Rhacontsira mozambiquensis, Belokobylskij & Zaldívar-Riverón, 2021

Belokobylskij, Sergey A. & Zaldívar-Riverón, Alejandro, 2021, Reclassification of the doryctine tribe Rhaconotini (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 741, pp. 1-168 : 144-148

Rhacontsira mozambiquensis sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:93E97C3E-D8C9-4EE1-B153-9755937A34CD

Figs 52–53

Etymology

Named after the country where the type material was collected, Mozambique.

Material examined

Holotype MOZAMBIQUE • ♀; “Museum Paris, Mozambique, Haut Sangadze, Inhafounè pres Canxixe, P. Lesne, 1928”, “Juin”; MNHN.

Paratype MOZAMBIQUE • 1 ♀ (head partly damaged in right side); same collection data as for holotype; ZISP .

Description

Female

MEASUREMENTS. Body length 3.3–3.6 mm; fore wing length 2.7–3.0 mm.

HEAD. Width 1.6–1.8 times its median length, 1.1–1.2 times maximum width of mesoscutum. Head behind eyes (dorsal view) strongly roundly narrowed. Transverse diameter of eye 2.4–2.5 times as long as temple (dorsal view). Ocelli medium-sized, arranged in triangle with base 1.2–1.3 times its sides. POL 1.5–1.7 times OD, 0.5–0.7 times OOL. Eye glabrous, 1.2 times as high as broad. Malar space about 0.4 times height of eye and 1.0–1.1 times basal width of mandible. Face width equal to height of eye and almost equal to height of face and clypeus combined. Malar suture absent. Clypeus rather high, with short lower flange. Clypeal suture distinct. Hypoclypeal depression round, its width 0.9 times distance from edge of depression to eye, 0.4 times width of face. Occipital carina coarse, complete dorsally, fused below with hypostomal carina above base of mandible. Hypostomal flange relatively wide. Head (front view) distinctly and almost linearly narrowed below eyes. Antennae slender, setiform, 29-segmented, 1.2 times as long as body. Scapus 1.5–1.7 times as long as maximum width. First flagellar segment 5.0–5.2 times as long as its apical width, about 1.1 times as long as second segment. Penultimate segment 5.5 times as long as width, as long as first flagellar and apical segments; the latter distinctly acuminate.

MESOSOMA. Mesosoma not depressed, 1.4–1.6 times as long as its high. Pronotum with distinct pronotal carina situated more closely to mesoscutum, but not fused with it. Mesoscutum highly and almost perpendicularly elevated above pronotum. Median lobe of mesoscutum not protruding forward. Notauli complete, distinct anteriorly, shallow posteriorly, coarsely crenulate-rugose. Prescutellar depression deep, rather short, with high median and two–three lateral carinae, finely rugulose to smooth between carinae, 0.3–0.4 times as long as very weakly convex scutellum. Metanotum with short, thick and subacuminate dorsal tooth (lateral view). Subalar depression shallow, narrow, rugose-striate. Sternaulus distinct, shallow, crenulate with rugulosity, straight, oblique, connected with prepectal carina anteriorly, running along anterior 0.6 length of lower part of mesopleuron.

WING. Fore wing 2.8–3.0 times as long as its maximum width. Pterostigma 3.1–3.5 times as long as wide. Radial vein (r) arising almost from middle of pterostigma or weakly before it. Metacarpus (1-R1) 1.5 times as long as pterostigma. Second radial abscissa (3-SR) 1.8–2.0 times as long as first abscissa (r), 0.40–0.45 times as long as the straight third abscissa (SR1), 0.9 times as long as first radiomedial vein (2-SR). Second radiomedial (submarginal) cell not widened towards apex, 2.5–2.7 times as long as maximum width, 1.3–1.4 times as long as narrow brachial (subdiscal) cell. Recurrent vein (m-cu) weakly antefurcal. Parallel vein (CU1a) arising almost from middle of distal margin of brachial (subdiscal) cell. Distance from nervulus (cu-a) to basal (1-M) vein 0.75 times nervulus (cu-a) length. Hind wing 4.3–4.6 times as long as wide. First costal abscissa (C+SC+R) 0.7–0.8 times as long as second abscissa (1-SC+R). First abscissa of mediocubital vein (M+CU) 0.8–0.9 times as long as second abscissa (1-M). Recurrent vein (m-cu) weakly curved, strongly oblique, weakly antefurcal or postfurcal.

