Apanteles paranthrenidis 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 : 252-253

Apanteles paranthrenidis Muesebeck, 1921 Fig. 152

Apanteles paranthrenidis Muesebeck, 1921: 506.

Type locality.

UNITED STATES: California, Los Angeles County, locality not specified.

Holotype.

♀, NMNH (examined).

Material Examined.

1 ♀ (CNC), USA: PA, Rochville, coll. W. S. Fisch; 1 ♀, 1 ♂ (CNC), USA, 30.x.1903, coll. E. P. Felt; 1 ♀ (CNC), USA: NC, Bertie County near Cahaba, 2.vi.1976.

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, pale, dark or pale, pale, partially pale/partially dark. Femora color (pro-, meso-, metafemur): pale, pale, pale. Tibiae color (pro-, meso-, metatibia): pale, pale, pale. 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): 3.7-3.8 mm. Fore wing length: 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: 2.0-2.2. Antennal flagellomerus 14 length/width: 1.7-1.9. Length of flagellomerus 2/length of flagellomerus 14: 1.7-1.9. Tarsal claws: simple. Metafemur length/width: 3.2-3.3. Metatibia inner spur length/metabasitarsus length: 0.4-0.5 or 0.6-0.7. Anteromesoscutum: mostly with deep, dense punctures (separated by less than 2.0 × its maximum diameter). Mesoscutellar disc: with punctures near margins, central part mostly smooth. Number of pits in scutoscutellar sulcus: 7 or 8 or 9 or 10. Maximum height of mesoscutellum lunules/maximum height of lateral face of mesoscutellum: 0.8 or more. 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 or 1.4-1.6. 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: 3.6-3.9 or 4.0-4.3. 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: 2.3 or more. Length of fore wing veins 2RS/2M: 1.1-1.3. Length of fore wing veins 2M/(RS+M)b: 0.7-0.8. 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: strongly angulated, sometimes with a knob.

Molecular data.

No molecular data available for this species.

Biology/ecology.

Gregarious; coccons large, white, not imbedded in a mass of silk but formed in the burrows of the host ( Muesebeck 1921). Hosts: Noctuidae , Helicoverpa zea (miner in ears of corn), Sesiidae , Paranthrene asilipennis , Paranthrene dolli , Paranthrene robiniae (miners in stems of unknown host plant).

Distribution.

Mexico, United States (CA, DC, FL, MS, NY, OK, PA, here recorded for the first time from NC). There is no suggestion that this species occurs in ACG.

Comments.

Because of the holotype is missing both fore wings and antenna, the morphological characters related to those body parts were coded in the Lucid database from the female specimens deposited in the CNC.