Heterospilus neesi Marsh

Marsh, Paul M., Wild, Alexander L. & Whitfield, James B., 2013, The Doryctinae (Braconidae) of Costa Rica: genera and species of the tribe Heterospilini, ZooKeys 347, pp. 1-474 : 126-127

Heterospilus neesi Marsh sp. n. Figure 84

Female.

Body size: 3.0-3.5 mm. Color: head with vertex and frons brown, face and eye orbits light brown or yellow; scape yellow, flagellum brown; mesosoma dark brown, often with lower mesopleuron lighter; metasomal tergum 1 dark brown, tergum 2 dark brown with lateral converging yellow stripes, terga 3-4 dark brown, yellow medially, terga 5-7 lighter brown than tergum 1; legs yellow, apical half of hind femur and tibia brown; wing veins including stigma brown. Head: vertex weakly striate; frons smooth or very weakly striate; face smooth except for weak striae below antennae; temple in dorsal view narrow, sloping behind eye, less than 1/2 eye width; malar space greater than 1/4 eye height; ocell-ocular distance slightly less than 2.5 times diameter of lateral ocellus; 24-30 flagellomeres. Mesosoma: mesoscutal lobes granulate; notauli scrobiculate, meeting posteriorly in wide rectangular rugose area; scutellum smooth; prescutellar furrow with 3-5 cross carinae; mesopleuron smooth; precoxal sulcus scrobiculate, shorter than mesopleuron; venter weakly granulate; propodeum with basal median areas not distinctly margined, areolate-rugose, basal median carina absent, areola not distinctly margined, areolar area areolate-rugose, lateral areas entirely rugose. Wings: fore wing vein r shorter than vein 3RSa, vein 1cu-a beyond vein 1M; hind wing vein SC+R present, vein M+CU shorter than vein 1M. Metasoma: first tergum costate-granulate; second tergum costate-granulate; anterior transverse groove present, straight; posterior transverse groove present; third tergum costate basally, smooth apically; terga 4-7 smooth; ovipositor equal to length of terga 1+2.

Holotype female.

Top label (white, partially printed and hand written) - Costa Rica: Guanacaste [;] Santa Rosa Natl. Park [;] 300m, ex. Malaise trap [;] Site #: (blank) [;] Dates: 24. v– 14.vi.1986 [;] I.D. Gauld & D. Janzen; second label (white, printed) - [BH] Bosque Humedo [;] mature evergreen dry forest [;] [C] more or less fully [;] shaded as possible; third label (red, partially printed and hand written) - HOLOTYPE [;] Heterospilus [;] neesi [;] P. Marsh. Deposited in ESUW.

Paratypes.

2 ♀♀, Costa Rica: Guanacaste, ACT [;] Bagaces, P.N. Palo Verde [;] Sec. P. Verde, 150 de la Est. [;] 0-50m, 17. viii– 13.ix.1999 [;] I. Jimenez, Malaise #53257 [;] L.N. 260952-385020 (ESUW).

Comments.

This species is distinguished by the rectangular rugose area where the notauli meet posteriorly and the yellow markings on metasomal tergum 2.

Etymology.

Named for C. G. Ness ab Esenbeck who was one of the earliest workers on Hymenoptera in the early 1880s.