Epsilon similimanasicum, Zhang & Chen & Li, 2020

Zhang, Xue, Chen, Bin & Li, Ting-Jing, 2020, Taxonomy of the genus Epsilon from China, with a new species and an updated key to the Oriental species (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae), ZooKeys 910, pp. 131-142 : 131

Epsilon similimanasicum sp. nov. Figures 1-9

Material examined.

Holotype, ♀, China, Zhejiang Prov., Lin An City, Qingliang Mountain, Tianchi, 30°06'44"N, 118°56'26"E, 571 m, 3.VI.2012, Rui Zhang leg. (YNAU).

Description.

Female (Fig. 1 ): body length 7.5 mm. Black, with the following parts yellow: two lateral spots at the base of clypeus (Fig. 2 ), a small spot at the lower margin of ocular sinus, an elongated band on temple, an anterior interrupted transverse band on pronotum (Fig. 4 ), two spots on both anterior and posterior lobes of tegula, parategula, and horizontal dorsal face of metanotum (Fig. 7 ), a small apical spot on fore femur, small spots at outer sides of all tibiae, all tarsi ventrally, and apical bands of both terga I and II (Fig. 6 ). Body with white setae.

Head. In frontal view, head 1.2 × as wide as long; clypeus 1.4 × as wide as long in front view, slightly emarginated at the middle of apex, with minute and sparse punctures, interspaces between punctures longer than diameters (Fig. 2 ); interantennal space convex, with a hump-like transverse carina connecting longitudinal carina at its middle (Fig. 2 ); frons coarsely punctate and reticulate; ocelli normal, diameter more than the distance between anterior and posterior ocelli, distance between posterior ocelli 1.6 × as long as that between anterior and posterior ocelli (Fig. 3 ); interocellar area with micro-punctures; occipital carina developed laterally and weak dorsally (Fig. 3 ); cephalic fovea well developed and with two pits, total width of two pits distinctly shorter than distance between posterior ocelli (Fig. 3 ); punctures of vertex sparse, interspaces between punctures longer than diameters.

Mesosoma. Mesosoma with punctures coarser than those on head; anterior vertical face of pronotum medially with fine and transverse striae and two connected elliptical pits at the lower part, and coarsely punctate on sides, pronotal carina complete, dorsal face with coarse and dense punctures, interspaces between punctures less than diameters (Fig. 4 ); mesoscutum with dense punctures, punctures just sparser than those of pronotum; mesepisternum with reticulate punctures; tegula with broad posterior lobe (Fig. 9 ); scutellum coarsely punctate medially and denser anteriorly and posteriorly; metanotum without tubercles, with horizontal dorsal face and vertical posterior face, the latter weakly convex in lateral view; propodeum short, both dorsal and lateral faces with coarse and reticulate punctures, posterior face almost vertical, broadly and shallowly depressed, and with distinct transverse striae and a longitudinal median carina (Fig. 7 ), lateral surface largely striate; second recurrent vein of fore wing separated from first recurrent one, and arched in the middle (Fig. 5 ).

Metasoma. Tergum I short, 1.9 × as wide as long in dorsal view, slightly narrower than (0.9 ×) tergum II, both terga I and II with sparse punctures, interspaces more than diameters; tergum II with apical lamella (Fig. 6 ); sternum II more or less medially depressed at the base; terga and sterna III-VI coriaceous (Figs 6 , 8 ).

Male. Unknown.

Remarks.

This species is similar to E. manasicum Girish Kumar & Carpenter, 2014, but it can be distinguished from the latter and other species of the genus by the following characters: total width of two pits on the vertex distinctly less than distance between posterior ocelli (Fig. 3 ), anterior vertical face of pronotum with fine and transverse striae and two connected elliptical pits medially (Fig. 4 ), second recurrent vein of second submarginal cell separated from first recurrent one and arched in the middle (second recurrent vein of fore wing almost connected with first recurrent vein and rather arched in E. manasicum ) (Fig. 5 ), and posterior face of propodeum with distinct transverse striae (Fig. 7 ).

Distribution.

China (Zhejiang).

Etymology.

The specific name similimanasicum is named after the similar species E. manasicum , combined with the Latin word similis (= similar).

Figures

Figures 1 - 9. Female of Epsilon similimanasicum sp. nov. 1 Habitus (dorsal view) 2 clypeus 3 head (dorsal view) 4 anterior face of pronotum 5 wings 6 metasoma (dorsal view) 7 metanotum and propodeum 8 metasoma (ventral view) 9 tegula.