Rhacalysia monteiroi, Oliveira & Penteado-Dias, 2020

Oliveira, Francielle Dias de & Penteado-Dias, Angelica Maria, 2020, An update of the genera Idiasta Foerster and Rhacalysia Cameron (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Alysiinae) and the descriptions of new species from the Neotropical Region, ZooKeys 976, pp. 109-130 : 109

Rhacalysia monteiroi sp. nov. Figures 28-34 , 35-38

Type material.

Holotype pinned, female, (DCBU 404794) Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Teresópolis, Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos, 22°26'54"S, 43°00'49"W, alt. 1482 m, XII.2014, dense ombrophilous forest, Malaise trap, R. F. Monteiro col. Paratypes females (2), (DCBU 374756) 22°28'11"S, 43°00'05"W, alt. 868 m, VII.2015, Malaise trap, R. F. Monteiro col.; (DCBU 361820) 22°31'00"S, 43°00'23"W, alt. 252 m, XI.2015, Malaise trap, R. F. Monteiro col.

Diagnosis. Rhacalysia monteiroi can be recognized by the notauli incomplete, fore wing with m-cu interstitial, CU1a arising at middle or slightly below middle of subdiscal cell, hind wing with four hamuli, hind femur 6.2-6.7 × as long as wide, coloration of body mixed between yellowish and brown parts.

Description.

Female (Fig. 28 ). Length. Body 3.4-4.1 mm; fore wing 3.9-4.2 mm; hind wing 2.6-3.0 mm.

Head. 1.7-1.9 × as wide as long; 1.7-1.9 × as wide as face, 1.4-1.6 × as wide as mesosoma; 2.1 × as wide as apex of first metasomal tergite; slightly wider at eyes than temples in dorsal view. Eye glabrous, 1.1-1.2 × as high as wide, 1.5-2.0 × as wide as temples in lateral view (Figs 35 , 36 ). Occiput, vertex and temples smooth, with some sparse setae. Frons smooth or with weak pit mesally. Face 2.0-2.5 × as wide as high, setose; low mid ridge dorsally, with rugulose pair of grooves near clypeus or some transversal striae just above epistomal sulcus (Fig. 30 ). Epistomal sulcus deep, crenulate. Clypeus protruding, smooth, setose (setae as long as clypeus width), 1.6-1.8 × as wide as high; lateral margin of clypeus does not contact paraclypeal fovea. Malar space ca. 1/10 eye height. Paraclypeal fovea enlarged to form broad groove extending to eye. Mandible 3-dentate (Fig. 29 ), 1.6-1.7 × as long as apical width, apex 1.4 × as wide as base; setose, rugulose medially; diagonal ridge well developed on apical half of mandible, ventral carina not visible; teeth 1 and 2 connected by flange, indistinct incision; tooth 2 wider and longer than others. Antenna 1.9 × as long as body, with 40 flagellar segments (holotype). First flagellar segment 3.3-3.8 × as long as wide; second flagellar segment 5.2-5.8 × as long as wide, 1.3 × length of first segment; third flagellar segment 4.5-4.6 × as long as wide, 1.0-1.1 × length of first segment. Maxillary palp 2.25-2.55 × as long as head height.

Mesosoma. 1.3-1.4 × as long as high, 1.9 × as long as wide, 2.4 × as high as head. Pronotum with pronope relatively large, slightly crenulate laterally and with some setae in dorsal view; smooth to slightly crenulate in lateral view. Mesoscutum 1.1 × as wide as long, scattered setae, smooth to weakly crenulate in postero-lateral margins. Notauli deep, smooth to weakly crenulate anteriorly, absent posteriorly (Figs 37 , 38 ). Mesoscutal pit deep, elongate, occupying 1/4 to 1/3 extent of mesoscutum. Scutellar sulcus 2.6-3.0 × as wide as long, with well-developed mid ridge and smooth lateral areas. Scutellar disc smooth, setiferous; parascutellar area smooth, with setae near scutellar sulcus. Metanotum setose anteriorly, in dorsal view rugose to rugulose medially, smooth to slightly crenulate near anterior and posterior margins of depressed lateral fields (Fig. 31 ); anterior mid ridge complete, some lateral carinae incomplete to absent; metanotum in lateral view with median flange slightly higher than scutellar disc. Mesopleuron with some setae postero-ventrally and subalar area; antero-basal margin weakly crenulate towards anterior subalar area; posterior margin crenulate. Precoxal sulcus deep, crenulate, separated from posterior margin (Fig. 35 ) or almost entirely smooth (Fig. 36 ). Propodeum with median carina anteriorly, posterior half with pentagonal areola ca. as long as wide (Fig. 31 ); smooth to slightly rugose near to carinae and inside areola. Metapleuron rugose posteriorly and setose.

