Tycherus nardousberg Rousse & van Noort

Rousse, Pascal, van Noort, Simon & Diller, E., 2013, Revision of the Afrotropical Phaeogenini (Ichneumonidae, Ichneumoninae), with description of a new genus and twelve new species, ZooKeys 354, pp. 1-85 : 75-78

Tycherus nardousberg Rousse & van Noort sp. n. Figs 46-47

Type material.

HOLOTYPE Female: South Africa, Eastern Cape, Asante Sana Game Reserve, 32°14.930'S, 24°56.975'E, 1642m, 6.x.2010-17.i.2011, S. van Noort, Ma laise trap, Southern Karoo Riviere Leucosidea dominated, ASA09 –OUB1– M16, SAM–HYM–P 047368 (SAMC). PARATYPE 1 female: South Africa, Eastern Cape, Asante Sana Game Reserve, 32°16.762'S, 24° 57.309E, 1186m, 28 July– 6 Oct 2010, S. van Noort, Yellow Pan, Southern Karoo Riviere, Riverine Woodland, ASA09 –WOO1– Y18, SAM–HYM–P 047369 (SAMC); 1 female, same label data except for: 29.x.2009-23.ii.2010 ASA09 –WOO1– Y03 SAM–HYM–P 047370 (SAMC); 1 female, same label data except for: 32°14.990'S, 24°55.962'E, 2183m, 23 Feb– 7 April 2010, Malaise trap, Karoo Escarpment Grassland, ASA09 –GRA1– M03, SAM–HYM–P 047371 (SAMC); 1 female, same label data except for: 32°15.841'S, 24° 57.091E, 1354m, 23 Feb– 7 April 2010, Camdeboo Escarpment Thicket, ASA09 –BUS1– Y07, SAM–HYM–P 047372 (SAMC).

Diagnosis.

Head black and white; background of body reddish–orange to dark testaceous, mesosoma mid–laterally black with upper margin of pronotum white; antenna short and stout, all flagellomeres but basal ones shorter than wide; head mostly densely and shallowly punctate; mesosoma laterally puncto–striate, dorsally densely punctate; metasomal tergites almost punctate–reticulate; hind coxa simple; gastro coelus moderate, thyridium wide. HdWi 1.8; HfWi 1.3; Ci2.1; Mi 0.8; Di 3.7; IOi 2.0; OOi 1.3; Fli1 2.0; Fli15 0.6; Fli26 0.8; OTi 0.4. Male unknown.

Description.

FEMALE (4 specimens). B 4.6-4.9; A 2.3-2.4; F 2.9-3.1 (Holotype B 4.8; A 2.3; F 3.0).

Color. Head black with inner orbits, middle of face, clypeus, mandible, palpi and lower gena whitish; antenna blackish, apical half somewhat lighter testaceous; mesosoma reddish–orange with most of pronotum, dorsal half of mesopleuron, axillary trough and metanotum black, scutellum, post–scutellum and ventral corner of pronotum lighter yellowish–orange, and upper margin of pronotum and tegula whitish; metasoma orange, sometimes fading to yellowish apically; legs testaceous with fore and mid coxae and trochanters and all trochantelli whitish, hind coxa and trochanter mottled with whitish and dark testaceous, all tarsi but last tarsomeres fading to yellowish; wings hyaline, venation brownish–orange.

Head. Polished and moderately setose; face medially bulging, closely and shallowly punctate, punctures somewhat confluent into transverse rugosities; clypeus more smoothly punctate–granulate, transverse, its ventral margin truncate and thickened; mandibles moderately slender and long; frons, vertex and temple closely punctate; occipital carina joining hypostomal carina distinctly above mandibular base; ocellar triangle slightly wider than long; antenna with 27-29 flagellomeres, short and stout, flagellomere 5 and following wider than long.

Mesosoma. Polished and moderately setose; pronotum, mesopleuron and metapleuron roughly longitudinally puncto–striate, speculum smooth; mesoscutum finely and closely punctate, punctures somewhat confluent into transverse striations, notaulus weak in anterior third of mesoscutum; scutellum densely and shallowly punctate; carinate at base; propodeum coarsely and shallowly punctate, sculpture smoother medially, carination complete, area superomedia heart–shaped, receiving costula a little posterior to middle. Wings. Hind wing with distal abscissa of Cu1 faint, connected to 1/Cu& cu–a, cu–a very short. Legs. Hind coxa simple, without ventral tooth.

Metasoma. Entirely closely punctate, almost punctate–reticulate; gastrocoelus within basal fifth of tergite 2, short and moderately shallow, thyridium moderately deep and slightly wider than inter–thyridia interval.

MALE. Unknown.

Etymology.

Named after the type locality. Asante Sana Game Reserve includes aspects of the Nardousberg Mountain. Specimens were collected over an altitudinal range of 1354-2183 m on the south–eastern slopes of the Nardousberg. Noun in apposition.

Distribution.

South Africa (Eastern Cape).