Heterospilus richardsi Marsh & Melo

Marsh, Paul M., Wild, Alexander L. & Whitfield, James B., 2013, The Doryctinae (Braconidae) of Costa Rica: genera and species of the tribe Heterospilini, ZooKeys 347, pp. 1-474 : 273-274

Heterospilus richardsi Marsh & Melo Figure 186

Heterospilus richardsi Marsh & Melo, 1999: 20.

Female.

Body size: 2.5-3.0 mm. Color: body brown, head slightly lighter; scape yellow without lateral brown stripe, flagellum brown; wing veins including stigma brown; legs yellow. Head: vertex granulate; frons granulate; face weakly granulate or smooth; temple in dorsal view narrow, sloping behind eye, width less than 1/2 eye width; malar space greater than 1/4 eye height; ocell-ocular distance 2.5 times diameter of lateral ocellus; 21-24 flagellomeres. Mesosoma: mesoscutal lobes granulate; notauli scrobiculate, meeting at scutellum in small triangular costate area; scutellum weakly granulate or smooth; prescutellar furrow with 3 cross carinae; mesopleuron granulate; precoxal sulcus weakly scrobiculate, shorter than mesopleuron; venter granulate; propodeum with basal median areas margined, granulate, basal median carina absent, areola not distinctly margined, areolar area areolate-rugose, lateral areas entirely rugose. Wings: fore wing vein r shorter than vein 3RSa, vein 1cu-a beyond vein 1M; hind wing vein SC+R absent, vein M+CU shorter than vein 1M. Metasoma: first tergum longitudinally costate, length slightly greater than apical width; second tergum longitudinally costate, with raised smooth semicircular area medially at base; anterior transverse groove present, straight; posterior transverse groove present; third tergum costate-granulate basally, weakly granulate apically; terga 4-7 very weakly granulate and shining, appearing smooth in lower magnification; ovipositor as long as or longer than metasoma.

Specimens examined.

2 ♀♀, Costa Rica, Heredia, Estacion Biol. La Selva. Also recorded from Brazil.

Biology.

Reared from nests of Spilonema alini Antropov in Brazil and Microstigmus sp. in Costa Rica ( Hymenoptera : Sphecidae ) ( Marsh and Melo 1999).

Comments.

The brown body color, brown flagellum and the raised smooth semicircular area at base of metasomal tergum 2 are distinctive for this species.