Cestistes gauldi Aguirre, Almeida & Shaw

Aguirre, Helmuth, Almeida, Luis Felipe Ventura De & Shaw, Scott Richard, 2017, Revision of the genus Centistes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Euphorinae: Centistini) of Costa Rica, Zootaxa 4216 (1), pp. 1-46 : 23-25

Cestistes gauldi Aguirre, Almeida & Shaw , sp. n.

( Figs 99–105 )

Female. Body length ( Fig. 99 ): 2.4–2.5 mm. Body color: head yellowish-orange except flagellomeres, vertex, temple and area among ocelli black-dark brown; mesosoma black except pronotum black-dark brown; legs yellow except fore legs with tibia and tarsus brown; wings hyaline; metasoma black-dark brown. Head ( Figs 100–101 ): antenna with 22 flagellomeres; flagellar length/width ratios as follows: F1 = 3.3, F10 = 1.7, F22 = 2.4; last flagellomere terminating apically in a sharp point; pedicel 1.4 × longer than wide; scape 1.7 × longer than wide; mandibles when closed overlapping for 0.6 × mandible length; mandible width basally 0.4 × mandible length; malar space 0.3–0.4 × eye height, and 1.2–1.3 × basal mandible width; gena sparsely pubescent; shortest distance between eyes 1.2–1.3 × greater than clypeus width; eye in lateral view 1.6–1.8 × taller than wide; lateral ocellus separated from compound eye by a distance 1.3–1.7 × ocellar width; frons glabrous; vertex glabrous; temple glabrous; temple width 0.6–0.7 × eye width; occipital carina thick and complete. Mesosoma: pronotum glabrous, mostly smooth, though medially foveate in lateral view; propleuron with anterior and medial margins rugose, remaining surfaces smooth; median mesonotal lobe anteriorly pubescent, posteriorly glabrous; lateral mesonotal lobes mostly glabrous with a single row of setae on lateral border; notauli either absent or only present anteriorly ( Fig. 103 ); pit on mesoscutum absent ( Fig. 103 ); scutellar sulcus with one carina; scutellar disc sparsely pubescent; mesopleuron sparsely pubescent, glabrous medially; precoxal sulcus foveate; metanotum mostly smooth, with few and weak carinae; metapleuron pubescent; propodeum pubescent except glabrous dorsally; propodeum subdivided into anterior and posterior halves by a strong transverse carina, and without a median-longitudinal dorsal carina ( Fig. 102 ); propodeum surfaces carinate-rugose except smooth areas on dorsum. Legs: hind coxa 1.4 × longer than middle coxa; hind femora length 4.0 × maximum width; hind tibia length 8.3 × longer than maximum width; hind tibial spur 0.7 × as long as hind basitarsus; ratio of hind tarsomeres from basitarsus apically 11:6:5:4:10. Wings: fore wing length 2.4–2.5 mm; pterostigma 3.2 × longer than maximum width; length of marginal cell 2R1 along anterior wing margin equal to length of pterostigma; vein r-rs 0.2 × as long as pterostigma width; vein Rs+M complete; vein m-cu basal with vein RS; hind wing with three sickle-shaped hamuli. Metasoma: first tergite basally 0.5 × as wide as apical width, and 1.7 × longer than apical width; sculpture of first tergite longitudinally costate, with costae almost parallel ( Fig. 104 ); spiracle of tergum one situated on lateral margin near to the half of segment; hypopygium short and ventrally convex; ovipositor sheath 1.8 × longer than basal width, and 1.4 × as long as basitarsus; ovipositor sheath pubescent, and somewhat triangular, terminating in a rounded point ( Fig. 105 ).

Male. Unknown.

Holotype female. COSTA RICA: San Jose, Zurqui de Moravia , 1600 m, x–xii.1990, P. Hanson leg., Malaise. Deposited in UWIM.

Paratypes. COSTA RICA: One female, Puntarenas, San Vito , Est. Biol. Las Alturas, 1500 m, iii.1992, P. Hanson, Malaise. One female , Puntarenas, San Vito , Est. Biol. Las Alturas, 1500 m, xii.1991, P. Hanson leg, Malaise. All paratypes deposited in UWIM.

Comments. Centistes gauldi and C. gasseni share several traits as explained in the key, but the black-dark brown body and relatively short ovipositor sheaths are distinctive to C. gauldi (body yellow in C. gasseni ).

Etymology. This species is named after Dr Ian Gauld, prominent and prolific specialist in Ichneumonidae , and one of the pioneers of the Hymenoptera of Costa Rica project.

Figures

FIGURES 99 – 105. Centistes gauldi sp. n. 99) Lateral habitus, 100) anterior head, 101) dorsal head, 102) propodeum, 103) mesoscutum, 104) dorsal metasoma, 105) ovipositor sheaths with protruding ovipositor.