Centistes longicaudatus 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 : 31-33

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

( Figs 134–140 )

Female. Body length ( Fig. 134 ): 2.0– 2.3 mm. Body color: head yellow except upper third of gena, temple, vertex, frons and flagelomeres dark brown; mesosoma dark brown except propleura and pronotum, and legs yellow; wings hyaline; metasoma dark brown except T1 and ovipositor sheath black-dark brown. Head ( Figs 135–136 ): antenna with 21–22 flagellomeres; flagellar length/width ratios as follows: F1 = 3.0, F10 = 2.3, last flagellomere = 2.0; last flagellomere terminating apically in a sharp point; pedicel 1.1 × longer than wide; scape 1.6 × longer than wide; mandibles when closed overlapping for 0.5–0.6 × mandible length; mandible width basally 0.4 × mandible length; malar space 0.3–0.4 × eye height, and 1.2–1.4 × basal width of mandible; gena sparsely pubescent; shortest distance between eyes 1.25 × greater than clypeus width; eye in lateral view 1.7–1.9 × taller than wide; lateral ocellus separated from compound eye by a distance 1.8–2.0 × ocellar width; frons glabrous; vertex with a few scattered setae; temple with few scattered setae; temple width 0.7–1.0 × eye width; occipital carina thick and complete. Mesosoma: pronotum glabrous; pronotum in lateral view mostly smooth, and medially foveate; 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. 138 ); pit on mesoscutum small and oval ( Fig. 138 ); scutellar sulcus with one carina; scutellar disc sparsely pubescent; mesopleuron centrally glabrous, borders and area below precoxal sulcus pubescent; precoxal sulcus foveate; metanotum irregularly longitudinally 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. 137 ); propodeum surfaces rugose except smooth areas on dorsum. Legs: hind coxa 1.4 × longer than middle coxa; hind femora length 5.4 × maximum width; hind tibia length 9.2 × longer than maximum width; hind tibial spur 0.4 × as long as hind basitarsus; ratio of hind tarsomeres from basitarsus apically 13:8:6:5:9. Legs: fore wing length 2.8–2.9 mm; pterostigma 2.8 × longer than maximum width; length of marginal cell 2R1 along anterior wing margin equal to the length of pterostigma; vein r-rs 0.21 × as long as pterostigma width; vein Rs+M present as a short stub; vein m-cu basal with vein RS; hind wing with three or four sickle-shaped hamuli. Metasoma: first tergite basally 0.6 × as wide as apical width, and 1.5 × longer than apical width; sculpture of first tergite longitudinally costate with costae almost parallel ( Fig. 139 ); spiracle of tergum one situated on lateral margin near the half of segment; hypopygium either short or long, and ventrally convex with dorsal margin rounded; ovipositor sheath 3.4–3.8 × longer than basal width, and 1.7–1.8 × as long as basitarsus; ovipositor sheath densely pubescent, and terminating in a sharp point ( Fig. 140 ).

Male. Unknown.

Holotype female. COSTA RICA: San Jose, 26 km N. San Isidro, just S. of Division , 2100 m, ix–x.1992, P. Hanson leg., Malaise, secondary growth. Deposited in UWIM.

Paratypes. COSTA RICA: One female, Cartago, 4 km N.E. Cañon Genesis II, 2350 m, iv.1995, P. Hanson leg., Malaise. One female , San Jose, Cerro de la Muerte , Est. Cuerci, 2600 m, xi.1999, P. Hanson leg., Malaise. One female , San Jose, 26 km S. 3 km Empalme , 2600 m, vi–viii.1993, P. Hanson leg., Malaise. One female , San Jose, 26 km N. San Isidro just S. of Division , 2100 m, vi–vii.1992, P. Hanson leg., Malaise, secondary growth. One female , San Jose, 26 km N. San Isidro just S. of Division , 2100 m, ix–x.1992, P. Hanson leg., Malaise, secondary growth. One female , San Jose, 26 km N. San Isidro just S. of Division , 2100 m, viii–ix.1991, P. Hanson leg., Malaise, secondary growth. One female , San Jose, 26 km N. San Isidro just S. of Division , 2100 m, iv–v.1993, P. Hanson leg., Malaise, secondary growth. One female , San Jose, 26 km N. San Isidro just S. of Division , 2100 m, ii– v.1992, P. Hanson leg., Malaise, secondary growth. One female , San Jose, Cerro de la Muerte , 19 km S. 3 Km W. Empalme, 2600 m, ii–iii.1993, P. Hanson leg., Malaise.

Comments. Centistes longicaudatus , C. achterbergi and C. marshi share long, narrow, and parallel-sided ovipositor sheaths (as in Fig. 140 ). However, C. longicaudatus is unique among them by having yellow face ( Fig. 135 ).

Etymology. This species name is composed by the Latin prefix “longi”, which translates long, and the Latin stem “caudatus”, meaning tail, due to the long ovipositor sheaths.

Figures

FIGURES 134 – 140. Centistes longicaudatus sp. n. 134) Lateral habitus, 135) anterior head, 136) dorsal head, 137) propodeum, 138) mesoscutum, 139) dorsal metasoma, 140) long ovipositor sheaths.