Fidiobia polita Buhl, 1998

Popovici, Ovidiu Alin, Masner, Lubomir, Lahey, Zachary & Talamas, Elijah, 2022, Revision of the Palearctic species of Fidiobia Ashmead (Hymenoptera, Platygastroidea), Journal of Hymenoptera Research 92, pp. 23-144 : 23

16. Fidiobia polita Buhl, 1998

Figs 153-158 , 159-164 , 297 , 313

Fidiobia polita Buhl, 1998: 298; Buhl 1999a: 18; Evans and Peña 2005: 62; Popovici and Buhl 2010: 1154.

Description.

Female. Body length: 0.5-0.6 mm. Colour of body: melanic (Figs 153 , 154 , 159 ).

Head (Figs 155 , 156 , 163 ). Colour of head: dark brown. Sculpture of head: reticulate-coriaceous. Sculpture of occiput: transverse reticulate coriaceous. Ocellar prominence: absent. Preocellar depression: absent. Paraocellar depressions: present. OOL / ocellar diameter: OOL equal with ocellar diameter. Orientation of lower half of inner orbits: almost parallel. Sculpture of frons immediately anterior to ocellus: smooth, reticulate-coriaceous. Sculpture of frons immediately dorsal to toruli: the same as the sculpture on the rest of frons, but more transverse. Epitorular carina: present. Distance between toruli: equal to the transverse diameter of torulus. Setation of clypeus: two setae. Malar sulcus: absent. Antenna (Fig. 157 ). Colour of A1: light brown. Colour of clava: almost similar to the rest of the antenna. Number of antennomeres: nine. Shape of A1: more or less cylindrical. Ventral (inner) lamella on A1: present as a trace in the apical part of A1. Length of A3 of female: distinctly shorter than A2. Sensillar formula (A7:A8:A9): 2:2:1.

Mesosoma (Figs 155 ; 156 ). Colour of mesosoma: brown. Mesosoma: weakly compressed dorsoventrally. Pronotum in dorsal view: narrow, collarlike. Transverse pronotal sulcus: present as a narrow groove along anterior rim of pronotum. Posteroventral end of transverse pronotal sulcus: not dilated. Lateral pronotal area: sculptured only on the dorsal half. Antero-admedian line: absent. Mesoscutum: weakly convex. Parapsidal lines: present. Sculpture of internotaular area: absent. Notauli: absent. Shape of notauli: NA. Outer edge of notauli: NA. Orientation of inner edge of notauli: NA. Length of notauli: NA. Length of notaulus / maximum width of notaulus: NA. Distance between notauli: NA. Transscutal articulation: complete. Scuto-scutellar sulcus: absent. Fovea on scuto-scutellar sulcus: NA. Mesoscutellum: weakly convex. Shape of mesoscutellum: subrectangular. Axillular carina: posterior apex of axillular carinae touching the posterior edge of mesoscutellum. Axilloaxillular carina: present. Sculpture of mesoscutellum: absent. Posterior mesoscutellar sulcus: absent. Metascutellum: not visible, covered by mesoscutellum. Metascutellar carina: absent. Width of metasomal depression: greater than the length of lateral propodeal carina. Median carina between lateral propodeal carinae: absent. Transverse carina between lateral propodeal carinae: present. Foamy structure on transverse carina between lateral propodeal carinae: present. Foamy structure on metasomal depression: absent. Lateral propodeal carinae: parallel. Foamy structure on lateral propodeal carina: present only on the posterior half of the vertical part. Plica: not visible. Posterior end of plica: NA. Foamy structure on plica: NA. Foamy structure on metapleural carina: present on the entire carina. Foamy structure on ventral metapleural area: present. Setation of dorsal metapleural area: sparse, long setae on posterodorsal half. Setation of ventral metapleural area: sparse, long setae on posteroventral half. Longitudinal striation on dorsal mesopleuron: present. Transepisternal line: absent. Mesopleural carina: present. Metapleural sulcus: present, incomplete. Wings (Fig. 158a, b ): macropterous. Apex of fore wing: rounded. Colour of fore wing: infuscate. Transverse brown band on fore wing: absent. Submarginal vein in fore wing: present. Length of submarginal vein in fore wing: not surpassing basal 1/4 of fore wing. Spectral veins on fore wing: absent. Marginal setae of fore wing: present, well visible. Disc of fore wing: with spinulose microtrichia. Legs. Colour of fore tibia: brown, with lighter basal and apical ends. Colour of fore tarsus: light brown. Colour of middle femora: brown with lighter basal and apical ends. Colour of middle tibiae: brown with lighter basal and apical ends. Colour of middle tarsus: light brown. Colour of hind femora: brown with lighter basal and apical ends. Colour of hind tibiae: brown with lighter basal and apical ends. Colour of hind tarsus: light brown.

