Aulacus bamagensis Jennings & Austin, 2018

Jennings, John T., Parslow, Ben A. & Austin, Andrew D., 2018, Systematics of the parasitoid wasp genus Aulacus Jurine (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Aulacidae) from Australia, Zootaxa 4538 (1), pp. 1-113 : 19-20

Aulacus bamagensis Jennings & Austin , sp. nov.

Figs 7 , 56 .

Material examined. Holotype. ♀, " Australia, N. Qld. Bamaga, II.18.1984. J. Sedaleck. Rain forest" ( ANIC) . Paratype. Queensland: 1♀, same location and collector as holotype, 12.iii.1984 ( AEI) .

Description. FEMALE. Length. 7.5 mm, excluding ovipositor.

Colour. Black ( Figs 7A, B ), except mandibles cream with dark brown teeth, scape and pedicel brown, flagellomeres black, propleuron brown anteriorly, fore and mid femora brown, fore tibiae white, mid tibiae brown, tarsi white except mid and hind tarsomeres mostly black, metasomal segments 1–2 orange but with variable amounts of black dorsally and laterally, segments 3–4 orange, and segments 5–8 dark brown, ovipositor sheaths black except for broad band of white just below apex, ovipositor orange. Wings hyaline except for brown spot apically on the marginal and submarginal cells of fore wing ( Fig. 7A ).

Head. 1.25 (1.20–1.30)× wider than long when viewed dorsally; face punctate-reticulate, pubescence long; shallow sub-antennal groove; frons without lateral medial carina above toruli, punctate-reticulate, with short pubescence; vertex and gena punctate-reticulate, with short pubescence; posterior margin of head slightly concave in dorsal view; weak occipital carina present laterally, absent medially ( Fig. 7D ); malar space 1.6× height eye; clypeus 2.4× as wide as high, margin sinuate, without medial process; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 0.65 (0.60–0.70)× distance between lateral ocelli; scape 2.5× length pedicel; first flagellomere equal to length scape, 0.6× as long as second flagellomere.

Mesosoma. Propleuron rugulose, pubescence long, ventro-lateral carina weak; pronotum rugose; mesoscutum in lateral view rounded antero-dorsally ( Fig. 7C ), medial and lateral lobes rugose, pubescence short, admedial lines weak; notauli distinct, carinate, broad and deep; scutellum and axillae rugose, scutellum anteriorly with pair of deep depressions, separated by a weak median carina; metapostnotum scrobiculate, posterior margin slightly curved ( Fig. 7E ); mesopleuron rugose, with long pubescence; mesepimeron broad, carinate; metapleuron rugose, with long pubescence; propodeum coarsely rugose, with long pubescence, posterior margin scrobiculate; hind coxa strigate, imbricate on inner anterior surface, pubescence short laterally, ovipositor guide medial, oblique ( Fig. 7F ), no posterior fringe of long setae, scattered short setae within groove; hind trochanter imbricate, with scattered short setae; prefemur on hind leg present; hind femur imbricate, with scattered short setae; hind tibia imbricate, pubescence short, with scattered stout emergent setae; hind femur 0.7× length hind tibia; hind tibia with ventroapical pecten of short robust spines; hind tarsomeres 1–4 with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines, tarsomere 1, 2.3× length tarsomere 2; tarsomere 2, 1.05× length tarsomere 3; tarsomere 3, 3.5× length tarsomere 4; tarsomere 4, 0.65× length tarsomere 5; hind tarsal claw 0.5× length tarsomere 5; fore wing veins 2r-m and 3r-m largely spectral; hind wing venation complete, R+Rs, M+Cu, Cu, r-m and 2-M spectral, with 3 hamuli.

Metasoma. Clavate, 1.77× length of mesosoma; T1 and T2 narrow, glabrous; ovipositor 3.0 mm.

MALE. Unknown.

Etymology. This species is named after the holotype locality, Bamaga, north Queensland.

Distribution. This species is known only from the holotype locality ( Fig. 56 ).

Biology. Nothing is known of the biology of this species.

Comments. Turrisi et al. (2009) suggested that amongst several diagnostic characters, Aulacus (worldwide) lack an occipital carina, which is present in Pristaulacus . However, two species from Australia, A. bamagensis and A. grossi (coded correctly in Turrisi et al. (2009) as having an occipital carina) have a weak (narrow) occipital carina laterally which is absent medially.

Aulacus grossi is a small species (body 4.5 mm and ovipositor 4.2 mm in length) with the mesosoma and metasoma about equal in length. It can readily be distinguished from A. bamagensis , which has a length of 7.5 mm, excluding the ovipositor which is 3.0 mm in length, and the mesosoma is 1.77× the length of the metasoma. There are also numerous sculpturing and colour differences.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Aulacus bamagensis sp. nov., holotype female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus. Aulacus bamagensis sp. nov., paratype, (C) dorsal head; (D) postero-lateral head; (E) dorsal mesosoma; (F) dorsal hind coxae.

FIGURE 56. Distribution of Aulacus atriceps Kieffer, A. bamagensis sp. nov., A. bashfordi sp. nov., and A. bicolor sp. nov.