Scelio memorabilis 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 : 102-103

Scelio memorabilis Yoder sp. n. Figures 22, 233-238; Morphbank 54

Description.

Female body length: 4.08 mm (n=1). Color of pilosity of dorsal head in female: golden to brown. Occipital carina in female: percurrent. Color of pilosity of the frons below the anterior ocellus in female: predominantly golden to brown. Pilosity of eye in female: absent. Medial keel on interantennal process: absent. Width of lower gena in lateral view: wide, posterior margin of lower half of gena parallel to posterior orbit. Genal carina: absent. Color of genal pilosity: brown. Color of scape in female: yellow throughout. Surface of the pronotal nucha in female: predominantly smooth. Color of pilosity of pronotal shoulder in female: golden to dark brown, concolorous with that of mesoscutum. Sculpture of medial mesoscutum in female: predominantly angular reticulate to rugulose. Color of pilosity of mesoscutum in female: predominantly light brown to brown. Notaulus in female: 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. Form of ventral margin of villus in female: bent ventrally in posterior, obviously not straight throughout. Color of coxae in female: basal half brown, distal half yellow. Color of hind femur: dark brown throughout. Color of hind tibia: yellow throughout. Fore wing length in female: apex not reaching anterior margin of T5. Color of metasoma: light reddish brown. Sculpture of laterotergites in female: predominantly aciculate. Pilosity of laterotergites in female: absent. Sculpture of medial T1 in female: most prominent elements predominantly reticulate rugulose. Sculpture of medial T2 in female: most prominent elements predominantly longitudinal. Pattern of sculpture on T3-T5 in female: predominantly longitudinally striate. Color of pilosity on lateral T3-T5 in female: predominantly golden to brown. Lateral profile of T6 in female: vertically sloped in posterior half. Sculpture of T6 in female: predominantly rugulose to reticulate. Sculpture of lateral metasomal sternal bar in female: predominantly smooth to slightly irregularly rugose. Distribution of felt fields: 3 pairs present (S2, S3, S4).

Diagnosis.

Superficially similar to other Afrotropical howardi-group species of the brown subgroup, sharing the brown pilosity of the pronotal shoulder. This species may be distinguished from all African Scelio by the brachypterous wings (Fig. 233). The robust sculpture of the lateral metasoma (Fig. 238) is also relatively distinct for African Scelio .

Etymology.

The epithet is an adjective, the Latin word for memorable, in reference to the unique state of the wing development.

Link to distribution map.

http://hol.osu.edu/map-large.html?id=244972

Material examined.

Holotype, female: SOUTH AFRICA: KwaZulu-Natal Prov., coastal forest, KW00-Y71, Umtamvuna Provincial Nature Reserve, 31°03.798'S, 30°10.448'E, 20m, 13. XI– 20.XI.2000, yellow pan trap, S. van Noort, OSUC 244026 (deposited in SAMC).

Comments.

Scelio memorabilis is apparently the only known brachypterous species of Scelio . Though only a single specimen is known, its odd combination of characters states suggests that it warrants species status. The basal half of the coxa is brown and the apex yellow. The sculpture of the metanotum is somewhat rugulose reticulate, though it is still dominated by longitudinal elements. We have coded the third pair of felt fields as present which is quite rare for Afrotropical Scelio. Additional specimens will be required to confirm their consistent presence.