Fore wing. 1.0-1.2 × as long as body. Pterostigma 3.6-4.1 × as long as wide, 2.1-2.3 × as wide as vein r length; r 0.2-0.25 × as long as 2-SR, arising distad midpoint of pterostigma; submarginal cell 2.5-3.5 × as long as high; 2-SR 2.4-2.7 × as long as r-m, 1.3-1.6 × as long as 3-SR; 3-SR 3.0-3.1 × as long as r, 1.7-2.0 × as long as r-m; SR1 3.8-4.0 × as long as 3-SR; 2-CU1 1.0-1.35 × as long as m-cu, this interstitial; cu-a postfurcal by distance ca. equal to its length; subdiscal cell closed, slightly expanded distally, CU1a arising at middle to slightly below middle of subdiscal cell (Fig. 32 ).

Hind wing. With four hamuli, 4.1-4.9 × as long as wide; vein 1-M 1.0-1.2 × as long as M+CU, 1.4-1.7 × as long as 1r-m; m-cu antefurcal, heavily nebulous, tubular basally or not, almost reaching wing margin (Fig. 33 ).

Legs. Hind femur 6.2-6.7 × as long as wide. Hind tibia 12.2-12.7 × as long as its maximum subapical width, 1.1-1.2 × as long as hind tarsus. First segment of hind tarsus 1.7-1.8 × as long as second segment.

Metasoma. First metasomal tergite 1.0-1.1 × as long as apical width; apex 1.8-1.9 × as wide as base, strigose to slightly strigose; dorsal carinae converging in basal third, extending posteriorly as median carina incomplete or median carina absent (Fig. 34 ); dorsope deep. Ovipositor 1.35-1.5 × as long as hind tibia, 1.45-1.7 × as long as mesosoma; straight. Ovipositor sheath setose.

Color. Body parts vary between dark brown to yellow (Figs 35-38 ). Head mostly yellow, vertex yellow to brown, ocellar field and epicranial suture dark brown; mandible light yellow. Flagellar segments brown to dark brown, except 18-19 whitish (holotype). Propleuron yellow; mesonotum yellow-orange, with more or less developed lateral and antero-medial spots brown, other parts of mesosoma varying from yellow-orange to dark brown. Legs yellowish to orange; telotarsus brown; hind leg with tibia and tarsus darker. Metasoma yellow except for metasomal tergites 4 towards to apex and ovipositor sheaths brown. Wings hyaline to dusky, venation and pterostigma light brown to dark brown.

Male. Unknown.

Etymology.

The species is named in honor of Ricardo Ferreira Monteiro, the collector of the studied material.

Distribution.

Brazil, State of Rio de Janeiro, Teresópolis, dense ombrophilous forest.

Comments.

Rhacalysia monteiroi shares many morphological characteristics with R. jatai ; both species can be differentiated by the coloration pattern of body, relative length of the ovipositor, and relative length/wide of the posterior femur (see above).

The three specimens of R. monteiroi studied here vary considerably in some characteristics. In short, the sculpturing of face (striate or rugulose above the clypeus), notauli (smooth or weakly crenulate), precoxal sulcus (smooth or crenulate), and first metasomal tergite (with or without median carina); the coloration of vertex, pronotum, metanotum, propodeum, and metapleuron yellowish or brown (Figs 35-38 ). Despite this, the observed variations were not significant to consider them as different species.

Members of the genera Idiasta and Rhacalysia can be morphologically differentiated as follows: paraclypeal fovea not extending to eye in Idiasta (Fig. 3 ); paraclypeal fovea enlarged to form broad groove extending to eye in Rhacalysia (Figs 10 , 21 ).

Figures

Figures 28 - 34. Rhacalysia monteiroi sp. nov. (females; 28 and 32 holotype, others paratypes) 28 habitus, lateral view 29 head, lateral view 30 head, anterior view 31 metanotum and propodeum, dorsal view 32 fore wing 33 hind wing 34 first metasomal tergite, posterior view.

Figures 35 - 38. Rhacalysia monteiroi sp. nov. (females; 35 holotype, 36 - 38 paratypes) 35 head and mesosoma, lateral view, precoxal sulcus crenulate 36 head and mesosoma, lateral view, precoxal sulcus smooth 37 head and mesosoma, dorsal view 38 head and mesosoma, dorsal view.

Figures 1 - 7. Idiasta rupina sp. nov. (1, 2, 5 - 7 female, holotype 3 and 4 male, paratype) 1 habitus, lateral view 2 head, lateral view 3 head, anterior view 4 head, lateral view showing mandible 5 mesosoma, lateral view 6 fore wing 7 hind wing.

Figures 8 - 11. Rhacalysia ampla sp. nov. (females, paratypes) 8 habitus, lateral view 9 head, lateral view 10 head, anterior view 11 head, lateral view showing mandible.

Figures 19 - 23. Rhacalysia jatai sp. nov. (female, holotype) 19 mandible, lateral view 20 habitus, lateral view 21 head and basal antennae, anterior view 22 head and pronotum, lateral view 23 mesosoma, lateral view.