Bioalfa Sharkey, 2021

Sharkey, Michael J., Janzen, Daniel H., Hallwachs, Winnie, Chapman, Eric G., Smith, M. Alex, Dapkey, Tanya, Brown, Allison, Ratnasingham, Sujeevan, Naik, Suresh, Manjunath, Ramya, Perez, Kate, Milton, Megan, Hebert, Paul, Shaw, Scott R., Kittel, Rebecca N., Solis, M. Alma, Metz, Mark A., Goldstein, Paul Z., Brown, John W., Quicke, Donald L. J., Achterberg, C. van, Brown, Brian V. & Burns, John M., 2021, Minimalist revision and description of 403 new species in 11 subfamilies of Costa Rican braconid parasitoid wasps, including host records for 219 species, ZooKeys 1013, pp. 1-665 : 1

Bioalfa Sharkey gen. nov. Figures 366 , 367 , 368

Type species.

Bioalfa pedroleoni Sharkey, sp. nov.

Description.

Female: Head. Antenna length approximately 1.5 × forewing length, with ca. 48 flagellomeres. Terminal flagellomere acuminate apically. Median flagellomeres transverse, ca. 2 × as long as wide. Face with oblique and transverse striation. Clypeus shallow, not protruding. Malar suture absent. Eye glabrous, large, and deeply emarginate, occupying entire height of head resulting in very small malar space. Eye strongly emarginated opposite antennal socket. Anterior tentorial pit large, very close to eye. Maxillary palp with six segments, all slender in female. Occipital carina complete dorsally, without dorsolateral posterior bulge, connecting to hypostomal carina ventrally. Mesosoma. Smooth and shiny. Notauli deeply impressed, meeting at the midline and 2/3 length of mesonotum; a single weak medial depression continues to the scuto-scutellar suture. Mesoscutal mid-pit absent. Scutellar sulcus wide with single strong mid-longitudinal carina. Epicnemial carina complete. Mesopleuron smooth with mostly widely spaced minute setiferous punctures; precoxal sulcus wide, almost entirely smooth with a few weak transverse carinae at midlength. Median area of metanotum without mid-longitudinal carina. Propodeum with one precurrent median carina or two weak diverging carinae defining a narrow, elongate medial area, otherwise, finely rugose with or without weak posterolateral depressions set off by weak carinae. Forewing. Crossvein m-cu weakly-curved, forming a slightly obtuse angle with 1Cub. First submarginal cell evenly setose. Second submarginal cell approximately twice as long as wide. 2RS and r-m not parallel. Crossvein 1cu-a postfurcal. First subdiscal cell rectangular. Subbasal cell evenly setose. Hind wing. Vein R short, as long as wide to ca. 2 × as long as wide. Veins M+Cu and 1-M approximately equal length. Vein RS strongly curved. Vein m-cu absent. Base of hind wing evenly setose. Legs shining, with sparse long setae. Legs. Apex of hind tibia with comb of specialized setae medially. Mid and hind tibial spurs strongly curved and glabrous. Claws with squared or slightly acute basal lobe. Metasoma. Tergites 1-3 finely longitudinally striate. First metasomal tergite elongate, strongly and angularly widened in front of sub-basal constriction; with dorsal carinae uniting almost immediately and forming a weak carina along midline almost indistinguishable from longitudinal striae. Second metasomal tergite with midlongitudinal carina arising from small, transverse basal triangular area. Tergites 3-5 with sharp lateral crease. Hypopygium large, ventrally moderately to strongly convex. Ovipositor straight or curved ventrally. All four known species have patterned wings and colorful (for Rogadinae ) bodies, suggesting diurnal activity. Male: As in the female but with swollen labial and maxillary palpi.

Biology.

Caterpillar hosts are known for two species, which are both external leaf-feeders in the family Uraniidae .

Distribution.

Neotropical rainforest, Costa Rica, Amazonian Colombia, and Peru.

Remarks.

Morphologically, the new genus displays a mixture of character states associated with the Colastomion - Cystomastax group of genera, i.e., the curved, glabrous tibial spurs, and the enlarged hypopygium. Bioalfa differs from all other genera in this group by the presence of squared to slightly acute basal lobes on the tarsal claws. DNA data (Quicke et al. unpublished) place it deeply within the Colastomion - Cystomastax complex and separate from other New World members.

Etymology.

The new genus Bioalfa , from “bioalfabetizacion,” is dedicated to Costa Rica’s brave and optimistic new concept of creating itself to be bioliterate about all of its wild Eukaryota biodiversity, through the combination of national sweat equity, international collaborations, political willpower, and DNA barcoding (c.f. https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/bold-project-hopes-to-dna-barcode-every-species-in-costa-rica/ and https://ibol.org/barcodebulletin/features/how-a-tropical-country-can-dna-barcode-itself/).

Figures

Figure 366. Bioalfa pedroleoni A, B, D-H holotype C paratype A lateral habitus B lateral habitus C wings D anterior head E dorsal head, mesosoma and terga 1 - 2 F tarsal claw G dorsal metasoma H hind tibial spurs.

Figure 367. Bioalfa alvarougaldei holotype A lateral head and mesosoma B lateral metasoma C wings D anterior head E lateral habitus F dorsal head and mesosoma G tarsal claw H hind tibial spurs I apex of hind tibia J metasomal terga 1 and 2 K apex of metasoma, dorsal view.

Figure 368. Bioalfa rodrigogamezi: A lateral habitus, arrows point to maxillary and labial palpi B lateral habitus C forewing.