Leptoserphites iriae Rasnitsyn & Azar, 2022

RASNITSYN, ALEXANDR P., MAALOUF, MOUNIR, MAALOUF, RAMY & AZAR, DANY, 2022, New Serphitidae and Gallorommatidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Microprocta) in the Early Cretaceous Lebanese amber, Palaeoentomology 5 (2), pp. 120-136 : 126-128

Leptoserphites iriae Rasnitsyn & Azar , sp. nov.

( Figs 6–8 )

Type material. Holotype, female, specimen no QBC- 16A ( Fig. 6A–C ), Maalouf collection, complete insect partially distorted postmortem (possibly diagenetically due to plastical deformation of enclosing amber under uneven pressure of deposits); paratypes, QBC-16B ( Fig. 6D ) and QBC-16C ( Fig. 6E, F ), Maalouf collection, synincluded with holotype in the same piece of amber and still more suffered from deformation (QBC-16B is particularly poor and included mainly being synincluded and having similar wing venation). All type material is from Qanat Bakish (Baskinta) amber outcrop, Mouhafazet Jabal Loubnan (Governorate Mount Lebanon), Caza (= District) El-Maten, Central Lebanon; lower Barremian. Type material is deposited in the Natural History Museum of the Lebanese University, Faculty of Sciences II, Fanar, Lebanon.

Etymology. Specific name is after Iria Maalouf Alonso, daughter of one of us (RM).

Diagnosis. Differs from the type species ( L. pabloi sp. nov.) in having antenna 11-segmented with no clear traces of fusion of two basal flagellomeres into one, flagellomeres longer, propodeum transridged, pterostigma wider, 2r-rs shorter, no tubular structures present but R and pterostigma, hind wing with no r-m, petiolar segments longer .

Locality and horizon. Baskinta, in the locality of Qanat Bakish (33°57′3″N, 35°47′24″E, elev. 1,488 m), Caza (= District) El-Maten , Mouhafazet (= Governorate) Mount Lebanon, in Central Lebanon; lower Barremian .

Description. (Based on holotype otherwise stated) Female. Color dark fuscous, legs paler. Body with no surface sculpture and prominent vestiture discernible. Head elongate as preserved ( Figs 7A , 8A , both on paratype QBC-16C) (possibly due to deformation), with eyes small, not much convex, placed before middle of head sides (more rostrally). Antenna 11-segmented [ Figs 8A (paratype QBC-16C), 8D (holotype)], with scape long and wide, about as long as next three or four antennomeres combined, pedicel shorter than some apical segments, flagellum wide, somewhat flattened, slightly narrowing toward base, most segments longer than wide, basal flagellomere slightly longer than next one. Distinct subequal mandibles, right with three teeth and left with two ones. Of maxillary ( Fig. 8B ) and labial palps ( Fig. 8C ), only their elongate apical segments visible. Mesosoma with dorsal pronotal part apparently short, mesoscutellum in side view with hind part somewhat elevated,metascutum forming high step above wide trough of metapostnotum, propodeum short, gently arching toward metasomal base in side view, transridged. Forewing ( Fig. 8E ) with C, R behind pterostigma, RS before and behind 2r-rs (except for short section forming “ T ” pattern together with 2r-rs), M+Cu and M lost as pigmented veins or nearly so; R and pterostigma tubular; RS &M, 2r-rs and 1-Cu nebulous; pterostigma high (distinctly less than twice as long as wide), together with 2r-rs enclosed in lightly pigmented area; 2r-rs half as long as pterostigma wide; all membrane covered with short setae (margin included). Hind wing ( Fig. 8F ) with only R pigmented (tubular), R apex with three hamuli, hind margin with fringe of long setae. Legs ordinary except that fore tibial spur (calcar) straight except bent subapical with bifid apex ( Fig. 8G ), and fore basitarsus excised almost for all its length and with single row of setae along excision; tibial spurs 1: 1: 2; tibiae and tarsomeres 1–4 with stiff apical setae, mid and hind tibiae also with thick setae ventrally in distal half or so, basitarsi shorter than or (fore basitarsus) subequal to tarsomeres 2–4 combined, tarsomeres 3–4 almost equal in length, elongate, claw simple, arolium about as long as claw. Metasoma with petiolar segments very long, with no rough sculpture apparent, first segment slightly longer (in holotype) or shorter (in QBC-16C) than second [ Figs 7B , 8I (in QBC-16C), 8H (holotype)], petiolar attachment to gaster frontal. Ovipositor straight, partially external (longest visible in QBC-16C, Fig. 8I ) .

Measurements. Holotype: body length, 1.4 mm, head length, 0.30 mm, antenna length, 0.51 mm, mesosoma length, 0.45 mm, forewing length, 0.80 mm, width, 0.36 mm, first petiolar segment length 0.12 mm, second petiolar segment length 0.14 mm, gaster length (ovipositor excluded) 0.37 mm; paratype QBC-16C: body length, 1.4 mm, head length 0.30 mm, antenna length, 0.60 mm, mesosoma length, 0.45 mm, forewing length, 0.65 mm, width, 0.30 mm, first petiolar segment length 0.15 mm, second petiolar segment length 0.10 mm, gaster length (ovipositor excluded) 0.37 mm; paratype QBC- 1B: body length, 1.4 mm, antenna (deformed) length 0.49 mm, forewing length 0.80 mm, width 0.33mm.

Remarks. Holotype and two paratypes are incompletely preserved and so with many features obscure. Yet they are considered as conspecific based on their burial in one and the same piece of amber, their similarity in features less affected with postmortem deformation (wing venation, to an extent also antenna and legs, and, to our wonder, most measurements) and apparent absence of counter-evidence of their conspecifity.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Leptoserphites iriae Rasnitsyn & Azar, gen. et sp. nov. Photographs of habitus. A, Dorso-lateral view of holotype specimen no QBC-16A, head here is ventro-lateral. B, Ventro-lateral view of holotype specimen no QBC-16A, head here is dorsolateral. C, Lateral view of holotype, specimen no QBC-16A, head here is dorsal. D, Lateral view of paratype, specimen no QBC-16B. E, Lateral view of paratype, specimen no QBC-16C. F, Dorsal view of paratype, specimen no QBC-16C. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 7. Leptoserphites iriae Rasnitsyn & Azar, gen. et sp. nov. Paratype specimen no QBC-16C. A, Photograph of head, dorsal view. B, Photograph of metasoma, ventral view. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 8. Leptoserphites iriae Rasnitsyn & Azar, gen. et sp. nov. Drawings. A, Head, dorsal view, paratype, specimen no QBC- 16C. B, Maxillary palp of holotype, specimen no QBC-16A. C, Labial palp of holotype, specimen no QBC-16A. D, Antenna of holotype, specimen no QBC-16A. E, Forewing of holotype, specimen no QBC-16A. F, Hind wing of paratype, specimen no QBC- 16C. G, Cleaning apparatus of holotype, specimen no QBC-16A. H, Petiole of holotype, specimen no QBC-16A. I, Metasoma of paratype, specimen no QBC-16C. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.