Scelio destico 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 : 99-101

Scelio destico Yoder sp. n. Figures 17, 25, 227-232; Morphbank 53

Description.

Female body length: 3.75-4.34 mm (n=20). Male body length: 3.80-4.32 mm (n=13). Color of pilosity of dorsal head in female: white; golden to brown. Occipital carina in female: percurrent. Color of pilosity of the frons below the anterior ocellus in female: predominantly white. Pilosity of eye in female: absent; present. Medial keel on interantennal process: absent. 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: white. 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: white to light brown, lighter than that of mesoscutum. Sculpture of medial mesoscutum in female: predominantly angular reticulate to rugulose. Color of pilosity of mesoscutum in female: predominantly yellow to golden. Notaulus in female: not delimited; indicated by a row of cells. 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: sculptured throughout; with small smooth patch ventrally. Form of ventral margin of villus in female: very slightly concave, almost straight. Color of coxae in female: brown. Color of hind femur: dark brown with white base. Color of hind tibia: yellow throughout. Fore wing length in female: apex between anterior margin of T5 and posterior margin of T6. Color of metasoma: entirely dark brown. Sculpture of laterotergites in female: predominantly smooth. Pilosity of laterotergites in female: absent. Sculpture of medial T1 in female: most prominent elements predominantly longitudinal. Sculpture of medial T 2 in female: most prominent elements predominantly reticulate rugulose; most prominent elements predominantly longitudinal. Pattern of sculpture on T3-T5 in female: T3 predominantly reticulate, T4-T5 predominantly longitudinally striate to strigose. Color of pilosity on lateral T3-T5 in female: predominantly white; predominantly golden to brown; more or less evenly split between white and brown. Lateral profile of T6 in female: more or less horizontal. 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.

Very similar to Scelio pipilo which shares a similar habitus, reticulate sculpture of the frons, brown to dark brown scape, somewhat bulging eye, and brown pilosity of the lateral metasoma. Differing from Scelio pipilo by the narrow gena with genal carina weakly developed (gena wide and no genal carina discernible in Scelio pipilo ).

Etymology.

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

Link to distribution map.

http://hol.osu.edu/map-large.html?id=244987

Material examined.

Holotype, female: KENYA: Nyanza Prov., Nyangera, 00°03'55.9"S, 34°04'52.2"E, 10. X– 6.XII.2003, malaise trap, I. Prikryl, OSUC 214122 (deposited in CNCI). Paratypes: (32 females, 13 males) BENIN: 1 female, OSUC 212848 (CNCI). BURKINA FASO: 1 female, OSUC 214085 (CNCI). IVORY COAST: 11 females, OSUC 211360, 212859, 212919, 212921, 213014, 213062, 213066, 213069 (CNCI); OSUC 142586, 142593, 57143 (OSUC). KENYA: 12 females, 5 males, OSUC 214104, 214113, 214115-214116, 214138, 214140, 214142, 214146, 214148-214152, 214181, 234634, 234701, 234703 (CNCI). NIGERIA: 2 females, 7 males, OSUC 212170, 212178, 212612, 212626, 212631-212632, 212688-212689, 213034 (CNCI). UGANDA: 1 female, 1 male, OSUC 214136, 214160 (CNCI). ZIMBABWE: 4 females, OSUC 212100, 212344, 213006-213007 (CNCI). Other material: (3 females) GHANA: 1 female, OSUC 213557 (OSUC). NIGERIA: 2 females, OSUC 212810, 213156 (CNCI).

Comments.

The villus of Scelio destico is very similar to that of Scelio pipilo . However, in most specimens it tends to be slightly more concave ventrally, while in Scelio pipilo it is more or less straight. Scelio destico is smaller than Scelio pipilo (3.80-4.32 mm vs. 4.64-5.52 mm in females). The color of pilosity of the lateral portion of the metasoma in Scelio destico is highly variable, from more or less completely white to nearly completely brown. This is more variation than observed in Scelio pipilo which has predominantly brown setae in all individuals. The interstitial sculpture (between reticulations or longitudinal striae) of the lateral metasoma is somewhat less dense (more smooth patches) and more irregular in Scelio destico than in Scelio pipilo in which there is dense colliculate sculpture more or less throughout. Three individuals from Nigeria and Ghana (OSUC 212810, 213156, 213557) have the scape is distinctly yellow at the base and brown apically as in Scelio howardi . These three are not included in the paratype series and may ultimately represent a separate species based on the scape color and the absence of the genal carina.