Scelio philippinensis Ashmead

Yoder, Matthew J., Valerio, Alejandro A., Polaszek, Andrew, Noort, Simon van, Masner, Lubomir & Johnson, Norman F., 2014, Monograph of the Afrotropical species of Scelio Latreille (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae), egg parasitoids of acridid grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Acrididae), ZooKeys 380, pp. 1-188 : 104-106

Scelio philippinensis Ashmead Figures 18, 239-244; Morphbank 55

Scelio philippinensis Ashmead, 1905: 963 (original description); Kieffer 1908: 126 (keyed); Kieffer 1914: 289 (keyed); Kieffer 1926: 310, 321 (description, keyed); Timberlake 1932: 157 (diagnosis); Masner and Muesebeck 1968: 45 (type information).

Scelio (Scelio) philippinensis Ashmead: Kieffer 1910: 74 (subgeneric assignment).

Description.

Female body length: 3.32-4.06 mm (n=15). Male body length: 3.46-4.00 mm (n=2). Color of pilosity of dorsal head in female: golden to brown. Occipital carina in female: percurrent. Color of pilosity of the frons below the anterior ocellus in female: predominantly white; predominantly golden to brown. Pilosity of eye in female: absent. Medial keel on interantennal process: absent. Width of lower gena in lateral view: wide, posterior margin of lower half of gena parallel to posterior orbit. Genal carina: absent. Color of genal pilosity: white. Color of scape in female: brown to dark brown throughout. Surface of the pronotal nucha in female: predominantly smooth. Color of pilosity of pronotal shoulder in female: golden to dark brown, concolorous with that of mesoscutum. Sculpture of medial mesoscutum in female: predominantly with rounded cells. Color of pilosity of mesoscutum in female: predominantly light brown to brown. Notaulus in female: not delimited. Notaulus in male: not delimited. Form of axillular carina in female: small, not particularly expanded or projected from the lateral edge of the mesoscutellum. Pilosity of propodeal nucha: present. Pilosity of netrion: present. Surface of mesopleural depression in female: sculptured throughout. Form of ventral margin of villus in female: very slightly concave, almost straight. Color of coxae in female: brown. Color of hind femur: dark brown throughout. Color of hind tibia: yellow at extreme base, otherwise light brown. Fore wing length in female: apex between anterior margin of T5 and posterior margin of T6. Color of metasoma: entirely dark brown. Sculpture of laterotergites in female: predominantly smooth. Pilosity of laterotergites in female: present. Sculpture of medial T1 in female: most prominent elements predominantly longitudinal. Sculpture of medial T2 in female: most prominent elements predominantly longitudinal. Pattern of sculpture on T3-T5 in female: predominantly longitudinally striate. Color of pilosity on lateral T3-T5 in female: predominantly white; predominantly golden to brown. Lateral profile of T6 in female: vertically sloped in posterior half. Sculpture of T6 in female: predominantly rugulose to reticulate. Sculpture of lateral metasomal sternal bar in female: predominantly smooth to slightly irregularly rugose. Distribution of felt fields: 2 pairs present (S2, S3).

Diagnosis.

Easily differentiated from all other Afrotropical howardi-group species by the setose netrion and the sparsely setose anterior of the propodeal nucha.

Link to distribution map.

http://hol.osu.edu/map-large.html?id=5303

Associations.

Emerged from Oxya Serville [ Orthoptera : Acrididae ].

Material examined.

Holotype, male, PHILIPPINES: Manila, R. Brown, USNM no. 8336 (deposited in USNM). Other material: (15 females, 2 males) CAMEROON: 1 female, OSUC 212920 (CNCI). CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: 6 females, OSUC 213315, 213638, 213920, 214194, 244017, 254658 (SAMC). GUINEA: 1 female, 1 male, OSUC 211270-211271 (CNCI). IVORY COAST: 7 females, OSUC 213073, 213077, 213220, 213224, 213242-213243 (CNCI); OSUC 142590 (OSUC). MOZAMBIQUE: 1 male, OSUC 213106 (CNCI).

Comments.

We here adopt a broad concept of Scelio philippinensis which includes both African and Oriental specimens. While specimens from the two regions can be consistently distinguished on the basis of coxal color–Africa: brown, Oriental: yellow–we found no other corroborating morphological characters. We suspect that it will be necessary to adopt molecular or morphometric approaches to further test species boundaries of this taxon. Scelio philippinensis is highly atypical for Afrotropical Scelio in general. The setae of the anterior propodeal nucha are not seen in any other species of African Scelio . The color of the pilosity of the frons and the lateral metasoma is difficult to interpret due to its short length and narrow width. It appears that there is some variation, with individuals possessing either predominantly white or predominantly brown pilosity. The sculpture of the lateral metasomal sternal bar is variable: in some individuals the surface is more or less smooth, in others only a thin smooth strip is present ventrally.