Camptothlipsis, Tucker & Sharkey & Stoelb, 2012

Tucker, Erika M., Sharkey, Michael J. & Stoelb, Stephanie A. C., 2012, A new species-group of Camptothlipsis (Braconidae, Agathidinae) from South Africa, with notes on the evolution of long mouthparts, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 24, pp. 59-74 : 63-66

Lingualongis new species-group Figs 3.a-3.e

Description.

Head ( Figs 3.c - 3.e ) - Lateral carina of frons absent; lateral ocellus raised; interantennal space raised, converging into a single distinct anteromedial carina; antennal depression deep; scape simple; 20-35 flagellomeres, apical flagellomere slightly rounded; gena rounded posteroventrally; malar length slightly shorter to 1½ times as long as the height of the compound eye in lateral profile; anterior tentorial pits deep and distinct; mandible with two teeth; galea 1.0-1.5 times as long as height of head; maxillary palpus five segmented, the fourth segment somewhat reduced, length of palp as long or longer than galea; labium slightly longer than galea, and slightly longer than head to 1.5 times longer; labial palpus four segmented, third segment highly reduced.

Mesosoma - Subpronopes separate, and shallow; notauli present; scutellar sulcus present, with numerous longitudinal carinae; metanotum smooth or with carinae; propodeum lightly granulate to deeply pitted to rugose; mesopleuron with mesopleural groove (sternaulus) present; metapleuron slightly rugose ventrally with a rounded point anteroventrally.

Metasoma - Median tergite 1 lacking pair of longitudinal carinae, distal width roughly 1 to 2 times basal width; median syntergum 2 + 3 smooth, with transverse depression separating terga 2 and 3; ovipositor length as long as metasoma + most of mesosoma to as long as entire body.

Wings ( Fig. 3.a ) - Fore wing: second submarginal cell absent; m-cu broken; 3RSb straight to slightly sinuate. Hind wing: R1 and r-m present; RS nebulous or spectral and sinuate; cu-a not tubular throughout, broken; CUb present as a nebulous or spectral vein.

Legs ( Fig. 3.b ) - Tarsal claws simple with a pointed basal lobe and 3-5 basal pectines; mid tibia with apical and sometimes subapical spines; hind tibia with apical spines.

Hosts/Biology.

Unknown. Presumably they are koinobiont endoparasitoids of lepidopteran larvae. More specifically, caterpillars of the family Gelechiidae , many of which are agricultural pests, are good candidates for this group’s hosts because, to date, the only host records for members of the genus Camptothlipsis are on Gelechiidae larvae ( Sharkey et al. 2009). Judging from the long length of their ovipositors, the group’s hosts, which are probably also endemic, are most likely concealed deeply within the host plant tissue.

Distribution.

South Africa, Western Cape.

Etymology.

From the Latin, lingua (tongue), and longis (long). The name refers to the very long mouthparts of this species-group.

Comment.

Within this species-group the morphology and color are highly variable. The malar length range from slightly shorter to much longer than the height of the compound eye; the anterior face of the head ranges from wider than long to longer than wide; the notauli ranges from V-shaped to Y-shaped, distinctly foveolate to completely smooth; the scutellar sulcus is partitioned into 5 to about 9 sections. These can be almost rectangular to round; the lateral metanotum ranges from smooth to ridged; the sternaulus ranges from ½ to ¾ the length of the mesopleuron, straight to wavy or curved, and can be foveolate to completely smooth; the propodeal sculpture ranges from almost smooth with some slight granulation, to deeply pitted, to rugose; the first metasomal tergite ranges from square-shaped to distinctly elongate, and although the sculpture is usually granulate, it can also be slightly rugose with some specimens being completely smooth. Body length ranges from 2mm to 8mm. Color ranges from completely black to completely orange-yellow with every combination in-between. Three species are described in this paper; however, there are most likely many more species in this species-group that remain to be described.

Key to species of the Lingualongis Species-Group

1	First metasomal tergite smooth, malar space distinctly longer than eye height; body mostly orange ( Fig. 1a and 1aa )	Camptothlipsis lingualongis
-	First metasomal tergite granulate, malar space about equal or shorter than eye height; body not mostly orange ( Fig. 1b and 1bb )	2
2	Notauli and sternaulus smooth, malar space shorter than eye height, body mostly black ( Fig. 2a and 2aa )	Camptothlipsis inertusursus
-	Notauli and/or sternaulus foveolate, malar space variable, body color variable ( Fig. 2b and 2bb )	3
3	Propodeum deeply punctate, notauli and sternaulus foveolate, and malar space about equal to eye height ( Fig. 3a )	Camptothlipsis aagota
-	Not fitting the previous couplet descriptions ( Fig. 3b and 3bb )	undescribed species

Species Descriptions

Descriptions are of the holotype, with species’ variation given within parentheses, e.g., 33 (31-35).

Figures

Figure 1. Mouthparts of Camptothlipsis lingualongis, a member of the species-group Lingualongis (left) compared with the mouthparts of a representative of the rest of the genus (right).

Figure 2. A partial maximum parsimony cladogram of the subfamily Agathidinae. Consistency (CI) and retention (RI) index values are given at bottom left; branch support values are posterior probabilities / bootstrap values.

Figure 3. Lingualongis species-group a wings b hind claw c anterior head d mouthparts e mandible.