Pseudapanteles soniapicadoae Fernandez-Triana & Whitfield

Fernandez-Triana, Jose L., Janzen, Daniel H., Hallwachs, Winnie, Whitfield, James B., Smith, M. Alex & Kula, Robert, 2014, Revision of the genus Pseudapanteles (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae), with emphasis on the species in Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica, ZooKeys 446, pp. 1-82 : 26-27

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Braconidae

Pseudapanteles soniapicadoae Fernandez-Triana & Whitfield sp. n. Figs 174- 179

Holotype.

♀ in CNC. COSTA RICA, ACG, Guanacaste Province, Sector Santa Rosa, Bosque Humedo, 290m, 10.85145, -85.60801, 23.ii.1998. ACG database code: DHJPAR0013238.

Diagnosis.

It belongs to the gouleti species-group, and can be separated from other species within that group by the combination of anteromesoscutum mostly dark brown to black, propodeum mostly smooth, with well-defined median carina and few short rugosities transverse to that carina, and antenna relatively shorter on its anterior half (with second flagellomere 2.5 × as long as wide, and eight flagellomere 2.2 × as long as wide).

Description.

Female. Body length 1.8-1.9 mm. Fore wing length 2.0-2.1 mm. Head color: mostly dark brown to black; except for orange on most of frons and face, and yellow clypeus, labrum, mandibles, and spot on lower corner of gena near oral foramen. Flagellomere color: all flagellomere brown to black. Mesosoma color: mostly dark brown to black, with pronotum, propleura, anteromesoscutum, spot on mesopleura, and scutellar disc at least partially orange. Metasoma color (dorsally): entirely dark brown to black. Coxae color: pale/pale/mostly or completely dark. Metatibia color: mostly pale, with posterior 0.1-0.2 dark. Metatarsus color: dark. Pterostigma color: mostly dark, but with anterior pale spot. Mediotergite 1 length/width at posterior margin 3.1-3.5 ×. Mediotergite 1 maximum width/width at posterior margin 1.9-2.0 ×. Mediotergite 2 width at posterior margin/length: 3.6-3.7 ×. Mediotergite 2 sculpture: Mostly with longitudinally striate sculpture (sometimes with small, smooth area centrally). Ovipositor sheaths length: 1.0 × as long as metatibia.

Male. Unknown.

Molecular data.

Sequences in BOLD: 1, barcode compliant sequences: 1.

Biology/ecology.

Malaise-trapped.

Distribution.

Costa Rica, ACG dry forest.

Etymology.

This species is named in honour of Sra. Sonia Picado in recognition of her wise counsel in advising the legal-administrative process of the expropriation of Sector Santa Elena for ACG, while she was Costa Rica’s Ambassador to the United States.