Apanteles anapiedrae Fernandez-Triana

Fernandez-Triana, Jose L., Whitfield, James B., Rodriguez, Josephine J., Smith, M. Alex, Janzen, Daniel H., Hallwachs, Winnie D., Hajibabaei, Mehrdad, Burns, John M., Solis, M. Alma, Brown, John, Cardinal, Sophie, Goulet, Henri & Hebert, Paul D. N., 2014, Review of Apantelessensu stricto (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica, with keys to all described species from Mesoamerica, ZooKeys 383, pp. 1-565 : 81-82

Apanteles anapiedrae Fernandez-Triana sp. n. Figs 67, 257

Apanteles Rodriguez156 ( Smith et al. 2006). Interim name provided by the authors.

Type locality.

COSTA RICA, Alajuela, ACG, Sector San Cristobal, Finca San Gabriel, 645m, 10.87766, -85.39343.

Holotype.

♀ in CNC. Specimen labels: 1. COSTA RICA, ACG, Sector San Cristobal, Finca S. Gabriel, 645m, DHJPAR0039721.

Paratypes.

17 ♀, 5 ♂ (BMNH, CNC, INBIO, INHS, NMNH). COSTA RICA, Alajuela, ACG database codes: DHJPAR0039721, 09-SRNP-3890, 10-SRNP-1054.

Description.

Female. Body color: body mostly dark except for some sternites which may be pale. Antenna color: scape and/or pedicel pale, flagellum dark. Coxae color (pro-, meso-, metacoxa): dark, dark, dark. Femora color (pro-, meso-, metafemur): anteriorly dark/posteriorly pale, dark, dark. Tibiae color (pro-, meso-, metatibia): pale, pale, dark. Tegula and humeral complex color: both dark. Pterostigma color: dark. Fore wing veins color: mostly dark (a few veins may be unpigmented). Antenna length/body length: antenna shorter than body (head to apex of metasoma), not extending beyond anterior 0.7 metasoma length. Body in lateral view: distinctly flattened dorso–ventrally. Body length (head to apex of metasoma): 2.0 mm or less. Fore wing length: 2.0 mm or less. Ocular–ocellar line/posterior ocellus diameter: 2.6 or more. Interocellar distance/posterior ocellus diameter: 1.4-1.6. Antennal flagellomerus 2 length/width: 2.0-2.2. Antennal flagellomerus 14 length/width: 1.4-1.6. Length of flagellomerus 2/length of flagellomerus 14: 1.7-1.9. Tarsal claws: simple. Metafemur length/width: 2.5 or less. Metatibia inner spur length/metabasitarsus length: 0.4-0.5. Anteromesoscutum: mostly smooth or with shallow sparse punctures, except for anterior 0.3 where it has deeper and/or denser punctures. Mesoscutellar disc: mostly smooth. Number of pits in scutoscutellar sulcus: 11 or 12. Maximum height of mesoscutellum lunules/maximum height of lateral face of mesoscutellum: 0.2-0.3. Propodeum areola: partially defined by carinae on posterior 0.3-0.5 of its length, widely open anteriorly. Propodeum background sculpture: mostly sculptured. Mediotergite 1 length/width at posterior margin: 2.3-2.5. Mediotergite 1 shape: slightly widening from anterior margin to 0.7-0.8 mediotergite length (where maximum width is reached), then narrowing towards posterior margin. Mediotergite 1 sculpture: with some sculpture near lateral margins and/or posterior 0.2-0.4 of mediotergite. Mediotergite 2 width at posterior margin/length: 2.8-3.1. Mediotergite 2 sculpture: mostly smooth. Outer margin of hypopygium: inflexible (without a folded, transparent, semi–desclerotized area); with no pleats visible. Ovipositor thickness: anterior width at most 2.0 × posterior width (beyond ovipositor constriction) (?). Ovipositor sheaths length/metatibial length: 0.4-0.5. Length of fore wing veins r/2RS: 1.4-1.6. Length of fore wing veins 2RS/2M: 0.8 or less. Length of fore wing veins 2 M/(RS+M)b: 1.1-1.3. Pterostigma length/width: 3.1-3.5. Point of insertion of vein r in pterostigma: about half way point length of pterostigma. Angle of vein r with fore wing anterior margin: more or less perpendicular to fore wing margin. Shape of junction of veins r and 2RS in fore wing: strongly angulated, sometimes with a knob.

Male. As in female.

Molecular data.

Sequences in BOLD: 6, barcode compliant sequences: 6.

Biology/ecology.

Gregarious (Fig. 257). Hosts: Tortricidae , Aesiocopa necrofolia .

Distribution.

Costa Rica, ACG.

Etymology.

We dedicate this species to Ana Piedra in recognition of her diligent efforts for the ACG Programa de Educacion Biológica.

Comments.

Apanteles anapiedrae shares with the diatraeae and guadaluperodriguezae groups a somewhat depressed body (dorso-ventrally), short antenna, and relatively small body size; however, it has an inflexible (unfolded) hypopygium without any pleats, a very small smooth area on lateral face of scutellum (0.2 × as high as maximum height of lateral face), and parasitizes a completely different group of Lepidoptera . The sculpture of propodeum and the areola shape are similar to species of the diatraeae group (but the latter group has a pleated hypopygium, a longer ovipositor, and the smooth area on lateral face of scutellum is at least 0.5 × as high as maximum height of lateral face). Apanteles anapiedrae does not resemble typical species of Apanteles because of its propodeal areola and unpleated hypopygium. It is likely to represent a derived species-group within Apanteles , or it might be placed in another genus. Pending further study of worldwide genera of Microgastrinae , we decided to describe the species under Apanteles because is the closest match at the moment.