Pseudoheptascelio Szabo

Johnson, Norman F. & Musetti, Luciana, 2011, Redescription and revision of the Neotropical genus Pseudoheptascelio Szabo (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae, Scelioninae), parasitoids of eggs of short-horned grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Acrididae), ZooKeys 136, pp. 93-112 : 94-96

Pseudoheptascelio Szabo

Pseudoheptascelio Szabó, 1966: 166 (original description. Type: Pseudoheptascelio muesebecki Szabó, by monotypy and original designation); Masner 1976: 18 (description, key to species); De Santis 1980: 315 (catalog of species of Brazil); Johnson 1992: 467 (catalog of world species); Loiácono and Margaría 2002: 558 (catalog of Brazilian species). urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:EF9EA824-0219-42C1-A057-055D8E11FE8 urn:lsid:biosci.ohio-state.edu:osuc_concepts:9625

Tanaoscelio Masner, 1972: 1213 (original description. Type: Tanaoscelio cornopis Masner, by monotypy and original designation); Masner 1976: 18 (junior synonym of Pseudoheptascelio Szabó).

Description.

Body length: 4.09-5.45 mm (n=81).

Head. Head shape in dorsal view: weakly transverse, width approximately 1.5 × greatest length. Hyperoccipital carina: absent. Occipital carina: present laterally, broadly interrupted medially. Occipital carina sculpture: crenulate. OOL: lateral ocellus nearly contiguous with inner orbits, OOL <0.5 OD. Upper portion of frons: convex, without frontal shelf. Scrobe shape: frons with shallow unmargined depression above toruli. Frons sculpture: areolate rugose, transversely striate within scrobe. Submedian carina: absent. Orbital carina: absent. Inner orbits: diverging ventrally. IOS/EH: IOS slightly less than EH. Interantennal process: rounded, strongly developed. Central keel: absent. Torulus opening: laterally on interantennal process. Lower frons striae: absent. Malar sulcus: present. Compound eye size: of normal proportions, not significantly reduced. Compound eye setation: sparsely setose. Gena: broad, convex, distinctly produced behind eye. Clypeus shape: transversely rectangular. Apical margin of clypeus: straight. Anteclypeus: present, delimited dorsally by raised carina. Postclypeus: present, strongly transverse. Labrum: not visible, hidden behind clypeus. Mandible shape: short, inconspicuous. Mandibular teeth: apex with 2, acute, subequal teeth. Arrangement of mandibular teeth: transverse. Number of maxillary palpomeres: 4. Shape of maxillary palpomeres: cylindrical. Number of labial palpomeres: 2.

Antenna. Number of antennomeres in female: 12. Number of antennomeres in male: 10. Insertion of radicle into A1: parallel to longitudinal axis of A1. Shape of A1: more or less cylindrical, not flattened. Length of A3 of female: distinctly longer than A2. Number of clavomeres in female antenna: 7. Claval formula of female antenna: A12-A7/1-2-2-2-2-2. Arrangement of doubled multiporous plate sensilla on female clava: in longitudinal pairs. Tyloid distribution on male antenna: A5 only. Shape of male flagellum: subclavate.

Mesosoma. Mesosoma shape in dorsal view: longer than wide. Mesosoma shape in lateral view: longer than high. Medial portion of transverse pronotal carina: weakly indicated laterally. Posterior apex of pronotum in dorsal view: straight, bifid apically to articulate with tegula. Vertical epomial carina: present. Dorsal epomial carina (corresponding to lateral portion of transverse pronotal carina of Vilhelmsen et al. 2010): present. Anterior face of pronotum: oblique, visible dorsally, short. Lateral face of pronotum: weakly concave below dorsal epomial carina. Netrion: present. Netrion shape: moderately wide, closed ventrally. Anterior portion of mesoscutum: vertical, flexed ventrally to meet pronotum. Mesoscutum shape: semielliptical, excavate at base of wings. Skaphion: absent. Notauli: present, percurrent. Parapsidal lines: absent. Admedial lines: absent. Transscutal articulation: well-developed, wide, bridged by 6-10 trabecula. Shape of mesoscutellum: quadrate to trapezoidal. Armature of mesoscutellum: axillula produced posteriorly into short, broad spines. Surface of mesoscutellum: convex anteriorly, depressed posteriorly. Median longitudinal furrow on mesoscutellum: absent. Shape of axillula: large, triangular, extending length of mesoscutellum. Metascutellum: clearly differentiated. Metascutellar armature: produced medially into short, shallowly bidentate process. Metapostnotum: not delimited externally. Extent of metasomal depression of propodeum: percurrent, extending anteriorly to anterior margin of propodeum. Lateral propodeal projection: well-developed, extending clearly beyond anterior margin of T1. Mesopleural carina: absent or strongly abbreviated, present only near mid coxa. Mesal portion of acetabular carina: projecting anteriorly, not separating fore coxae. Mesopleural pit: present. Sternaulus: absent. Posterodorsal corner of mesopleuron: rounded anteriorly.

Legs. Number of mid tibial spurs: 1. Number of hind tibial spurs: 1. Dorsal surface of hind coxa: smooth. Hind tibia shape: cylindrical, ecarinate. Trochantellus: indicated only as basal swelling of femur.

Wings. Wing development of female: macropterous. Wing development of male: macropterous. Tubular veins in fore wing: present. Bulla of fore wing R: absent. Extent of marginal venation of fore wing: R1 reaching and ending at costal margin. Origin of r-rs in fore wing: arising before (basad of) R/R1 attains costal margin. Development of basal vein (Rs+M) in fore wing: spectral. Development of R in hind wing: abbreviated, not attaining costal margin.

Metasoma. Number of externally visible terga in female: 6. Number of externally visible sterna in female: 6. Number of externally visible terga in male: 7. Number of externally visible sterna in male: 7. Shape of metasoma: lanceolate. Laterotergites: present, narrow. Laterosternites: present. T1 of female: raised medially into low, rectangular platform, laterally depressed. Relative size of metasomal tergites: T2-T4 largest, subequal in size. Terga with basal crenulae: T1-T3. Sublateral carinae on tergites: present on T1-T4. Median longitudinal carina on metasomal tergites: present T2-T3, variably extending beyond. Anterior margin of S1: protruding anteriorly as short sharp extension of median longitudinal carina of S1. Distribution of felt fields: present on S2, S3. Ovipositor type: Scelio-type ( Austin and Field 1997).

Diagnosis.

Within the tribe Scelionini s. str. the genera Pseudoheptascelio , Scelio , Sceliocerdo , and Synoditella have 10-segmented antennae in the male. Pseudoheptascelio may be separated from the vast majority of these species by the presence of short, hooklike axillular projections on the mesoscutellum, the medially produced metascutellum, the densely setose anterior margins of both the mesopleuron and metapleuron (Figs 2, 12, 18, 24), the rigid unflexed metasoma (Figs 1, 11, 17, 23), well-developed notauli (Figs 4, 14, 20, 26), the absence of fanlike striae arising from the base of the mandible (Figs 6, 15, 21, 27), and the broadly interrupted occipital carina (Figs 4, 14, 20, 26). At least one Neotropical species of Scelio has axillular points and a projecting metascutellum. Pseudoheptascelio may be distinguished from this by the posteriorly declivous mesoscutellum, distinct notauli, the presence of dense pilosity on the anterior margins of the meso- and metapleuron, the subclavate male antenna (Fig. 9), the elongate T2-T6 (clearly longer than wide), and the smooth transition of the lateral margins of T5-T7 and subclavate antenna in the male (Fig. 8).

Key to species