Opius malarator Li, van Achterberg & Tan

Li, Xi-Ying, Achterberg, Cornelis van & Tan, Ji-Cai, 2013, Revision of the subfamily Opiinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) from Hunan (China), including thirty-six new species and two new genera, ZooKeys 268, pp. 1-186 : 52-54

Opius malarator Li, van Achterberg & Tan sp. n. Figs 136-144

Type material.

Holotype, ♂ (ZUH), "S. China: Hunan, nr Zhangjiajie, Badagong Mts, Bamaoxi, 2-3.VI.2009, 540 m, Xi-Ying Li, RMNH’09”.

Diagnosis.

Malar suture deep (Fig. 142); clypeus wide (Fig. 141); second submarginal cell of fore wing large (Fig. 137); hypoclypeal depression large and deep (Fig. 141).

Description.

Holotype, ♂, length of body 2.7 mm, of fore wing 3.2 mm.

Head. Antenna with 29 segments and 1.1 times as long as fore wing; third segment 1.2 times as long as fourth segment, length of third, fourth and penultimate segments 3.8, 3.2 and 2.7 times their width, respectively (Fig. 143); length of maxillary palp 1.3 times height of head; labial palp segments normal; occipital carina far removed from hypostomal carina and dorsally absent; hypostomal carina wide; length of eye in dorsal view 1.2 times temple; frons flattened anteriorly and glabrous, smooth; face smooth, medially elevated; width of clypeus 2.4 times its maximum height and 0.55 times width of face and semi-elliptical (Fig. 142); clypeus slightly convex, somewhat protruding forwards, smooth except for some punctures and its ventral margin thin and straight (Fig. 141); hypoclypeal depression wide and deep (Fig. 141); labrum slanted backwards; malar suture deep (Fig. 142); mandible with tooth-like protrusion, with a narrow ventral carina and second tooth small (Fig. 142).

Mesosoma. Length of mesosoma 1.3 times its height; dorsal pronope deep, round, medium-sized (Fig. 144); pronotal side smooth and posterior groove largely absent (Fig. 136); epicnemial area smooth dorsally; precoxal sulcus hardly impressed, smooth as rest of mesopleuron (Fig. 136); pleural sulcus smooth; mesosternal sulcus rather deep and narrow and finely crenulate; notauli absent on disc, only anteriorly with pair of short smooth impressions (Fig. 138); mesoscutum glabrous and shiny; medio-posterior depression of mesoscutum absent; scutellar sulcus narrow and moderately crenulate; scutellum slightly convex medially; surface of propodeum smooth, except for a square rugose area medio-posteriorly (Fig. 139).

Wings. Fore wing (Fig. 137): pterostigma elliptical; 1-R1 reaching wing apex and 1.2 times as long as pterostigma; r:3-SR:SR1 = 4:26:56; 2-SR:3-SR:r-m = 21:26:9; r slender; 1-M nearly straight and SR1 straight; m-cu and cu-a distinctly postfurcal; 1-CU1 hardly widened; first subdiscal cell closed, CU1b short; apical fifth of M+CU1 sclerotized. Hind wing (Fig. 137): M+CU:1-M:1r-m = 15:13:8; cu-a straight; m-cu as a superficial impression; basal cell comparatively wide.

Legs. Length of femur, tibia and basitarsus of hind leg 5.2, 11.2 and 7.3 times as long as wide, respectively; hind femur and tibia with medium-sized setae (Fig. 140).

Metasoma. Length of first tergite 1.4 times its apical width, its surface convex but medially flattened and coarsely rugose and dorsal carinae developed in basal 0.4 of tergite (Fig. 139); second suture obsolescent; second and following tergites smooth; third tergite distinctly wider than second tergite.

Colour. Black; antenna (but scapus yellowish), metasoma (except first tergite), pterostigma and veins dark brown; palpi, mandible, clypeus ventrally, tegulae and legs (but hind tibia apically, hind tarsus and telotarsi darkened) pale yellow; subhyaline.

Molecular data. None.

Distribution.

*China (Hunan).

Biology.

Unknown.

Etymology.

Name derived from “mala” (Latin for “cheek”), because the deeply impressed malar suture.

Notes.

The new species runs in the key by Chen and Weng (2005) to Phaedrotoma tabularis (Weng & Chen, 2005) comb. n. Opius malarator differs by having vein 3-SR of fore wing 1.2 times vein 2-SR (1.8 times in Phaedrotoma tabularis ), the malar suture deep and complete (absent), the antenna with about 29 segments (39) and the dorsal carinae absent on posterior half of the tergite (up to apex).