Scelio cano Yoder

Yoder, Matthew J., Valerio, Alejandro A., Polaszek, Andrew, Noort, Simon van, Masner, Lubomir & Johnson, Norman F., 2014, Monograph of the Afrotropical species of Scelio Latreille (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae), egg parasitoids of acridid grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Acrididae), ZooKeys 380, pp. 1-188 : 77-79

Scelio cano Yoder sp. n. Figures 169-174; Morphbank 43

Description.

Female body length: 4.16-4.60 mm (n=5). Male body length: 4.17 mm (n=1). Color of pilosity of dorsal head in female: golden to brown. Occipital carina in female: percurrent. Color of pilosity of the frons below the anterior ocellus in female: predominantly golden to brown. Pilosity of eye in female: absent. Medial keel on interantennal process: present. Width of lower gena in lateral view: narrowing dorsally, posterior margin of lower half of gena angled with respect to posterior orbit. Genal carina: absent. Color of genal pilosity: brown. Color of scape in female: brown to dark brown throughout. Surface of the pronotal nucha in female: predominantly sculptured. Color of pilosity of pronotal shoulder in female: golden to dark brown, concolorous with that of mesoscutum. Sculpture of medial mesoscutum in female: predominantly angular reticulate to rugulose. Color of pilosity of mesoscutum in female: predominantly light brown to brown. Notaulus in female: not delimited. Notaulus in male: not delimited. Form of axillular carina in female: small, not particularly expanded or projected from the lateral edge of the mesoscutellum. Pilosity of propodeal nucha: absent. Pilosity of netrion: absent. Surface of mesopleural depression in female: with small smooth patch ventrally. Form of ventral margin of villus in female: bent ventrally in posterior, obvi ously not straight throughout. Color of coxae in female: brown. Color of hind femur: dark brown throughout. Color of hind tibia: white basally, dark brown apically. Fore wing length in female: apex between anterior margin of T5 and posterior margin of T6; apex surpassing posterior margin of T6. Color of metasoma: entirely dark brown. Sculpture of laterotergites in female: predominantly aciculate. Pilosity of laterotergites in female: absent. Sculpture of medial T1 in female: most prominent elements predominantly reticulate rugulose. Sculpture of medial T2 in female: predominantly smooth or obliterated. Pattern of sculpture on T3-T5 in female: T3 predominantly reticulate, T4-T5 predominantly longitudinally striate to strigose; predominantly longitudinally striate. Color of pilosity on lateral T3-T5 in female: predominantly golden to brown. Lateral profile of T6 in female: vertically sloped in posterior half. Sculpture of T6 in female: predominantly rugulose to reticulate. Sculpture of lateral metasomal sternal bar in female: minutely reticulate throughout. Distribution of felt fields: 2 pairs present (S2, S3).

Diagnosis.

Most similar to Scelio tono , also a brown subgroup species that shares a similarly colored tibia (as in Fig. 212). Differing from Scelio tono by the absence of notauli (a clear channel in posterior half of mesoscutum present in Scelio tono ) and the less well-developed axillular carina that does not extend above the dorsal surface of the mesoscutum. Similar also to Scelio gemo , but may be differentiated by the brown scape and sloping T6 (vs. yellow to brown and horizontally oriented respectively).

Etymology.

The epithet is used as a noun in apposition derived from the Latin word for sing.

Link to distribution map.

http://hol.osu.edu/map-large.html?id=244979

Material examined.

Holotype, female: UGANDA: Kabarole Dist., 20km SE Fort Portal, nr. Mikana, stream, Makerere University Biological Field Station (MUBFS), 00°34.37'N, 30°21.66'E, 1530m, 7. X– 21.X.2001, yellow pan trap/flight intercept trap, B. Gill & J. Gill, OSUC 212930 (deposited in CNCI). Paratypes: UGANDA: 4 females, 1 male, OSUC 212346, 212349-212350, 250819 (CNCI); OSUC 212347 (OSUC).

Comments.

In males and females the inner course of the notauli is weakly discernible but the outer course is not. For this reason we have coded the notauli as absent. There is a small irregular patch of smoother obliterated sculpture on the ventral mesopleural depression. The sculpture of the medial metasoma is somewhat more obliterated and irregular than typical. Specimens of this species were taken together in identical collecting events with Scelio gemo .