-2.4 mm. Fore wing length: 2.3-2.4 mm. Ocular–ocellar line/posterior ocellus diameter: 2.0-2.2. Interocellar distance/posterior ocellus diameter: 1.7-1.9. Antennal flagellomerus 2 length/width: 2.9-3.1. Antennal flagellomerus 14 length/width: 1.1-1.3. Length of flagellomerus 2/length of flagellomerus 14: 2.6-2.8. Tarsal claws: simple. Metafemur length/width: 3.2-3.3. Metatibia inner spur length/metabasitarsus length: 0.4-0.5. Anteromesoscutum: mostly with deep, dense punctures (separated by less than 2.0 × its maximum diameter). Mesoscutellar disc: mostly punctured. Number of pits in scutoscutellar sulcus: 5 or 6. Maximum height of mesoscutellum lunules/maximum height of lateral face of mesoscutellum: 0.4-0.5. Propodeum areola: completely defined by carinae, including transverse carina extending to spiracle. Propodeum background sculpture: mostly sculptured. Mediotergite 1 length/width at posterior margin: 4.1 or more. Mediotergite 1 shape: mostly parallel–sided for 0.5-0.7 of its length, then narrowing posteriorly so mediotergite anterior width>1.1 × posterior width. Mediotergite 1 sculpture: mostly sculptured, excavated area centrally with transverse striation inside and/or a polished knob centrally on posterior margin of mediotergite. Mediotergite 2 width at posterior margin/length: 3.2-3.5. Mediotergite 2 sculpture: with some sculpture, mostly near posterior margin. Outer margin of hypopygium: with a wide, medially folded, transparent, semi–desclerotized area; usually with 4 or more pleats. Ovipositor thickness: about same width throughout its length. Ovipositor sheaths length/metatibial length: 1.0-1.1. Length of fore wing veins r/2RS: 1.4-1.6. Length of fore wing veins 2RS/2M: 1.1-1.3. Length of fore wing veins 2M/(RS+M) b: 0.9-1.0. Pterostigma length/width: 3.1-3.5. Point of insertion of vein r in pterostigma: about half way point length of pterostigma. Angle of vein r with fore wing anterior margin: more or less perpendicular to fore wing margin. Shape of junction of veins r and 2RS in fore wing: distinctly but not strongly angled.

Male. Unknown.

Molecular data.

Sequences in BOLD: 2, barcode compliant sequences: 2.

Biology/ecology.

Malaise-trapped.

Distribution.

Costa Rica, ACG.

Comments.

This species is characterized by mediotergite 1 length more than 4.5 × its posterior width; vannal lobe straight and setose (with slightly shorter and sparser setae centrally); metacoxa and metafemur partially yellow and partially dark brown. Molecular data supports the species as divergent (Fig. 1). Apanteles robertmontanoi illustrates the present difficulties of separating the genera Apanteles and Dolichogenidea . Most of its morphological characters are those of a typical Apanteles - including punctures near the posterior margin of the anteromesoscutum, that tend to fuse with each other, sensu Mason’s (1981) concept of the genus - and the molecular analysis also clusters the species with many other Mesoamerican species of Apanteles . However the vannal lobe is closer to (but slightly different) from that of Dolichogenidea species. Solving the limits (or lack thereof) between those two genera is beyond the scope of this paper, thus we describe the species as Apanteles for the time being.

Etymology.

We dedicate this species to Robert Montano in recognition of his diligent efforts for the ACG Programa de Sectores.