Trissolcus nycteridaner Talamas, 2017

Talamas, Elijah J., Buffington, Matthew L. & Hoelmer, Kim, 2017, Revision of Palearctic Trissolcus Ashmead (Hymenoptera, Scelionidae), Journal of Hymenoptera Research 56, pp. 3-185 : 38-39

Trissolcus nycteridaner Talamas sp. n. Figures 12 , 112-113 , 114-117

Description.

Female body length: 1.50-1.79 mm (n=10). Male body length: 1.60 mm (n=1). Body color: head, mesosoma, and metasoma black.

Head. Color of radicle: yellow. Length of radicle: less than width of clypeus. Color of A1-A6 in female: yellow, becoming brown distally. Color of A7-A11 in female: pale brown. Number of basiconic sensilla on A6: 0. Number of basiconic sensilla on A7: 2. Facial striae: absent. Number of clypeal setae: 2. Microsculpture on gena directly above mandibular condyle: absent. Shape of ventral gena in lateral view: narrow. Genal carina: absent. Malar striae: absent. Sculpture of malar sulcus: faintly rugulose. Orbital furrow: expanding in size ventrally, strongly so at intersection with malar sulcus. Macrosculpture of frons between antennal scrobe and anterior ocellus: absent. Preocellar pit: present. Setation of lateral frons: moderately dense. Punctation of lateral frons: moderately dense. Macrosculpture of lateral frons: absent. OOL: separated by less than one ocellar diameter. Hyperoccipital carina: complete. Macrosculpture of posterior vertex: absent. Microsculpture on posterior vertex along occipital carina: absent. Anterior margin of occipital carina: coarsely crenulate.

Mesosoma. Epomial carina: present. Macrosculpture of lateral pronotum directly anterior to netrion: rugose. Netrion sulcus: incomplete. Pronotal suprahumeral sulcus in posterior half of pronotum: undifferentiated from sculpture of dorsal pronotum. Number of episternal foveae: 3; 4 or more. Course of episternal foveae ventrally: distinctly separate from postacetabular sulcus. Course of episternal foveae dorsally: extending to mesopleural pit. Subacropleural sulcus: present. Speculum: transversely strigose. Mesopleural pit: simple. Mesopleural carina: complete. Sculpture of femoral depression: smooth. Patch of striae at posteroventral end of femoral depression: present, striae weakly developed and perpendicular to long axis of femoral depression. Setal patch at posteroventral end of femoral depression: present. Microsculpture of anteroventral mesopleuron: present throughout. Macrosculpture of anteroventral mesopleuron: absent. Postacetabular sulcus: formed by open crenulae; formed by small punctures. Mesopleural epicoxal sulcus: formed by open crenulae. Setation of posteroventral metapleuron: absent. Sculpture of dorsal metapleural area: absent. Posterodorsal metapleural sulcus: present as line of foveae. Paracoxal sulcus in ventral half of metapleuron: indistinguishable from sculpture to absent. Anteroventral extension of metapleuron: extending to base of mesocoxa. Metapleural epicoxal sulcus: present as coarse rugae. Mesoscutal humeral sulcus: present as a simple furrow. Median mesoscutal carina: absent. Macrosculpture of mesoscutum: reticulate anteriorly, becoming longitudinally strigose posteriorly. Pattern of mesoscutal microsculpture: uniform throughout. Mesoscutal suprahumeral sulcus: comprised of cells; absent. Length of mesoscutal suprahumeral sulcus: about half the length of anterolateral edge of mesoscutum. Parapsidal line: present. Notaulus: indicated only at posterior margin of mesoscutum. Median protuberance on anterior margin of mesoscutellum: present. Shape of dorsal margin of anterior lobe of axillar crescent: acute. Sculpture of anterior lobe of axillar crescent: absent. Area bounded by axillar crescent: smooth. Macrosculpture of mesoscutellum: longitudinally strigose medially. Microsculpture on mesoscutellum: absent. Median mesoscutellar carina: absent. Setation of posterior scutellar sulcus: absent. Form of metascutellum: coarsely rugose. Metanotal trough: smooth in dorsal half, with line of foveae ventrally. Metapostnotum: invaginated near lateral edge of metascutellum. Length of postmarginal vein: about twice as long as stigmal vein. Color of legs: coxae brown, legs elsewhere yellow. Anteromedial portion of metasomal depression: punctate or crenulate.

Metasoma. Longitudinal striae on T1 posterior to basal costae: present. Number of sublateral setae (on one side): 0. Setation of laterotergite 1: absent. Longitudinal striation of T2: present throughout anterior half of tergite. Setation of T2: present throughout posterolateral corner and lateral portions of tergite. Setation of laterotergite 2: present. Posteriorly directed setae on medial S1: present. Striation of S2: present laterally, absent medially. Setation of S2: present only in medial third.

Diagnosis.

Trissolcus nycteridaner can be identified by the presence of a hyperoccipital carina, the undefined orbital furrow at the malar sulcus, the extremely slender mandibles, and the longitudinal sculpture on the mesoscutellum and posterior mesoscutum. It is similar to T. gonopsidis , but can be easily distinguished by the slender mandibles and absence of facial striae. Among species of the flavipes group, it is unusual in that the mesoscutal humeral sulcus is a mostly smooth furrow.

Etymology.

The name of this species was inspired by young Luke Meladossi of Scarsdale, New York, who inquired if a species could be named for the superhero Batman. Like Batman, species of Trissolcus are dark in color, rarely seen by the public, kill bad guys (stink bugs) for the benefit of humankind, and are at times unfairly vilified on the basis of their name (parasitic wasp). The epithet derives from the Greek words “nycteris,” meaning “bat”, and “aner,” meaning “man”, and is treated as a noun in apposition.

Link to distribution map.

http://hol.osu.edu/map-large.html?id=354383

Material examined.

Holotype, female: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: #8173, 25°24'N 56°17'E, Wadi Wurayah , 25.III.2007, sweeping, F. Menzel & A. Stark, USNMENT00896182 (deposited in CNCI) . Paratypes: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: 9 females, USNMENT00896175-00896178, 00896180-00896181, 00896185-00896186, 00896218 (CNCI) . Other material: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: 1 male, USNMENT00896179 (CNCI) .

Figures

Figure 7 - 12. 7 T. mitsukurii, female (USNMENT 00675722), axillar crescent, lateral view 8 T. tumidus, female (USNMENT 00979425), axillar crescent, lateral view 9 T. flavipes, holotype of T. circus, female (ZMAS 0143), axillar crescent, lateral view 10 T. japonicus, female (USNMENT 00675989), axillar crescent, lateral view. 11 T. saakowi, female (USNMENT 00977544) axillar crescent, lateral view 12 T. nycteridaner, female (USNMENT 00896178), axillar crescent, lateral view. Scale bars in millimeters.

Figures 112 - 113. Trissolcus nycteridaner, female holotype (USNMENT 00896182) 112 head, mesosoma, metasoma, lateral view 113 head, mesosoma, metasoma, dorsal view. Scale bars in millimeters.

Figures 114 - 117. Trissolcus nycteridaner 114 female holotype (USNMENT 00896182), mesosoma, lateral view 115 female holotype (USNMENT 00896182), head and mesosoma, posterodorsal view 116 female paratype (USNMENT 00896175), head, anterior view 117 female holotype (USNMENT 00896182), head, anteroventral view. Scale bars in millimeters.