Aleiodes elleni, Shimbori, Eduardo Mitio & Shaw, Scott Richard, 2014

Shimbori, Eduardo Mitio & Shaw, Scott Richard, 2014, Twenty-four new species of Aleiodes Wesmael from the eastern Andes of Ecuador with associated biological information (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Rogadinae), ZooKeys 405, pp. 1-81 : 32-34

Aleiodes elleni sp. n. Figures 41-44

Description of holotype.

Female (holotype). Body length 6.1 mm; antenna length 7.1 mm; fore wing length 5.5 mm.

Color. Head yellow, ocellar triangle dark brown; antenna dark brown–black; scape, pedicel and first flagellomere proximally honey brown; scape darker dorsally; mesosoma yellow, anterior corner of mesopleuron, metanotum propodeum and metapleuron dorsally dark brown–black, mesopleuron light yellow–whitish postero-dorsally; fore and mid leg coxa, trochanter and trochantellus whitish, darkening toward apex, 5th tarsomere honey brown, but tibia darker basally; mid trochanter, trochantellus and femur with infuscate marking on inner side; hind coxa basal 1/3 white, apical 2/3 black; hind trochanter dark brown; hind trochantellus black with ventral white stripe; hind femur ventrally from base to apex with alternating bands: about 1/6 white, 1/2 dark brown, 1/4 pale yellow and 1/12 brown; dorsally only the basal white band well defined; tibia dark brown with basal pale yellow band; tibial spurs honey brown; tarsi brown. Metasomal terga black; median white stripe throughout length of terga 1 and 2; ovipositor sheaths dark brown apically, base whitish. Wings weakly infuscate; stigma brown; most veins dark brown; vein C+SC+R darker (extreme base whitish) connecting to a black parastigma with light brown central spot.

Head. Antenna with 45 segments, flagellomeres roughly 2.0 × as long as wide, apical flagellomere with short “bottle-nipple” -shaped tip; malar space moderate, about 1.3 × basal width of mandible, 0.4 × eye height; in dorsal view eyes 2.5 × longer than temples; occipital carina complete dorsally, well defined laterally and meeting hypostomal carina; oral space small and circular, maximum width equal to basal width of mandible; clypeus slightly swollen; ocell–ocular distance about as long as diameter of lateral ocellus; maxillary palp not swollen; head surface sculpturing shining granulate, occiput smooth and shining, frons also smooth with weak concentric wrinkles; frons excavated, excavation bordered by a weak “W-shaped” carina, but stronger laterally.

Mesosoma. Sculpturing shining granulate; pronotum foveate; propodeum rugulose with granular background and complete mid-longitudinal carina. Meso- and metapleuron surface rugose on dorsal dark brown areas; notauli shallow and crenulate anteriorly, posteriorly meeting on depressed rugose area; posterior margin of mesoscutum bordered with complete carina; scutellar sulcus with complete median carina plus two pairs of poorly defined lateral carina.

Wings. Fore wing: stigma 3.4 × longer than high; vein r about 0.8 × vein 2RS, 1.2 × vein RS+Mb, and 0.7 × vein m-cu; vein 3RSa 0.48 × vein 3RSb, and 0.9 × vein 2M; vein 1CUa 3.2 × vein 1cu-a; vein 1CUb about as long as vein 1CUa; vein 1M slightly curved on basal half. Hind wing: m-cu is distinct, apparently tubular, distinctly antefurcal; vein M+CU about 2 × longer than vein 1M; 1M about 0.8 × length of r-m; vein RS almost straight, slightly diverging from wing margin; vein M dark brown, well pigmented; vein 2-1A present as a very short stub.

Legs. Hind tibia with comb of modified setae; tarsal claw simple, not pectinate; hind basitarsus 3 × longer than inner apical spur on hind tibia.

Metasoma. T1, T2 and basal 2/5 of T3 granular–striate, longitudinal carina present along this sculpturing; remainder visible terga granular coriaceous; ovipositor sheaths about 1/2 length of hind basitarsus; T1 1.4 × longer than its apical width.

Male. Antenna with 42-43 segments; metasoma narrower, T1 about 1.5 –1.6× longer than its apical width; ocell–ocular distance shorter, 0.7 × diameter of lateral ocellus; stigma narrower, 4.2 × longer than high; one male has the white median stripe on metasoma interrupted on posterior half of tergite 2.

Type material.

Type-locality: ECUADOR, Napo Province, Yanayacu Biological Station, Macucoloma trail, S00°35.9', W77°53.4', 2163 m, cloud forest, November 5-12, 2007, J. Simbaña col.

Type-specimen: Holotype female. Top label: "ECUADOR: Napo Province / Yanayacu Biological Station / S00°35.9', W77°53.4' 2163m / 5-12 Nov. 2007, J. Simbaña / Macucoloma trail, Malaise trap / NSF-BSI-07-17458, S.R. Shaw"; second label: “SRS-00034”. (UWIM)

Paratypes, 2 males (UWIM), same locality as holotype, different collection methods and dates: 1♂, June 18, 2010, yellow pan trap, S.R. Shaw col.; 1♂, May 12, 2011, U.V. light, N. Zitani col.

Discussion.

This species belongs to the seriatus species-group. Aleiodes elleni sp. n. is the only newly described species in this group with a strong, complete occipital carina on vertex. This character is present in two other Neotropical species: Aleiodes scriptus (from Brazil) and Aleiodes nebulosus (from Ecuador) from which Aleiodes elleni sp. n. differs by having the hind wing vein RS straight. Aleiodes elleni sp. n. also differs from Aleiodes scriptus by having the sculpturing of metasoma rugose–costate, as compared with widely costate in Aleiodes scriptus . It differs from Aleiodes nebulosus mostly in color patterns: pronotum yellow (white in Aleiodes nebulosus ), apical 2/3 of hind coxa, propodeum, metanotum, metapleuron dorsally and mesopleuron on antero-dorsal corner black (white in Aleiodes nebulosus ), and white medial marking on metasoma extending throughout tegite 1 and 2 (only anteriorly on tergite 1 in Aleiodes nebulosus ). Aleiodes elleni sp. n. also differs from Aleiodes nebulosus in having the 2nd submarginal cell in fore wing long and rectangular (short and trapezoidal in Aleiodes nebulosus ), 2RS and 3RSa forming a right angle (obtuse in Aleiodes nebulosus ), and vein r less than half length of vein 3RSa (0.85 × in Aleiodes nebulosus ), wings hyaline (wings moderately infuscate in Aleiodes nebulosus ), and frons with lateral ridges (absent in Aleiodes nebulosus ). The straight vein RS of the hind wing is shared with two other species of this species group: Aleiodes frosti sp. n. and the Nearctic species Aleiodes femoratus Cresson, 1869; however, Aleiodes elleni sp. n. differs from Aleiodes frosti sp. n. by its smaller ocelli and relatively shorter petiole, and from both by the mostly black and medially whitish metasoma (yellowish in Aleiodes frosti sp. n. and Aleiodes femoratus ). It also differs from Aleiodes femoratus by the smooth frons, as compared with porcate frontal sculpture in Aleiodes femoratus .

Etymology.

This species is named after the American actress, comedian, and television host Ellen Lee DeGeneres.