Storozhenkotilla nathani Lelej, 2023

Lelej, Arkady S., Williams, Kevin A., Terine, Joshua B., Okayasu, Juriya, Parikh, Grishma R. & Kumar, Girish P., 2023, Review of the tribe Mutillini (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) from the Oriental Region, Zootaxa 5228 (4), pp. 455-476 : 472-474

Storozhenkotilla nathani Lelej , sp. nov.

( Figs 59–64 )

Diagnosis. Body antennae and legs black with bluish metallic luster on head, pronotum and metallic blue metasoma. Propodeal posterior slope with strong longitudinal medial carina which ends dorsally by tooth. T7 laterally angulate, apical border smooth with wide medial smooth triangle without carina. T1–6 and S2–5 with apical fringe of whitish setae.

Material examined. Holotype, ♁, INDIA: Karnataka, Mysore [Mysuru], Shimoga dist[rict], Agumbe Ghat , 600 m, V.2004, TRSN coll. [ IBSS].

Description. FEMALE (unknown).

MALE. Head width less than pronotal width, not rounded posterad. Preoccipital carina dorsally well developed, sharp and slightly projecting over head. Eyes well notched inside. Ocelli small, ratio POD:OOD=0.7. Mandible bidentate without basal tooth beneath and without subbasal tooth on inner border. F2 1.3 × F1. Prementum not tuberculate. Notauli well visible in posterior half, parapsids weak. Tegula longer than pronotal length laterad, projecting over axilla. Propodeal posterior slope with strong longitudinal medial carina which ends dorsally by tooth. Metasomal segment 1 wide transverse. T2 with long lateral felt line, S2 without any lateral felt line. Sternum 8 (hypopygium) not modified. T7 laterally angulate, apical border smooth with wide medial smooth triangle without carina. Gonostylus wide, basiventrally setose. Volsella slightly shorter than penial valve and consists of wide cuspis and short finger-like digitus; penial valves symmetrical, posterior margin with vertical row of setae, postero-ventrally bidentate, pre-apical tooth bluntly rounded.

Head black with bluish metallic luster. Antennae entirely black, scape and pedicel with dense whitish setae. Head densely punctured, sparsely around ocelli, with dense whitish setae all over. Mesosoma black, pronotum with bluish metallic luster, with sparse whitish setae denser on mesopleuron, mesoscutum with sparse black setae. Tegula sparsely punctured, laterally and posteriorly smooth. Pronotum, mesoscutum and mesoscutellum coarsely punctured; propleuron, mesopleuron and lateral propodeal face coarsely punctured, metapleuron smooth; propodeum posterad with sharp slope. Legs with dense whitish setae. Metasoma metallic blue. T1–2 densely punctured, sparser on disk of T2. T1–6 and S2–5 with apical fringe of whitish setae. The wings fusco-violaceous, basal radial abscissa sharply oblique, apically curved; first transverse radio-medial vein oblique, second almost straight, third sharply angled in the middle; first recurrent vein is received in basal third, second at apical third of cell.

Distribution. India (Karnataka).

Etymology. The specific name is dedicated to P. Susai Nathan (1891–1976), Indian naturalist, entomologist, natural history specimens collector, who collected the Mutillidae in South India (Tamil Nadu).

Remarks. This species may be the opposite sex of S. binghami ( Lelej, 2005) , which was also collected in Karnataka.

Figures

FIGURES 59–64. Storozhenkotilla nathani, sp. nov., ♁, holotype. 59. Habitus, dorsal view; 60. Habitus, lateral view; 61. Head, face view; 62. Genitalia, ventral view; 63. Genitalia, dorsal view; 64. T7. (Photographs by A. Lelej).