Oodera punctulata Rahmani and Rakhshani, 2023

Rahmani, Zahra, Rakhshani, Ehsan, Lotfalizadeh, Hossein & Mokhtari, Azizollah, 2023, New findings of Cleonymidae and Ooderidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) in Iran, with description of a new species of Oodera Westwood, Journal of Natural History (Oxford, England) 57 (9 - 12), pp. 710-723 : 716-720

Oodera punctulata Rahmani and Rakhshani sp. nov.

( Figures 3 , 4 )

Material examined

Holotype. ♀ ( DPPZ), Iran, Sistan-o Baluchestan province , Zabol (31.036°N, 61.537°W, 480 m a.s.l.), Malaise trap, 15 March 2016, M. Enayatnia leg.

Paratypes. 1♀, 1J (both DPPZ), Iran, Kermanshah province, Bayangan, Dodan (35.012°N, 46.207°W 954 m a.s.l.), Malaise trap, 7 July 2016, M. Zardouei Heydari leg .

Remarks

Oodera punctulata is uniquely differentiated from all other described Oodera by the face being minutely punctulate along the inner eye margin from the corona to gena, over about the outer half of the parascrobal region, the inner part along the scrobal margin being rugose-punctate ( Figure 4 (a)). Females are similar to those of O. longicollis (Cameron, 1903) in that the ovipositor is longer than 0.25× the length of the metasoma but the face of O. longicollis is transversely striate from the parascrobal area at the lower third of eye height to the margin of clypeus. The structure of the corona of O. punctulata is ′continuous̍ sensu Werner and Peters (2018), with distinctly rectangular areas between the horizontal crests, whereas it is ′square̍ in O. longicollis . The forewing is hyaline in O. punctulata , whereas it is partly infumated in O. longicollis .

On the basis of the corona shape (length/width, see Werner and Peters 2018), O. punctulata falls into a species group with a ′thick̍ corona that includes all the recently described Oodera species from the Arabian Peninsula ( Soliman et al. 2019), ie O. arabica Gadallah and Soliman, 2019 , O. omanensis Soliman and Gadallah, 2019 , O. rapuzzii Soliman and Gadallah, 2019 and O. similis Gadallah and Soliman, 2019 . Females of O. punctulata are readily separated from these by the ovipositor being longer than 0.4× the length of the metasoma, whereas in all other species with thickened corona other than O. gracilis Westwood, 1874 it is less than 0.25× metasoma. Females of O. gracilis have the ovipositor distinctly longer than the metasoma and the species is restricted to Indonesia (West Papua).

Description

Female ( Figures 3 (a), 4). Body length 9.5 mm (4.5 mm in the paratype), excluding the ovipositor; forewing 5.9 mm (3 mm in the paratype).

Colour. Head capsule metallic blue with green reflections in the margins ( Figures 4 (a–c)); eyes pale reddish ( Figure 4 (a)); ocelli yellow ( Figure 4 (b)); mandibles, including teeth, black ( Figure 4 (a)); antenna dark brown except base of scape brown ( Figure 4 (a)); pronotum metallic blue and black ( Figure 4 (d)); mesoscutum black, laterally metallic blue and basally metallic green ( Figure 4 (d)); anterior half of axillae metallic blue, posterior half black, mesoscutellum purple except slightly metallic green and blue basally ( Figure 4 (d)); tegula brown; propodeum black with cupreous tinge, except laterally metallic blue ( Figure 4 (f)); metasoma blackish with large metallic-coloured spots laterally ( Figure 3 (a)); legs with coxae and femora brown except profemur blue and brown to green, tarsi bright brown, claws dark brown; wings hyaline, venation and stigma brown ( Figure 4 (e)).

Head. Head with scattered setae; the face minutely punctulate along the inner eye margin from the corona to gena, over about the outer half of the parascrobal region, the inner part along the scrobal margin rugose-punctate ( Figure 4 (a)), with corona 3.33× as long as wide (3.0× in paratype); in frontal view 1.28× (1.1× in paratype) wider than high ( Figure 4 (a)), and in dorsal view, width 1.88× (1.55× in paratype) length ( Figure 4 (b)); POL 2.33× OOL ( Figure 4 (b)); scrobes long and deep, visible in dorsal view ( Figure 4 (a)); scape 3.16× (2.5× in paratype) longer than pedicel, not reaching median ocellus ( Figure 4 (a)); apical segment of maxillary palp rounded. Eye in lateral view ovate with anterior and posterior margins not sinuous; in lateral view eye height 1.48× length (1.22× in paratype) and 2.3× length malar space (2.2× in paratype) ( Figure 4 (c)).

Mesosoma. Pronotum alutaceous with dense setae; in dorsal view pentagonal, widest medially and narrowed towards mesoscutum, as long as wide, and 0.52× (0.51× in paratype) length of mesonotum ( Figure 4 (d)); mesoscutum with dense setae, reticulate except posterior 1/3 strigate, 1.08× (1.09× in paratype) as long as wide ( Figure 4 (d)); mesonotum 1.35× (1.33× in paratype) as long as mesoscutum ( Figure 4 (d)); mesoscutum with anterior half of axillae longitudinally strigose, posterior half finely reticulate; mesoscutellum 0.71× (0.70× in paratype) as long as wide ( Figure 4 (d)), with scattered setae and longitudinally strigose; propodeum 0.31× as long as mesoscutellum (0.30× in paratype), longitudinally carinate, with callus rugose punctate with patches of dense whitish setae. Forewing 3.4× (3.1× in paratype) as long as wide; costal cell 0.37× (0.35× in paratype) as long as forewing; marginal vein 0.92× length of postmarginal vein (0.91× in paratype), and 5.5× length of stigmal vein (5× in paratype); postmarginal vein 6× as long as stigmal vein (5.75× in paratype) ( Figure 4 (e)). Profemur 2.11× as long as wide (2.05× in paratype) and 1.48× length of protibia (1.40× in paratype).

Metasoma. Gt 1 to Gt 4 with posterior margins emarginate, Gt 1 to Gt 5 with patches of dense whitish setae laterally; ovipositor 0.43× as long as metasoma (0.4× in paratype) ( Figure 3 (a)).

Male ( Figure 3 (b)). Body length 5.5 mm. Similar to female except longer propodeum and shorter metasoma.

Biology. Unknown.

Distribution

Iran.

Etymology

The name refers to the large region of punctulations along the inner eye margin from the corona to the gena, which differentiates this species from other Oodera species.

Key to the known species of the genus Oodera in Iran (female)

1- The face minutely punctulate along the inner eye margin from the corona to the gena ( Figure 4 (a)). Forewing hyaline ( Figure 4 (e)). Mesosoma with distinct metallic blue, green and violet areas ( Figure 4 (d)). Ovipositor longer than 0.25× length of metasoma ( Figure 3 (a)) ................................................. Oodera punctulata Rahmani and Rakhshani

- Face completely reticulate ( Figure 5 (a, b)). The forewing partly infumate ( Figure 5 (c)). Mesosoma not brightly coloured ( Figure 5 (c)). Ovipositor less than 0.25× length of metasoma ( Figure 5 (c)) ........................................... .......................................... Oodera formosa

Figures

Figure 3. Oodera punctulata, habitus in lateral view: (a) female; (b) male.

Figure 4. Oodera punctulata ♀: (a) head in frontal view; (b) head in dorsal view; (c) head in lateral view; (d) mesosoma in dorsal view; (e) forewing venation; (f) propodeum in dorsal view.

Figure 5. Oodera formosa ♀: (a) head in frontal view; (b) head in lateral view; (c) habitus in dorsal view.