LEGS. Hind femur 3.0–3.2 times as long as wide. Hind tarsus almost as long as hind tibia. Hind basitarsus 0.7 times as long as second–fifth segments combined; second tarsal segment 0.4–0.5 times as long as basitarsus, 1.1–1.2 times as long as fifth segment (without pretarsus).

METASOMA. Length 1.1–1.2 times as long as mesosoma and head combined. First tergite with distinct dorsope, with short subpointed and directed downwards basolateral processes, without spiracular tubercles, distinctly and linearly widened from base to subapex. Maximum width of first tergite 2.4–2.8 times minimum width; length 0.8–0.9 times its apical width. Second tergite with very shallow and transverse sinuate furrow in posterior quarter separating short transverse apical area. Length of second tergite about 0.5 times its basal width, almost equal to length of third tergite. Second suture shallow, weakly curved and crenulate. Ovipositor sheath 1.2–1.6 times as long as metasoma, 1.8–2.0 times as long as mesosoma, 0.8–0.9 times as long as fore wing.

SCULPTURE AND PUBESCENCE. Vertex distinctly curvedly transverse striate with fine rugulosity between striae; frons rugose-granulate, with curved longitudinal carinae laterally and posteriorly; face entirely coarsely rugose-reticulate with granulation. Mesoscutum entirely densely granulate and partly with fine rugulosity, partly granulae situated in curved transverse lines; rugose-reticulate and sometimes with undulate longitudinal striation in medio-posterior 0.3 of mesoscutum. Scutellum entirely densely granulate. Mesopleuron densely granulate, with rugosity in upper quarter. Propodeum with densely granulate with rugulosity (along carinae) basolateral areas delineated by distinct carinae; rest part of propodeum coarsely rugose-reticulate; areola indistinct. Hind coxa densely granulate, dorsally with distinct transverse curved striation. Hind femur finely and very densely granulate. First tergites entirely and second mostly (except smooth apical area) distinctly and densely longitudinally striate with fine reticulation between striae sometimes. Third tergite laterally almost entirely densely striate and partly with reticulation, its remainder smooth; fourth and fifth tergites laterally densely reticulate-coriaceous; these tergites medially widely smooth. Remaining tergites smooth. Vertex in sparse and short semi-erect setae, almost glabrous anteriorly. Mesoscutum entirely with short, dense and semi-erect white setae. Metapleural flange posteriorly with very dense pale pubescence. Hind tibia with short and dense semierect white setae; length of these setae about half maximum width of hind tibia.

COLOUR. Body black to dark reddish brown; prothorax or only propleuron and posterior half of metasoma reddish brown. Head mostly dark reddish brown, face and malar space pale brown. Antenna yellow to brownish yellow in basal half, brown to dark brown in apical half. Palpi yellow to pale yellow. Legs entirely yellow. Fore wing hyaline. Pterostigma brown, paler apically.

Male

Unknown.

Diagnosis

This Afrotropical species is very similar to the Eastern Palaearctic Rh. insulicola Belokobylskij & Maeto , but differs from it by having the first flagellar segment 5.2 times as long as its apical width and 1.1 times as long as second segment (vs only 3.8–4.3 times as long as apical width and not longer than second segment), ocelli arranged in triangle with base 1.3 times its sides (vs in almost equilateral triangle), frons rugose-granulate and with curved longitudinal carinae laterally (vs densely obliquely striate and without lateral carinae), and the first metasomal tergite 0.8 times as long as its maximum width (vs almost as long maximum width).

Distribution

Mozambique.

Figures

Fig. 52. Rhacontsira mozambiquensis sp. nov., ♀, holotype, MNHN (A–F, H–K) and paratype, ZISP (G). A. Habitus, lateral view. B. Head, front view. C, G. Head, dorsal view. D. Head, lateral view. E. Basal segments of antenna. F. Apical segments of antenna. H. Mesosoma, lateral view. I. Mesosoma, dorsal view. J. Hind leg, lateral view. K. Median part of fore wing.

Fig. 53. Rhacontsira mozambiquensis sp. nov., ♀, holotype, MNHN. A. Wings. B. Metasoma, dorsal view. C. Metasoma, lateral view.