Abzariini Santos & Wahl, 2021

Santos, Bernardo F., Wahl, David B., Rousse, P., Bennett, Andrew M. R., Kula, Robert & Brady, Seán G., 2021, Phylogenomics of Ichneumoninae (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) reveals pervasive morphological convergence and the shortcomings of previous classifications, Systematics Entomology 46 (3), pp. 1-22 : 16-17

Abzariini Santos & Wahl , trib. n.

Type genus and species: Abzaria latipetiolaris Cameron, 1885 ( Fig. 9A–C ).

ZooBank registration code: http://zoobank.org/urn: lsid:zoobank.org:act: BE34CC25-4334-44F0-87DB-5359AC484832

Diagnosis

Distinguished from other tribes of Ichneumoninae by combination of the following: clypeus large and flat with truncate apical margin; supra-antennal area with pair of strong blunt denticles; metasomal segment 1 short and stout: 1.1× as long as posterior width, constricted only at anterior 0.3, base about 0.1× as wide as posterior margin; strongly convex in lateral profile; T2+ strongly sclerotized; anterior margins smooth and sloping, giving incised appearance in lateral view; female metasoma amblypygous.

Description

Head. Clypeus large and flat ( Fig. 9B ); apical margin truncate; apicolateralmarginforminganangleof approximately 90∘. Clypeal fovea large and open. Clypeal suture present and well defined. Supraclypeal area with two lateral longitudinal depressions, medially produced as low convexity. Supra-antennal area with pair of strong blunt denticles between antennal sockets and ocellar triangle. Male flagellum without transverse bristle ridges; 10–11 small ovoid tyloids present, starting at flagellomeres 10–12. Female flagellum bristle-shaped. Occipital carina complete and lamellate, joining hypostomal carina before mandibular base. Mandible elongate and parallel-sided, dorsal tooth tapered and elongate, ventral tooth about 0.2× as long as dorsal tooth. Gena weakly convex in dorsal view, in lateral view about 0.8× as long as eye (measured at midheight of eye).

Mesosoma . Pronotum without longitudinal median carina crossing transverse sulcus just behind pronotal collar; epomia present as short carina extending from pronotal anterior margin into pronotal trough. Epicnemial carina complete and turned anteriorly to touch mesopleural anterior margin. Sternaulus weak and short, about 0.2× as long as mesopleuron (as measured from epicnemial carina to posterior mesopleural margin). Notauli absent except for faint depression adjacent to pronotal/ mesopleural margin. Scutellum with anterior 0.5 flat, posterior 0.5 gently sloping to posterior margin; lateral carina absent. Juxtacoxal carina ranging from absent to having only anterior 0.3 present. Propodeum in lateral profile steeply sloping, with anterior 0.3 sharply and abruptly sloping toward anterior margin ( Fig. 9C ); spiracle elongate, about 2.8× as long as wide; carinae mostly absent, ranging from: (1) posterior transverse carina, posterior 0.2 of median longitudinal carinae, and pleural carina present to (2) only lateral ends of posterior transverse carina present; apex of second lateralarea forming low crest; surface sculpture coarsely rugulose with scattered coarse punctures. Fore wing 11.0–11.6 mm long; cell 1+2Rs asymmetrically pentagonal, narrowly anteriorly truncate.

Metasoma. Metasomal segment 1 short and stout: 1.1× as long as wide, constricted only at anterior 0.3, base about 0.1× as wide as posterior margin; strongly convex in lateral profile ( Fig. 9A ); median dorsal carina absent, dorsolateral carina present on anterior 0.7. T2 with thyridium absent, gastrocoelus present as shallow, ill-defined depression narrowly separated from anterior margin. T2+ strongly sclerotized; anterior margins smooth and sloping, giving incised appearance in lateral view. Overall sculpture of T2+ strongly and coarsely punctate, with punctation gradually decreasing posteriorly; tergites with coarse scattered punctures, T1-2 medially rugosopunctate. Female amblypygous; ovipositor slender and decurved, without denticles.

Remarks

The new tribe differs from Eurylabini by the following combination of diagnostic characters, all putatively autapomorphic: supra-antennal area with pair of strong blunt denticles (vs. without denticles); areola of propodeum absent (vs. present); metasomal segment 1 short and stout, 1.1× as long as posterior width (vs. elongate, about 1.7× as long as posterior width), constricted only at anterior 0.3 (vs. constricted up to spiracle level); T2 strongly sclerotized, anterior margins smooth and sloping, giving it incised appearance in lateral view (vs. relatively weakly sclerotized, anterior margins not sloping, forming more or less continuous surface). Meanwhile, the Eurylabini show the following distinct apomorphies: lateral portions of apical transverse carina (costulae) absent; petiole of metasomal segment 1 broader than high. Given the deep morphological dissimilarity between the two genera, classifying them in distinct tribes seems more appropriate to approximate the degree of morphological divergence that is present between other ichneumonine tribes.

Cameron commented on the first metasomal segment: ‘The form of the petiole, it being broader than high, places this genus in the “Ichneumones platyuri” of Wesmael, but it is very distinct from any of the genera of that group’. Arealistic look at the structure shows that it is so short and distorted that there is no petiole; the basal region is not wider than high and Cameron’s observation was illusory. Ashmead (1900) based his classification on Förster (1869), with Förster’s families treated as tribes; they were based on a combination of spiracle shape, mandibles and propodeal morphology. Abzaria was placed in the Joppini , which consisted of genera with the anterior portion of the propodeum steeply sloping to the anterior propodeal margin. Schmiedeknecht (1902) had approximately the same definition of Joppini and accordingly placed Abzaria there as well. Townes ( Townes & Townes, 1966) reverted to Cameron’s position and placed the genus in the Platylabini . Tereshkin (2009) kept it in Platylabini . Tereshkin’s key to platylabin genera starts with dividing genera not having ‘combination of characters not correspond to diagnosis of tribe: or petiolus not flattened at base, or clypeus slightly convex with rounded arcuate front margin, or in middle almost from base to apex impressed or broad with sharp corners slightly separated and elevated on height of middle of face’ vs. ‘Petiolus at base wider than height and synchronously clypeus convex as marked for tribe’. Abzaria certainly fits into the first division (comprising couplets 1–9), yet Tereshkin places it in the latter division, ignoring the non-platylabin clypeus and the lack of a petiole.

There are three reared specimens, all from Costa Rica and the Janzen & Hallwachs Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) Lepidoptera inventory. The rearing codes are 85-SRNP-335, 85-SRNP-360 and 06-SRNP-45362. The hosts were several species of Hemicephalis Möschler [ Erebidae ]: alesa DHJ01 on Varronia inermis (Miller) Borhidi [ Boraginaceae ] and Poole01 on Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pavón) Oken [ Coridaceae ]. Wild host larvae were collected in June and wasps emerged from the host pupae about 5 weeks later. The collecting locales were in Guanacaste, Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Sectors Cacao and Santa Rosa (275–550 m).

Figures

Fig. 9. Abzaria latipetiolaris. (A) lateral habitus; (B) Head and pronotum in laterofrontal view; (C) propodeum and petiole in dorsolateral view. [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com].