Metasoma (Figs 153 ; 159 ): posterior of T2 some or all tergites may be retracted under T2. Shape of T1: trapezoidal. Colour of T1: brown. Lateral setae of T1: 2 pairs. Colour of T2: brown. Shape of T2: transverse. Anterior pits of T2: distinctly separated. Sculpture of T2, lateral to anterior pits of T2: absent. Colour of T3-T5: the same as T2.

Male. unknown.

Material examined.

14♀. Estonia : 1♀, 1,5 km NE Sööru, 58.65063°N, 26.88531°E, 3-10.vi.2011, leg. Soon V. (OPPC0547).

Greece: 1♀, Kerkini lake Natural Park , Kerkini Mts., 41.28642°N, 23.20147°E, 4.v.2010, leg. Popovici O. and Fusu L. (SN) (OPPC0580) .

Hungary: 5♀, Örseg, Nemzeti Park, Lugosy Valley, 46.9°N, 16.45°E, 28.vi.2010, leg. Noyes JS. (SS) (OPPC0817, 0584, 0585, 0587, 0586) .

Romania: 1♀, Iași, Ciric , 47.24333°N, 27.57927°E, 20.v.2006, leg. Popovici O. and Moglan I. (SN) (OPPC0798) .

Sweden: Holotype ♀, (Figs 159-164 ) (ZMUC).

Non-type materia.

2♀, Småland, Asa, 57.16667°N, 14.78333°E, 5-6.vii.2007, leg. Shevtsova E. (OPPC0738, 0732).

Ukraine: 2♀, Mochary reg., 5 km NE of Bogorodchany, 48.84755°N, 24.59081°E, 16.vi-14.vii.2014, leg. Varga O. (OPPC0055, 0140); 1♀, Mochary reg., 5 km NE of Bogorodchany, 48.84755°N, 24.59081°E, 8-14.vi.2015, leg. Varga O. (OPPC0186).

Distribution.

Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Sweden, Ukraine (Fig. 313 ).

Biology.

unknown.

Diagnosis.

Fidiobia polita is distinct among the Palearctic species of this genus with 9-merous antennae and without notauli because T2 is transverse or about as long as wide and the OOL is about as long as an OD (OOL 0.8-1.2 times as long as OD). Of the Palearctic fauna, F. polita is most similar to F. politoides and differs in the length of the fore wing marginal setae (long marginal setae in F. polita and very short marginal setae in F. politoides ). According to the studied material these species are allopatric.

In the European fauna, F. polita is similar to F. hofferi but differs by the notauli (which are present in F. hofferi and absent in F. polita ) and by the ratio OOL:OD (OOL = 2OD in F. hofferi and OOL = OD in F. polita ). Because of the small size of both species, and because in some specimens of F. hofferi the notauli are superficial, the presence of notauli can be difficult to observe. Minor differences can also be observed in the structure of the antenna: A3 is shorter than A4 and the junction between A2 and A3 is narrow in F. polita , but in F. hofferi A3 is almost as long as A4 and the junction between A2 and A3 is large. In F. polita , A5 has the same shape as A4 (globular or moniliform), but in F. hofferi A5 it is more transverse than A4. The study of these characters requires examination of the antenna on a microscopic slide.

Comments.

In our material, the specimens from Sweden (type locality) are very similar to the specimen from Estonia. The specimen from Greece is the smallest, relatively weakly sclerotized and, in connection with this, the color of body is lighter than in the rest of the specimens. However, there are no characters to reliably separate it. Also, the Romanian specimen is slightly larger than the rest of the specimens examined.

Figures

Figures 153 - 158. Fidiobia polita: 153 habitus, dorsal view (OPPC 0738) 154 habitus, lateral view 155 head and mesosoma, lateral view 156 head and mesosoma, dorsal view 157 antenna (♀) (OPPC 0738) 158 a wings (OPPC 0738) 158 b WIP.

Figures 159 - 164. Holotype of Fidiobia polita: 159 habitus, dorsal view 160 habitus, lateral view 161 mesosoma, dorsal view 162 mesosoma, lateral view 163 head and antenna 164 labels.

Figures 290 - 297. SEM o Fidiobia spp.: 290, 291, 292 F. hofferi 293 F. sashai 294, 295 F. synergorum 296 F. filicornis 297 F. flaviabdominalis.

Figures 313 - 315. Geographical distribution of: 313 F. polita 314 F. politoides 315 F. pronotata (Blue area-data from Buhl et al. 2016 and Kozlov 1987. Red area: our data).