Meteorus albistigma Aguirre, Almeida & Shaw

Aguirre, Helmuth, de Almeida, Luis Felipe, Shaw, Scott Richard & Sarmiento, Carlos E., 2015, An illustrated key to Neotropical species of the genus Meteorus Haliday (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Euphorinae), ZooKeys 489, pp. 33-94 : 49

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Braconidae

Meteorus albistigma Aguirre, Almeida & Shaw sp. n. Figures 67-72

Diagnosis.

Occipital carina complete; eyes convergent, face maximum width 1.8 × minimum width; mandibles moderately twisted; notauli deeply impressed, distinctive and foveolate; propodeum aerolate-rugose and absent of both carinae and a median depression; hind coxa punctuate-polished; tarsal claw with large lobe; dorsopes absent; ovipositor 2.7 × longer than first tergite, stigma white.

Body color.

Antenna dark brown, annulus absent; head yellow except area between ocelli black. Propleuron and pronotum yellow; mesonotum black except yellow among mesonotal lobes and on the scutellum; mesopleuron orange except black close to the tegula; metanotum totally black; metapleuron orange; propodeum black. Prothoracic legs yellow except tarsus light brown; mesothoracic legs yellow except femur apically, tibia and tarsus brown; metathoracic legs yellow except tibia brown, femur apically and tarsus dark brown. T1 black, T2 yellow, T3 brown, T4-T6 brown medially and yellow laterally, T7-T8 yellow; sterna yellow. Wing membrane hyaline; stigma white.

Body length.

3.1 mm.

Head.

Antenna with 20 flagellomeres (antenna broken); flagellar length/width ratios as follows: F1 = 4.4, F2 = 4, F3 = 3, F18 = 1.3, F19 = 1.3, F20 = 2.2; head 1.1 wider than high; occipital carina incomplete; ocellus-ocullar distance 1.5 × ocellar diameter; head height 1.6 × eye height; temple length 0.4 × eye length in dorsal view; vertex in dorsal view not descending vertically behind the lateral ocelli; frons smooth and polished; face maximum width 1.8 × minimum width; face surface irregular and shiny; face minimum width 0.7 × clypeus width; clypeus surface irregular and shiny; malar space length 0.4 × mandible width basally; mandibles moderately twisted.

Mesosoma.

Pronotum in lateral view carinate; propleuron smooth; notauli deeply impressed, distinctive and foveolate; mesonotal lobes well defined; central lobe of mesoscutum either punctuate or smooth and polished; scutellar furrow with three carinae; mesopleuron punctate; precoxal sulcus short, narrow and foveate-lacunose; metapleuron mostly smooth but rugose close to the hind coxa; propodeum aerolate-rugose and absent of both carinae and a median depression.

Legs.

Hind coxa punctuate-polished; tarsal claw with large lobe.

Wings.

Wing length 2 mm. Front wing: second submarginal cell not strongly narrowed anteriorly; length of vein r 0.6 × length of vein 3RSa; vein 3RSb straight; length of vein 3RSa equal to length of vein r-m; vein m-cu antefurcal. Hind wing: length of vein 1M equal to length of vein cu-a; length of vein 1M 0.9 × length of vein r-m.

Metasoma.

Dorsopes absent; ventral borders of first tergite joined completely along ½ of segment; first tergite rugulose-costate, the costae convergent; ovipositor thickened basally and straight; ovipositor 2.7 × longer than first tergite; T2-T7 smooth.

Cocoon.

Unknown.

Female variation.

Unknown.

Male variation.

Unknown.

Type locality.

COSTA RICA, Alajuela, Chiles de Aquas, Zarcas Cafe, 300 m.

Type specimen.

Holotype female (point mounted). Original label: COSTA RICA, Alajuela, Chiles de Aquas, Zarcas Cafe, 300 m, collected XI.1989, R. Cespedes leg., UWIM.

Distribution.

Costa Rica, at the province of Alajuela.

Biology.

Unknown.

Comments.

Meteorus albistigma resembles Meteorus kraussi in having the ventral borders of first tergite completely fused along ½ of segment and mandibles moderately twisted. Meteorus albistigma can be separated by having the propodeum dorsally dark (completely or mostly yellow in Meteorus kraussi ), the notauli deeply impressed (shallow and not distinct in Meteorus kraussi ), the tarsal claw with a large lobe (tarsal claw simple in Meteorus kraussi ) and the stigma of the front wing white (brown in Meteorus kraussi ).

Etymology.

The name of this species is composed by the latin prefix “albi”, meaning white, and the stem “stigma” because of the color of this structure on the front wing.