Macroocula andreai Pagliano, 2002

Soliman, Ahmed M., Gadallah, Neveen S. & Dhafer, Hathal Mohammed Al, 2018, An illustrated key to the Saudi Arabian species of the genus Macroocula Panfilov, 1954, with the description of a new species and the previously unknown female of M. andreai Pagliano (Hymenoptera, Bradynobaenidae, Apterogyninae), ZooKeys 742, pp. 35-56 : 42-45

Macroocula andreai Pagliano, 2002 Female: Fig. 1 A–F; Male: Figs 4A, C, 12A

Macroocula andreai Pagliano, 2002: 144.

Material examined.

1♀: Saudi Arabia, Wadi Reem (Jazan) [17°52'39"N, 42°16'33"E, Alt. 196 m], hand picking at night, 18.XI.2015, leg. Ahmed M. Soliman [KSMA]; 55♂: Saudi Arabia, Wadi Reem (Jazan) [17°52'39"N, 42°16'33"E, Alt. 196 m], light trap, 18.XI.2015, leg. Ahmed M. Soliman [KSMA]; 2♂: Saudi Arabia, Wadi Reem (Jazan) [17°52'39"N, 42°16'33"E, Alt. 196 m], light trap, 18.XI.2015, leg. Ahmed M. Soliman [EFC]; 7♂: Saudi Arabia, Wadi Reem (Jazan) [17°52'36"N, 42°16'50"E, Alt. 196 m], light trap, 23.X.2016, leg. Ahmed M. Soliman [KSMA]; 19♂: Saudi Arabia, Muhaiel–Al-Darb Road (Jazan) [17°55'27"N, 42°15'20"E, Alt. 200 m], light trap, 3.IV.2017, leg. Ahmed M. Soliman [KSMA].

Description

(Female). Body length 8.8 mm.

Colour (Fig. 1 A–F). Entirely clear yellow including basal third of mandible, antennae, and legs; apical two thirds of mandible dark reddish-brown; eyes black, labrum and palpi very pale yellow. Body including legs densely clothed with long erect pale setae; fore tibial spur pale yellow, mid and hind spurs waxy white; ovipositor dark yellow, ovipositor sheath darker.

Head (Fig. 1 A–C). Dorsally 0.65 × as wide as maximal width of mesosoma, vertex and lower face superficially punctate, punctures apart by a distance equal to puncture diameter; frons smooth, impunctate; clypeus feebly convex, with straight apical margin; gena nearly smooth, with very few (hardly seen) punctures near to outer ocular orbit; malar space about 0.7 × as long as LED; mandible stout, sickle-shaped, simple, sharply pointed apically; antennal tubercles subquadrate, distance between them about as long as tubercle width; minimum interocular distance 1.7 × LED; antenna with scape distinctly long, 3.1 × as long as broad, F1 1.5 × as long as broad, F1 as long as F2 and F3, last flagellomere 2.4 × as long as broad, truncate apically; maxillary palp relatively long, densely setose, 6-segmented, labial palp 4-segmented.

Mesosoma (Fig. 1A, C, D). Pronotal dorsal surface rectangular (excluding anterior collar), 2 × as wide as its length, densely superficially foveate, humeral angle rounded and posterior margin broadly concave, lateral face of pronotum with few, very weak horizontal ridges; rest of mesosomal dorsum with dense, somewhat deeper fovea, that increase in size posteriorly. Propodeal posterior face declivous, smooth; mesepimeron densely coarsely punctate, mesepisternum finely punctate; metapleuron smooth. Fore leg with basitarsus with three unequal spatulate spines along its external edge; hind femur somewhat swollen above, densely punctate at outer margin; hind basitarsus distinctly long, about 2 × as long following tarsomere, claws with a small basal blunt tooth; inner hind tibial spur slightly longer than outer spur.

Metasoma (Fig. 1A, E, F). First segment short, T1 subquadrate, progressively widened posteriorly, slightly wider than long at maximum width (1.1 × as wide as long), superficially foveate; T2 semispherical, distinctly wider than long (1.3 ×), with considerable basal constriction or short petiole, punctulate, punctures elongate, one diameter distant from each other, integument smooth in between, much denser laterally; T3 is the largest, very superficially, sparsely punctate, denser laterally, T4 and T5 superficially punctate; T6 (epipygium) with distinctly longitudinal interrupted ridges (about 9 in number), lateral ridges are the strongest, lateral teeth are strong centrally, becoming minute at distal end. S1-2 sparsely punctate; S3-4 smooth, with single row of small punctures along posterior margin; S5 smooth except laterally with fine sparse punctures.

Male (Figs 4A, C, 12A). Body length 9.0-14 mm. Similar to female except for the following: Body somewhat darker, at least on metasoma, terminal hook and lateral spines dark ferruginous; mandible stouter than in female, with two minute subapical dents; antennal scape distinctly short, flagellomeres distinctly long and cylinder, F1 7.0 × as long as broad, and slightly longer than F2 (1.16 ×); apical margin of clypeus depressed and rounded; mesopleuron foveate throughout, metapleuron horizontally rugate; fore wing with brachial cell rectangular, and equal in size to the anterior vein of cubital cell; hind wing with 7-10 hamuli; hind trochanter atuberculate, mid trochanter with large, lobe-like tubercle; metasomal T1 conical shaped, about as long as wide, both T1 and T2 with dense deep foveolation, somewhat oval in T2; T3 with longitudinal punctures that are opened and confluent with each other posteriorly giving the appearance of longitudinal ridges.

Distribution.

Saudi Arabia ( Pagliano 2002).

Remarks.

The female of M. andreai was collected from Wadi Reem (Jazan) during its walking near to the light trap, while several tens of males were attracted to the light. It greatly resembles that of M. yemenita (Invrea), but differs in the following: body yellow (pale yellow in yemenita ); frons of head smooth, impunctate, superficially punctate on lower face (frons coarsely punctate in yemenita ); antennal F1 and F2 are equal-sized (F1 slightly shorter than F2 in yemenita ); basitarsus with the usual three spatulate spines along outer edge (only two in yemenita ).

It is also similar to M. sajia Pagliano, but differs in the following: pronotum transverse, 2.0 × as wide as long (1.5 × in sajia ); lateral face of pronotum with few, extremely weak horizontal ridges (with vertical striae that are punctate in between in sajia ); mesepimeron coarsely punctate, mesepisternum finely punctate, metapleuron smooth (meso- and metapleura with horizontal striae in sajia ); T6 with distinct longitudinal interrupted ridges (T6 almost smooth, with some weak ridges towards distal margin, hardly distinct except under high magnification in sajia ).