Neoclarkinella narendrani Veena

Veena, T., Ranjith, A. P., Santhosh, S. & Kishore, Lambert, 2014, Review of the Oriental genus Neoclarkinella Rema and Narendran, 1996 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Microgastrinae) with the description of two new species from India, Zootaxa 3857 (3), pp. 423-432 : 427-430

Neoclarkinella narendrani Veena sp. nov.

Material examined. Holotype, female (♀): “ India, Kerala, Wayanad, 11̊54̍24.5̎N, 76̊02̍72.2̎E, 22.v.2006, Sweep net, Coll. Santhosh, S.” ( DZUC).

Holotype, female (♀): Length (excluding ovipositor) 2.6 mm, antennae 3.1 mm, ovipositor 0.5 mm.

Head: Oval shape in anterior view ( Fig. 2 -B); length of head 0.6 mm in anterior view; length of head 1.8x its width in dorsal view; face punctate and sparsely pubescent with median carina ( Fig. 2 -B), length of face 0.53x its width in anterior view; width of face 0.54x width of head in anterior view; clypeus punctate, sparsely pilose; clypeus 1.9x as long as inter tentorial pit, inter tentorial distance 2.6x as long as tentorio-ocular distance; vertex sparsely punctate; temple punctate; occiput smooth ( Fig. 2 -C); maxillary palp 4 segmented; length of maxillary palp 0.6x height of head in anterior view; length of malar space 2x basal width of mandible; eyes pilose with infuscations, inner margins of eye slightly emarginated beyond antennal sockets in anterior view ( Fig. 2 -B); eyes 5x as long as malar space; lateral temples slightly hidden behind eyes in anterior view; in lateral view medial temples 0.63x width of eye; OOL 0.8x POL; frons punctate with slight medial protruberance; toruli smooth and shiny; antennae 1.2x as long as body length; length of scape 1.3x its width; length of pedicel 0.8x its width; first flagellomere 1x as long as second flagellomere; length of first flagellomere 3.5x its width; length of second flagellomere 3.2x its width; terminal flagellomere acute.

Mesosoma: Length of mesosoma 1.4x its height; mesoscutum punctate, sparsely pubescent; scutellum punctate, lateral sides of scutellum bordered by two deep smooth crenulated furrow, sides of scutellum smooth and shiny; scutellar lunules wide with 5 carinae; upper and lower grooves of pronotum deep and crenulate, the area between them punctate; propleuron punctate and sparsely pubescent; mesopleuron antero-laterally punctate, smooth posteriorly near pleural suture; precoxal groove with shallow depression; notauli indistinct; medioposterior depression of scutellum smooth and shiny; propodeum with a strong median carina and a transverse carina at basal one third, remaining part of propodeum slightly rugulose ( Fig. 2 -D).

Legs: Length of hind femur 3.6x its width; length of hind tibia 6.1x its width; hind tibia 1.1x as long as hind femur; outer hind tibial spur 0.3x as long as hind basitarsus; hind basitarsus 6.6x as long as wide.

Wings: Length of pterostigma 2.6x its width; R1 1.5x as long as pterostigma; 1-CU1 0.8x as long as 2-CU1; vein r 1.1x as long as width of stigma; r 1.6x as long as m-cu; 2SR 0.9x as long as r;1-SR+M straight ( Fig. 2 -F); vannal lobe of hind wing convex; 2r-m present.

Metasoma: T1 2.6x as long as wide apically; T1 punctate, narrowing posteriorly with distinct basal semicircular field ( Fig. 2 -E); laterotergites with long hairs at anterior one third, remainder smooth; T2 smooth, triangular with lateral elevated field ( Fig. 2 -E); remaining tergites with irregular pilosity; T 2 in medial line 0.38x as long as T3; ovipositor sheath pilose, 0.6x as long as hind tibia; hypopygium membranous.

Colour: Body generally black, except antennae, clypeus brown, maxillary palps pale yellow, wing venation, pterostigma, forelegs and hind femur, basal 1/3rd of hind tibia yellowish brown; tibial spur yellow, T1 semicircular field, laterotergites yellowish white, T2 brownish black, T3 yellowish white, ovipositor yellowish brown.

Male. Unknown

Host. Unknown

Distribution. India, Kerala.

Etymology. Neoclarkinella narendrani is named in honour of the late Prof. T.C. Narendran, Kerala, India in recognition of his four decades of extraordinary work in parasitic Hymenoptera .

Discussion. This new species is similar to N. punctata in having punctate T1, ovipositor sheath 0.6x as long as hind tibia; it also shows similarity to N. janakikkadensis sp. nov. in the following characters: length of vein r 1.1x width of stigma, margin of vannal lobe convex; but shows differences from both species in the following characters: T1 triangular with lateral elevation (in N. janakikkadensis and N. punctata T1subtriangular without lateral elevation) length of stigma 2.6x its width (in N. janakikkadensis and N. punctata length of pterostigma more than 3x its width) 2SR 0.9x as long as vein r (in N. janakikkadensis and N. punctata more than 1x as long as vein r).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Neoclarkinella narendrani sp. nov. female, holotype A) habitus, lateral view; B) head anterior view; C) head dorsal view; D) propodeum, dorsal view; E) metasoma, dorsal view. The arrow indicates the elevated field; F) forewing.