Temelucha minuta ( Morley 1912 )

Rousse, Pascal, Villemant, Claire & Seyrig, Andre, 2011, Ichneumonid wasps from Madagascar. V. Ichneumonidae Cremastinae, Zootaxa 3118, pp. 1-30 : 18-19

Temelucha minuta ( Morley 1912)

( Figs. 10 c–d)

Tarytia minuta Morley 1912: 175 ; Temelucha clausa Kerrich 1959: 50 Diagnosis. Temelucha minuta is easily recognizable due to its small size and the M+Cu vein of the fore wing basally spectral.

Description. FEMALE. L: 2.6 (2.4–2.9) (8 specimens).

Head. Strongly constricted behind eyes; temples short and rounded. Vertex, frons and face granulate. Clypeus transverse (Ci = 1.8), malar space rather long (MLMi = 1.0). Ocellar triangle wide (IOi = 1.6; OOi = 0.6). Pedicellus almost as large as scape. Flagellum with 20–21 flagellomeres.

Mesosoma . Pronotum medially granulate. Mesonotum and scutellum very densely punctate-shagreened, matt. Pleurae and propodeum shining with sparser punctuation. Speculum sparsely puncto-striate. Area basalis truncate, area superomedia hardly delimited apically, area petiolaris transversally wrinkled. Wing venation hardly pigmented. Forewing with M+Cu spectral and marginal cell very short, so that vein Rs+2r is shorter than the posterior internal edge of pterostigma.

Metasoma. Petiole rounded in section, sternite entirely fused with tergite so whole ventral face uniformly smooth and polished; postpetiole slightly swollen; glymma weakly impressed. Tergite I shining, postpetiole aciculate. Tergites 2 and 3 alutaceous. Ovipositor long (OTi = 1.7–2.0).

Color. Head yellow, with at least frons, ocellar triangle, vertex, occiput, posterior half of temple black. Center of face yellow or marked with brown. Antennae brown, scape and pedicel yellow ventrally. Mesosoma predominantly black brown. Yellow: postero-dorsal corner of pronotum, antero-lateral margin of mesoscutum, notaulus, tegula, subalar margin of mesopleuron, fore and middle coxa, ventral margins of hind coxa. Leg yellowish, darker at apex. Metasomal tergites dark reddish, sternites yellow. Wings hyaline, pterostigma light brown, translucent.

MALE. 2.5 (2.4–2.7) (5 specimens). Similar to female. Ocelli wide and prominent, lateral ocelli close to eyes (IOi = 1.7, OOi = 0.3). Face entirely yellow.

Host records. Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller) , Stomopterix subsecivella (Zeller) ( Lepidoptera : Gelechiidae ), Cydia critica (Meyrick) ( Lepidoptera , Tortricidae ) and Etiella behrii (Zeller) ( Lepidoptera : Pyralidae ) (Gauld 1980).

Comments. The coloration is known to be highly variable in this widespread species, which is a common parasitoid of P. operculella , the potato tuber moth (Gauld 1980). The darkest Malagasy specimens have extensive brown markings on the face so that the anterior half of genae and mesoscutum may be almost entirely black. Lighter specimens have yellow notauli and the mesopleura with a yellow longitudinal band.

Distribution records. Australia, Cyprus, India, Seychelles, Thailand. Madagascar (new record): Toliara, Antananarivo and Toamasina provinces.

Material examined. 4ƤƤ 43 ( MNHN EY 6057 à EY 6064), Bekily [Ampandrandava], March and July 1933 ( MNHN EY 6057–58), September 1936 ( MNHN EY 6059–60) and 1938 ( MNHN EY 6061 à EY 6064); 2ƤƤ 13 ( MNHN EY 6065 à EY 6067), Ankaratra (1800m), February 1939 ( MNHN EY 6065), 1941 ( MNHN EY 6066), March 1932 ( MNHN EY 6067); 1Ƥ ( MNHN EY 6068), Ranomafana, October 1938; 1Ƥ ( MNHN EY 6069), Ambositra, February 1934.

Figures

FIGURE 10. a – b Temelucha basiornata (Cameron); c – d: Temelucha minuta (Morley); e – f: Temelucha picta (Holmgren) (left: habitus, right: face).