Centistes curvicaudatus 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 : 22

Centistes curvicaudatus Aguirre, Almeida & Shaw , sp. n.

( Figs 92–98 )

Female. Body length ( Fig. 92 ): 1.8–1.9 mm. Body color: head black except clypeus light brown and antenna basally light brown turning dark brown towards the apex; mesosoma dark brown, except legs yellow; wings hyaline; metasoma dark brown. Head ( Figs 93–94 ): antenna with 21 flagellomeres; flagellar length/width ratios as follows: F1 = 3.0, F10 = 2.0, F21 = 2.3; last flagellomere terminating apically in a sharp point; pedicel 1.3 × longer than wide; scape 1.5 × longer than wide; mandibles when closed overlapping for 0.4–0.5 × mandible length; mandible width basally 0.5–0.7 × mandible length; malar space 0.2–0.3 × eye height, and 1.0–1.2 × basal mandible width; gena sparsely pubescent; shortest distance between eyes 1.2 × greater than clypeus width; eye in lateral view 1.9 × taller than wide; lateral ocellus separated from compound eye by a distance 1.8–2 × ocellar width; frons glabrous; vertex with a few scattered setae; temple with few scattered setae; temple width 0.8–1 × eye width; occipital carina thin and complete. Mesosoma: pronotum glabrous; pronotum in lateral view smooth; propleuron smooth; median mesonotal lobe sparsely pubescent along the notauli area; lateral mesonotal lobes mostly glabrous with a single row of setae on lateral border; notauli either absent or only present anteriorly ( Fig. 96 ); pit on mesoscutum absent ( Fig. 96 ); scutellar sulcus with one carina; scutellar disc sparsely pubescent; mesopleuron glabrous except borders pubescent; precoxal sulcus absent; metanotum mostly smooth, barely carinate; metapleuron mostly glabrous with just a few setae on the borders; propodeum pubescent laterally; propodeum subdivided into anterior and posterior halves by a strong transverse carina, and with a median-longitudinal dorsal carina present ( Fig. 95 ); propodeum with surfaces mostly smooth except laterally rugose. Legs: hind coxa 1.6 × longer than middle coxa; hind femora length 4.0 × maximum width; hind tibia length 9.2–9.7 × longer than maximum width; hind tibial spur 0.5 × as long as hind basitarsus; ratio of hind tarsomeres from basitarsus apically 10:6:5:4:7. Wings: fore wing length 1.9–2.0 mm; pterostigma 2.7–3.3 × longer than maximum width; length of marginal cell 2R1 along anterior wing margin 1.2 × the length of pterostigma; vein r-rs 0.4–0.5 × as long as pterostigma width; vein Rs+M absent; vein m-cu interstitial with vein RS; hind wing with three sickle-shaped hamuli; first tergite basally 0.5 × as wide as apical width; first tergite 1.1–1.4 × longer than apical width; sculpture of first tergite longitudinally costate with costae almost parallel ( Fig. 97 ); spiracle of tergum one situated on lateral margin near the basal quarter of segment; hypopygium short, ventrally convex and posteriorly sinuated ( Fig. 98 ); ovipositor sheath 3.0–4.0 × longer than basal width, and 0.8–0.9 × as long as basitarsus; ovipositor sheath densely pubescent, and terminating in a rounded area ( Fig. 98 ).

Male. Unknown.

Holotype female. COSTA RICA: San Jose, Zurqui de Moravia , 1600 m, xi.1995, P. Hanson leg., Malaise. Deposited in UWIM.

Paratypes. COSTA RICA: One female, San Jose, Zurqui de Moravia , 1600 m, xi.1995, P. Hanson leg., Malaise. One female , San Jose, Zurqui de Moravia , 1600 m, x–xii.1990, P. Hanson leg., Malaise.

Comments. Centistes curvicaudatus differs from the rest of Centistes species by its sinuate hypopygium posterior border and the absence of precoxal sulcus.

Etymology. The name of this species is formed by the Latin prefix “curvi”, which means curved, and the Latin stem “caudatus”, meaning tail, denoting the sinuate posterior border of its hypopygium.

Figures

FIGURES 92 – 98. Centistes curvicaudatus sp. n. 92) Lateral habitus, 93) anterior head, 94) dorsal head, 95) propodeum, 96) mesoscutum, 97) dorsal metasoma, 98) short ovipositor sheaths with protruding ovipositor. Arrow indicates the sinuate posterior border of hypopygium.