Centistes cartagoensis 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 : 17-18

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

( Figs 71–77 )

Female. Body length ( Fig. 71 ): 2.7 mm. Body color: head dark brown except clypeus, pedicel and scape yellow; mesosoma dark brown except propleura, fore and middle leg yellow, hind leg yellow with apical half of tibia and entire tarsus brown, and pronotum yellowish-brown with ventral border yellow; wings hyaline; metasoma blackdark brown. Head ( Figs 72–73 ): antenna with 22 flagellomeres; flagellar length/width ratios as follows: F1 = 4.0, F10 = 2.7, F22 = 2.8; last flagellomere terminating apically in a sharp point; pedicel 1.2 × longer than wide; scape 1.8 × longer than wide; mandibles when closed overlapping for 0.3 × mandible length; mandible width basally 0.6 × mandible length; malar space 0.4 × eye height, and 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 2.2 × ocellar width; frons glabrous except sparse setae around eyes; vertex with a few scattered setae; temple with few scattered setae; temple width equal to eye width; occipital carina thick and complete. Mesosoma: pronotum glabrous; pronotum in lateral view mostly smooth, medially carinate; propleuron with anterior and medial margins rugose, remaining surface 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. 75 ); pit on mesoscutum small and oval ( Fig. 75 ); scutellar sulcus with one carina; scutellar disc sparsely pubescent; mesopleuron centrally glabrous, borders and area below precoxal sulcus pubescent; precoxal sulcus foveate; metanotum carinated; metapleuron pubescent; propodeum pubescent except dorsum glabrous; propodeum subdivided into anterior and posterior halves by a strong transverse carina, and with a median-longitudinal dorsal carina present ( Fig. 74 ); propodeum with surfaces mostly smooth except laterally rugose. Legs: hind coxa 1.3 × longer than middle coxa; hind femora length 5.9 × maximum width; hind tibia length 11.0 × longer than maximum width; hind tibial spur 0.4 × as long as hind basitarsus; ratio of hind tarsomeres from basitarsus apically 19:10:8:6:11. Wings: fore wing length 3.0 mm; pterostigma 4.2 × longer than maximum width; length of marginal cell 2R1 along anterior wing margin 1.3 × the length of pterostigma; vein r-rs 0.8 × 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 0.4 × as wide as apical width, and 1.6 × longer than apical width; sculpture of first tergite longitudinally costate with costae almost parallel ( Fig. 76 ); spiracle of tergum one situated on lateral margin near the basal quarter of segment; hypopygium short, ventrally folded and dorsal posterior margin truncated; ovipositor sheath 4.2 × longer than basal width, and as long as basitarsus; ovipositor sheath pubescent, and terminating in a sharp point formed from a fringe of dense setae ( Fig. 77 ).

Male. Unknown.

Holotype female. COSTA RICA: Cartago, 4 Km N.E. Cañón Génesis II, 2350 m, vi.1995, P. Hanson leg., Malaise. Deposited in UWIM.

Paratypes. Known only from holotype female.

Comments. Centistes cartagoensis and C. puntarenensis share several distinctive characters, especially the long and narrow ovipositor sheaths. However, these structures are apically pointed in C. cartagoensis , and apically truncated in C. puntarenensis .

Etymology. This species is named after the Costa Rican Province of Cartago.

Figures

FIGURES 71 – 77. Centistes cartagoensis sp. n. 71) Lateral habitus, 72) oblique head, 73) dorsal head, 74) propodeum, 75) mesoscutum, 76) dorsal metasoma, 77) ovipositor sheaths with protruding ovipositor.