Parapanteles rooibos, Valerio, A. A., Whitfield, J. B. & Kole, M., 2005

Valerio, A. A., Whitfield, J. B. & Kole, M., 2005, Parapanteles rooibos, n. sp. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae): the first record of the genus from the African continent, Zootaxa 855, pp. 1-8 : 3-6

Parapanteles rooibos n. sp. Valerio, Whitfield & Kole

( Figs. 1 A–H, 2A & B)

Female. Body length = 2.05–2.40 mm.

Body color. Palpus yellowish (except basal segment) as distal 1/2 of fore femur, fore tibia and tarsomeres, distal tip of mid femur as well as basal 1/5 of mid tibia, hind tibia basal tip, distal half of mandibles and ovipositor; tarsal claws dark brown; compound eyes silver; ocelli dark orange; spurs of hind tibia and anterior pleura of metasoma whitish yellow; remainder body as black as ovipositor sheaths. Wings hyaline; forewing with veins translucent except pterostigma, 2RS, 2M, r and C+SC+R (basal 1/4 whitish yellow) brownish­yellow; hindwing veins translucent except basal area of C+SC+R, as well as distal tip of R1, brownish yellow.

Head. Head height/width = 1.28–1.30; compound eye height/width = 1.55–1.75; tentorial pit distance/distance from tentorial pit to compound eye = 1.83–1.86; clypeus width/ height = 1.88–2; vertex width/distance between anterior ocelli and edge of torulus = 2.54– 2.57; first flagellomere length/width = 2.00–2.24; length of first flagellomere/length second flagellomere = 1; length of first flagellomere/length of third flagellomere = 1; distal flagellomere length/subdistal flagellomere length = 1.33; distal flagellomere length/width = 1.50–1.60; malar space height/basal width of mandible = 1.25–1.43; ocell­ocular distance/lateral ocelli distance = 0.90.

Clypeus and face with shallow, fine and dense punctation, upper area of face with punctures more shallow and broad than other areas; frons and vertex with scrobal areas nitid, lateral and distal area with fine, shallow and dense punctate sculpture; genae (except ocular ring) and basal 2/3 of postgena with coarser and more confused punctate sculpture than vertex; rest of postgena nitid.

Mesosoma. Mesosoma length/width = 1.28. Propleuron with scattered punctate sculpturing on anterior 1/4, central 1/2 with dense punctate sculpture, posterior 1/4 with few punctations but mainly nitid; pronotum anterolaterally with sparse well defined scrobiculate sculpture, lateral upper groove with fine well defined scrobiculate sculpture, ventral lateral groove with more confused scrobiculate sculpture and narrower than upper groove, distal edge at midheight and dorsal edge with confused punctate sculpturing, area between grooves nitid; mesonotum (fig. 1D) with dense and well defined punctate sculpturing which almost reaches the scutellar groove, scutellar groove crossed by 13 to 16 small and poorly defined costulae of approximately same width except shorter at extreme lateral edges; scutellum with dense and well defined punctate sculpturing, lateral areas with well defined costulate sculpture becoming coarser towards posterior edge; anterior edge of lunules with short and poorly defined ridges some of which do not cross entirety of trough; mesopleuron ( Fig. 1 H) with anterior 1/2 and posterior edge punctate and most of posterior 1/2 nitid, dorsal area with less defined and bigger punctate sculpture mesally, sternaulus appearing as a nearly smooth longitudinal depression; metanotal axillae mainly nitid and with a few short and narrow ridges emerging from distal edge; metapleuron with conspicuous central pit, sculptured peripherally but mostly nitid; propodeum (fig. 1F) with posterolateral areas and most of areola nitid, areola weakly cristate and visible although poorly defined by carinae, anterior mediolongitudinal carinal area and transverse carinae weakly cristate and with confused rugulose sculpturing extending from them to anterior lateral areas, spiracular carina poorly defined, spiracular area mainly nitid except for some punctate sculpture.

