Platygaster anglica, Buhl, 2009

Buhl, Peter Neerup, 2009, Six new species of Platygastrinae from the British Isles (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae), Journal of Natural History 43 (11 - 12), pp. 687-699 : 687-689

Platygaster anglica sp. nov.

( Figure 1 )

Diagnosis

Occiput finely striated, notauli visible only in posterior half; hind wing with three hamuli; female metasoma short and remarkably wide, 1.3 times as wide as mesosoma; T2 hardly striated.

Description

Female. Length 1.7 mm. Black; antennae, mandibles, tegulae and legs dark brown; apex of fore femur, base and apex of all tibiae, and segments 1–4 of all tarsi lighter brown.

Head from above ( Figure 1A ) 2.0 times as wide as long, very slightly wider than mesosoma (26:25); occiput finely and densely transversely striate over whole length and width; vertex and head behind eyes finely reticulate-coriaceous (not transversely so); frons with very fine oblique striation from a smoother longitudinal medial line. Ocular Ocellar Line (OOL): Lateral Ocellar Line (LOL)55:4. Head in frontal view 1.3 times as wide as high. Antenna ( Figure 1B ) with A1 0.9 times as long as height of head, 1.1 times as long as distance between inner orbits.

Mesosoma 1.4 times as long as wide, almost 1.2 times as high as wide. Sides of pronotum finely and slightly longitudinally reticulate-coriaceous, only smooth along narrow hind margin. Mesoscutum with sparse hairs which are not inserted in visible punctures, finely reticulate-coriaceous in anterior half, smooth in posterior half, with notauli weakly indicated in posterior half; mid lobe posteriorly blunt, slightly prolonged to base of scutellar disc; scuto-scutellar grooves distinct but not wide. Scutellum ( Figure 1C ) evenly convex, medially smooth and bare, laterally with slight rugosity and numerous hairs, posteriorly with longitudinal rugosity. Metapleuron with pilosity all over. Propodeal carinae parallel, area between them distinctly transverse, smooth and shiny, with a straight transverse carina.

Fore wing almost hyaline, very slightly surpassing tip of metasoma, 2.7 times as long as wide, with dense and moderately long microtrichia; marginal cilia very short. Hind wing 4.6 times as long as wide, with three hamuli; marginal cilia 0.15 times the width of wing.

Metasoma ( Figure 1D ) 1.1 times as long as head and mesosoma combined, fully 1.3 times as wide as mesosoma. T1 with numerous longitudinal carinae. T2 with basal foveae smooth except for a few extremely weak striae from ends of foveae reaching mid length of tergite, between foveae with distinct striation reaching to onesixth the length of tergite; rest of T2 as well as entire T3–T5 smooth, T6 slightly dull; T3 on each side with four hairs which are inserted in moderately deep punctures; T4 with six such hairs on each side arranged as a medially interrupted transverse row; T5 with eight hairs on each side arranged in a complete but irregular transverse row; T6 with ten hairs.

Material examined

Holotype female: England, West Sussex, near Chichester, Kingley Vale , iv–v.1963, chalk downland turf, no collector.

Affinities

Similar species such as P. polita Thomson, 1859 and P. lata Förster, 1861 have longer notauli, hind wing with two hamuli, and more strongly striated T2; cf. Buhl (1995, 1996).

Etymology

Named after the country of the type locality.

Figures

Figures 1. Platygaster anglica sp. nov., female. (A) head, dorsal; (B) antenna; (C) scutellum and propodeum, lateral; (D) metasoma, dorsal.