Centistoides van Achterberg, 1992

Belokobylskij, Sergey A., Vasilenko, Dmitry V. & Perkovsky, Evgeny E., 2024, The first reliable fossil record of the tribe Centistini (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Euphorinae): a new subgenus and species of braconid wasp in Danish amber, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 97, pp. 15-27 : 15

Genus Centistoides van Achterberg, 1992

Type species.

Centistoides doesburgi van Achterberg, 1992, by monotypy and original designation.

Notes.

This small Madagascan-Neotropical genus includes two extant species, Centistoides doesburgi van Achterberg, 1992 from Suriname ( van Achterberg 1992) and C. ophthalmicus (Granger, 1949) from Madagascar, a species that was only recently transferred to this genus from Centistes ( Belokobylskij 2018).

The Eastern Palaearctic genus Asiacentistes Belokobylskij also has two extant species, A. alekseevi (Belokobylskij, 1992) and A. sinicus Chen & Belokobylskij, 2001 ( Belokobylskij 1995; Chen et al. 2001), and is very similar to Centistoides . The differences between these taxa are given in the key above.

Documented here the first reliable fossil member of the tribe Centistini s. l. is found in Danish amber, and it possesses a distinctly sclerotised mediocubital vein (M+CU1) of the fore wing. On the basis of all visible characters of this amber inclusion (for example, malar suture absent, apical antennal segment with distinct distal spine, ovipositor apically without lobe, ovipositor sheath thin and elongate in posterior view, sparsely setose apically) it was placed in the genus Centistoides ; however, this specimen has some features that necessitated a separate subgenus for it within Centistoides .

A short redescription of the genus Centistoides and descriptions of the new subgenus as well as the new fossil species are given below.

Diagnosis of the genus.

Occipital carina absent dorsally, only developed on lateral and ventral parts of temple, joining hypostomal carina above base of mandible. Ocelli distinctly enlarged. Eye large. Malar suture absent, but sometimes present short malar groove. Mandible strongly twisted apically. Palpi short, maxillary palpus 3-5-segmented, labial palpus 1-2-segmented. Antenna weakly setiform, apical segment of antenna with distinct distal spine. Mesosoma short and high. Notauli completely absent. Prescutellar depression usually entirely smooth or weakly rugulose, without or only with medial carina. Prepectal carina complete. Mesopleuron mainly smooth; precoxal sulcus absent. Metapleural flange absent or very short. Propodeum without or with weak areolation, with incomplete or complete posterior areola. Radial (marginal) cell of fore wing distinctly shortened. Discoidal (discal) cell usually sessile; petiole (1-SR) absent. First abscissa of medial vein (1-SR+M) of fore wing present. Recurrent vein (m-cu) antefurcal. Mediocubital vein (M+CUl) entirely sclerotized and pigmented. In hind wing, second abscissa of mediocubital vein (1-M) much shorter than first abscissa (M+CU) and shorter than basal vein (r-m). Hind coxa large and subround. Fore femur usually more robust than hind femur. Tarsal claws robust, distinctly curved apically, simple. First metasomal tergite wide and short, almost parallel-sided or weakly narrowed behind spiracles, smooth, without dorsope. Second metasomal tergite smooth; second suture usually absent. Ovipositor strongly compressed, strongly curved and without armament and ventral lobe apically. Ovipositor sheath short, wide, flattened, truncate apically.