Legs. Hind femur length/width = 3.07–3.30; hind tibia length/hind femur length = 1.16–1.26.

Fore telotarsus shorter than basitarsus in length, with thick elongate hook­like seta ventrally on posterior 1/2, with smooth and bare concave area underneath seta; hind telotarsus ventrally with a set of elongate and conspicuous setae; tarsal claws simple with long and thin seta just basal to tarsal hook.

Wings ( Fig. 1 A). Forewing length = 2.10–2.25 mm; 1CUa length/2Cub length = 0.81– 0.92; 1M length/ m­cu length = 1.60–1.77; pterostigma length/height = 0.98–1.00. Hindwing: 1M length/2M length = 1.64–1.73; 1M length/M+CU length = 1.20–1.30; length rm/length Cua = 0.66–0.75; 1RSa length/2r­m = 1.50–1.57.

Metasoma. First tergum length/distal width = 1.20–1.27; second tergum length/distal width = 0.3–0.36; third tergum length/distal width = 0.34–0.35. Hypopygium length = 0.31–0.40 mm.

First metasomal tergum with very faint confused punctate sculpturing throughout except anterior 1/2 almost nitid medially ( Fig. 1 G); second metasomal tergum with little sculpturing present, mainly as smooth as remaining terga; ovipositor approximately 0.6x as long as hind tibia length ( Figs. 1 C, 1 E).

Male. Similar to females in general size, coloration and features. Male genitalia shown in Fig. 1 B.

Material examined. Holotype, female, “ South Africa, Cederberg region, October 2003, Col. M. Kole.” Paratypes: six females and one male with same data as holotype.

Holotype deposited in South African National Collection of Insects, ARC­Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria; paratypes in South African National Collection and in U. S. National Museum ( NMNH).

Comments. There is substantial color variation within our limited sample. Palpi and legs can be almost entirely black in coloration. Sometimes the mid tarsomeres are brownish yellow; antennae are usually mostly black but in some cases the distal flagellomeres are brownish yellow.

Etymology. The species name rather obviously refers to the common name of the host plant.

Rearing records and biology. Parapanteles rooibos was reared from Isturgia exerraria (Prout) ( Geometridae : Ennominae) feeding on the legume Aspalathus linearis (commonly known as the rooibos tea plant) in South Africa. The life cycle in rearing conditions (25 °C, L:D= 14h:10h) was 16 days. An alternative host, Spodoptera exigua (Prout) , was not accepted. The parasitoid seems to have a strong preference for L 2 larvae of the host. After 10 days (25 °C) a small, white cocoon is formed. In the field, cocoons can be found individually glued to the needle­like leaves of the plant ( Figs. 2 A, B) with mostly more than one cocoon per plant. The cocoons were normally observed on the perimeter of the upper parts of the host plant. Average day temperature in the observation field rises from 23°C in October to 35°C in February. Average night temperature is about 15–20°C lower than daylight temperatures. Adult parasitoid emergence in the observed field was 86% in October but rapidly decreased later in the season due to hyperparasitism by Pediobius sp. near bruchicida (Rondani) ( Hymenoptera : Eulophidae ). Hyperparasitism in November reduced the emergence levels of P. ro o i b o s to 25 % and 5–10 % in December­January. The first P. rooibos cocoons can be found in the field as soon as the I. exerraria begins development early in the season (beginning of October). Further investigation on parasitoid behavior in the field started in October 2004.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Parapanteles rooibos n. sp. wing venation (A), male genitalia (B), metasoma lateral view (C), mesosoma dorsal view (D), female genitalia (E), propodeum dorsal view (F), metasomal tergites dorsal view (G) and mesosoma lateral view (H).

FIGURE 2. Parapanteles rooibos n. sp. cocoon close up (A) and among needles of host plant (B), rooibos plantation (C) and host Isturgia exerraria (Prout) caterpillar on rooibos plant (D). Photo A by Alejandro Valerio; B from field collection by Dr. Justin Hatting (ARC­SGI, South Africa); C & D copyright ENTOCARE and used with permission.