Apanteles thurberiae Muesebeck, 1921

Fernandez-Triana, Jose L., Whitfield, James B., Rodriguez, Josephine J., Smith, M. Alex, Janzen, Daniel H., Hallwachs, Winnie D., Hajibabaei, Mehrdad, Burns, John M., Solis, M. Alma, Brown, John, Cardinal, Sophie, Goulet, Henri & Hebert, Paul D. N., 2014, Review of Apantelessensu stricto (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica, with keys to all described species from Mesoamerica, ZooKeys 383, pp. 1-565 : 286-287

Apanteles thurberiae Muesebeck, 1921 Fig. 153

Apanteles thurberiae Muesebeck, 1921: 507.

Type locality.

UNITED STATES: Arizona, Santa Rita Mountains, Stone Cabin Canyon.

Holotype.

♀, NMNH (examined).

Material Examined.

1 ♀, 1 ♂, Paratypes (CNC). UNITED STATES: CA, Sabino Canyon, xi-1913, A.W. Morrill, ex bollworm on Thurberia thespesioides .

Description.

Female. Body color: body mostly dark except for some sternites which may be pale. Antenna color: scape, pedicel, and flagellum dark. Coxae color (pro-, meso-, metacoxa): pale, dark, dark. Femora color (pro-, meso-, metafemur): pale, anteriorly dark/posteriorly pale, dark. Tibiae color (pro-, meso-, metatibia): pale, pale, mostly pale but with posterior 0.2 or less dark. Tegula and humeral complex color: tegula pale, humeral complex half pale/half dark. Pterostigma color: mostly pale and/or transparent, with thin dark borders. Fore wing veins color: mostly white or entirely transparent. Antenna length/body length: antenna about as long as body (head to apex of metasoma); if slightly shorter, at least extending beyond anterior 0.7 metasoma length. Body in lateral view: not distinctly flattened dorso–ventrally. Body length (head to apex of metasoma): 3.5-3.6 mm. Fore wing length: 3.7-3.8 mm or 3.9-4.0 mm. Ocular–ocellar line/posterior ocellus diameter: 2.0-2.2. Interocellar distance/posterior ocellus diameter: 1.7-1.9. Antennal flagellomerus 2 length/width: 2.6-2.8. Antennal flagellomerus 14 length/width: 1.7-1.9. Length of flagellomerus 2/length of flagellomerus 14: 2.0-2.2. Tarsal claws: simple. Metafemur length/width: 2.8-2.9. Metatibia inner spur length/metabasitarsus length: 0.4-0.5. Anteromesoscutum: mostly with deep, dense punc tures (separated by less than 2.0 × its maximum diameter). Mesoscutellar disc: mostly smooth. Number of pits in scutoscutellar sulcus: 9 or 10 or 11 or 12. Maximum height of mesoscutellum lunules/maximum height of lateral face of mesoscutellum: 0.6-0.7. Propodeum areola: completely defined by carinae, including transverse carina extending to spiracle. Propodeum background sculpture: mostly sculptured. Mediotergite 1 length/width at posterior margin: 1.1-1.3. Mediotergite 1 shape: clearly widening towards posterior margin. Mediotergite 1 sculpture: mostly sculptured, excavated area centrally with transverse striation inside and/or a polished knob centrally on posterior margin of mediotergite. Mediotergite 2 width at posterior margin/length: 3.2-3.5. Mediotergite 2 sculpture: with some sculpture, mostly near posterior margin. Outer margin of hypopygium: with a wide, medially folded, transparent, semi–desclerotized area; usually with 4 or more pleats. Ovipositor thickness: about same width throughout its length. Ovipositor sheaths length/metatibial length: 1.4-1.5. Length of fore wing veins r/2RS: 2.0-2.2. Length of fore wing veins 2RS/2M: 1.4-1.6. Length of fore wing veins 2M/(RS+M)b: 0.5-0.6. Pterostigma length/width: 3.1-3.5. Point of insertion of vein r in pterostigma: clearly beyond half way point length of pterostigma. Angle of vein r with fore wing anterior margin: clearly outwards, inclined towards fore wing apex. Shape of junction of veins r and 2RS in fore wing: distinctly but not strongly angled.

Male. Slight differences in the shape and sculpture of mediotergite 2.

Molecular data.

No molecular data available for this species.

Biology/ecology.

Solitary; white coccons formed in the bolls ( Mueseback 1921). Hosts: Gelechiidae , Pectinophora gossypiella , Noctuidae , Helicoverpa zea , Sacadodes pyralis , Thurberiphaga diffusa .

Distribution.

Colombia, Nicaragua, Trinidad & Tobago, United States (AZ, TX), Venezuela. There is no suggestion that this species occurs in ACG.

Comments.

There are very few morphological differences between this species and Apanteles esthercentenoae ; and future studies might find the latter species to be a synonym of Apanteles . thurberiae. However, we consider the differences in host families and tarsal claws of adult wasps (likely to be related to host selection, manipulation and parasitation), as well as rather elongate glossa of Apanteles esthercentenoae , to support the separation of these two species.