Tycherus amatola Rousse & van Noort

Rousse, Pascal, van Noort, Simon & Diller, E., 2013, Revision of the Afrotropical Phaeogenini (Ichneumonidae, Ichneumoninae), with description of a new genus and twelve new species, ZooKeys 354, pp. 1-85 : 73-75

Tycherus amatola Rousse & van Noort sp. n. Figs 44-45

Type material.

HOLOTYPE. Female: South Africa, Hogsback, Amatola Mts, C. P., R. F. Lawrence, Feb. 1933, SAM–HYM–P 05530 (SAMC).

Diagnosis.

Head mostly yellow, dorsally black; mesosoma black and reddish with pale yellow stripes; metasoma mostly dark reddish to dark brown; head and body mostly punctate to puncto–striate, all metasomal tergites finely punctate; face laterally delimited by two wide oblique sulci; clypeus short, strongly transverse; scutellum moderately punctate; propodeum transversely striate, propodeal carination anteriorly faint; hind coxa simple; thyridium wide and deep. HdWi 1.9. HdWi 1.2; Ci 2.6; Mi 0.5; Di 1.3; IOi 1.0; OOi 1. 0; Fli1 3.2, Fli15 1.0; Fli25 0.8; OTi 0.2. Male unknown.

Description.

FEMALE (Holotype). B 4.0; A 2.1; F 2.7.

Color. Head yellow with upper clypeal margin, facial furrow, frons and antenna dark testaceous, vertex, occiput and temple black; mesosoma dorsally reddish with lateral lobe of mesoscutum slightly infuscate, laterally black with a yellow longitudinal stripe on lateral face of pronotum, another on mesopleuron, additional yellow markings on middle of mesoscutum and lateral sides of scutellum; wings hyaline, venation light brown; legs testaceous, coxae and trochanters largely interspersed with yellow; metasoma basally dark reddish–brown, progressively lighter toward apex, apical margins of tergites 3-7 yellow.

Head. Head slightly transverse in dorsal view; face medially finely wrinkled, laterally delimited by wide, deep, and punctate–rugose sulci; clypeus short, transverse, smooth with some punctures along apical margin, apical margin medially slightly convex; mandible stout, regularly tapered toward apex; malar line with subocular sulcus present as a deep groove; frons and vertex punctate–granulate, ocellar triangle slightly wider than high; temple and occiput closely punctate; temple moderately long, regularly rounded behind eyes; occipital and hypostomal carinae joining distinctly above mandibular base; antenna with 26 flagellomeres.

Mesosoma. Pronotum longitudinally strigose with a mid–dorsal smooth area; mesopleuron longitudinally puncto–striate, speculum finely punctate, sternaulus hardly perceptible; metapleuron longitudinally puncto–striate; mesoscutum densely punctate, anteriorly and around lateral lobe finely puncto–striate, notaulus reduced to a moderate impression near anterior margin; scutellum finely and moderately densely punctate, weakly convex, carinate near base only; propodeum transversely striate, carination complete but faint on anterior half, area superomedia as long as wide, heart–shaped, receiving costula at middle. Wings. Hind wing with distal abscissa of Cu1 faint, connected to 1/Cu& cu–a, cu–a very short. Legs. Densely punctate; hind coxa simple, without ventral tooth.

Metasoma. All tergites finely and very densely punctate but gastrocoelus and lateral area of postpetiole coarsely punctate–reticulate, thyridium smooth; gastrocoelus within basal quarter of tergite 2, moderately deep, thyridium deep and wide, about twice as wide as inter–thyridia interval; ovipositor moderately short.

MALE. Unknown.

Etymology.

Named after the type locality in Amatola Mountains, meaning "place of many calves" in the Xhosa local language. Noun in apposition.

Distribution.

South Africa.