Scelio pipilo Yoder

Yoder, Matthew J., Valerio, Alejandro A., Polaszek, Andrew, Noort, Simon van, Masner, Lubomir & Johnson, Norman F., 2014, Monograph of the Afrotropical species of Scelio Latreille (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae), egg parasitoids of acridid grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Acrididae), ZooKeys 380, pp. 1-188 : 106-108

Scelio pipilo Yoder sp. n. Figures 20, 245-250; Morphbank 56

Description.

Female body length: 4.64-5.52 mm (n=13). Male body length: 4.20-5.39 mm (n=5). Color of pilosity of dorsal head in female: white. Occipital carina in female: percurrent. Color of pilosity of the frons below the anterior ocellus in female: predominantly white. Pilosity of eye in female: absent; present. Medial keel on interantennal process: absent. Width of lower gena in lateral view: wide, posterior margin of lower half of gena parallel to posterior orbit. Genal carina: absent. Color of genal pilosity: white. Color of scape in female: brown to dark brown throughout. Surface of the pronotal nucha in female: predominantly sculptured. Color of pilosity of pronotal shoulder in female: white to light brown, lighter than that of mesoscutum. Sculpture of medial mesoscutum in female: predominantly angular reticulate to rugulose. Color of pilosity of mesoscutum in female: predominantly yellow to golden. Notaulus in female: indicated by a row of cells. Form of axillular carina in female: small, not particularly expanded or projected from the lateral edge of the mesoscutellum. Pilosity of propodeal nucha: absent. Pilosity of netrion: absent. Surface of mesopleural depression in female: sculptured throughout. Form of ventral margin of villus in female: very slightly concave, almost straight. Color of coxae in female: brown. Color of hind femur: dark brown throughout. Color of hind tibia: yellow throughout. Fore wing length in female: apex between anterior margin of T5 and posterior margin of T6. Color of metasoma: entirely dark brown. Sculpture of laterotergites in female: predominantly smooth. Pilosity of laterotergites in female: absent. Sculpture of medial T1 in female: most prominent elements predominantly longitudinal. Sculpture of medial T2 in female: most prominent elements predominantly longitudinal. Pattern of sculpture on T3-T5 in female: T3 predominantly reticulate, T4-T5 predominantly longitudinally striate to strigose. Color of pilosity on lateral T3-T5 in female: predominantly golden to brown. Lateral profile of T6 in female: more or less horizontal. Sculpture of T6 in female: predominantly rugulose to reticulate. Sculpture of lateral metasomal sternal bar in female: minutely reticulate throughout. Distribution of felt fields: 2 pairs present (S2, S3).

Diagnosis.

Very similar to Scelio destico in habitus, reticulate sculpture of the frons, brown to dark brown scape, somewhat bulging eye, and brown pilosity of the lateral metasoma. This species differs in the absence of a genal carina and, in lateral view, the posterior margin of the lower half of the gena is parallel to the posterior orbit making the gena appear wider.

Etymology.

The epithet is used as a noun in apposition derived from the Latin word for chirp, twitter.

Link to distribution map.

http://hol.osu.edu/map-large.html?id=244984

Material examined.

Holotype, female: CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Sangha-Mbaéré Préf. Écon., 21.4km (53°) NE Bayanga, Mabéa Bai, lowland rainforest / marsh clearing, CAR01-M49, Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, 03°02.01'N, 16°24.57'E, 510m, 5. V– 6.V.2001, malaise trap, S. van Noort, OSUC 244025 (deposited in SAMC). Paratypes: (12 females, 5 males) BENIN: 3 females, OSUC 211367, 211371-211372 (CNCI). CAMEROON: 1 female, OSUC 211217 (CNCI). CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: 3 females, OSUC 213979 (OSUC); OSUC 254636-254637 (SAMC). GHANA: 1 female, OSUC 213554 (OSUC). KENYA: 1 female, 1 male, OSUC 214114, 214126 (CNCI). NIGERIA: 1 female, OSUC 212613 (CNCI). UGANDA: 2 females, 4 males, OSUC 214135, 214153-214154, 214159, 214161-214162 (CNCI).