Chakra pachmarhica (Sharma) Talamas & Thompson & Cutler & Schoenberger & Cuminale & Jung & Johnson & Valerio & Smith & Haltermann & Alvarez & Schwantes & Blewer & Bodenreider & Salzberg & Luo & Meislin & Buffington, 2017

Talamas, Elijah J., Thompson, Joseph, Cutler, Amy, Schoenberger, Samantha Fitzsimmons, Cuminale, Anthony, Jung, Trenton, Johnson, Norman F., Valerio, Alejandro A., Smith, Ashton B., Haltermann, Victoria, Alvarez, Elizabeth, Schwantes, Collin, Blewer, Catherine, Bodenreider, Coline, Salzberg, Annika, Luo, Pei, Meislin, Debra & Buffington, Matthew L., 2017, An online photographic catalog of primary types of Platygastroidea (Hymenoptera) in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 56, pp. 187-224 : 193-195

Chakra pachmarhica (Sharma) comb. n. Figures 22-25 , 26-29

Probaryconus pachmarhicus Sharma, 1978: 24 (original description).

Paridris dubeyi Sharma, syn. n., 1982: 336 (original description); Johnson 1992: 459 (cataloged); Rajmohana 2007: 57 (keyed).

Paridris pachmarhicus (Sharma): Mani and Sharma 1982: 178 (description); Johnson 1992: 460 (cataloged); Rajmohana 2007: 57 (keyed).

Paridris pachmarhica (Sharma): Talamas et al. 2012: 32 (gender emended).

Link to distribution map.

http://hol.osu.edu/map-full.html?id=313332

Comments.

Paridris dubeyi and Probaryconus pachmarhicus , despite that they are conspecific, were placed in separate genera by Sharma (1972, 1982). The concept of Probaryconus , at least since Masner (1976), excludes species with a metascutellum that projects posteriorly ( “armed”), and includes species that have spines or protrusions on the propodeum. Chakra pachmarhica matches neither of these character states. Paridris is a more polymorphic genus that was recently diagnosed by Talamas et al. (2011) and does not include species with an epomial carina. Until now, Chakra has been a monotypic genus, and the metascutellum of C. sarvatra Rajmohana & Veenakumari has a metascutellum with a single spine. We here expand the concept of Chakra to include species with two or three metascutellar spines. The salient characters of Chakra , as mentioned by Rajmohana and Veenakumari (2014), are the diagnostic form of sculpture on the head, mesoscutum, and mesoscutellum; the postmarginal vein shorter than the stigmal vein, and Scelio -type ovipositor. The limits of Chakra with respect to Trissoscelio (presently a junior synonym of Opisthacantha ) are unclear. The presence of an epomial carina in Chakra holds promise as a diagnostic character, but this character exhibits a significant degree of variation among the undescribed African species of Chakra . A species of Chakra from Southeast Asia has a trispinose metascutellum (Figure 31 ) and the length of these spines exhibits a great deal of size related variation. Consequently, Chakra is a genus with a hypervariable metascutellum and this structure is of only modest use for identifying the genus. We think it is noteworthy that all of the species of Chakra that we have examined have the metapleural and paracoxal sulci well-defined and separate in the dorsal half of the metapleuron (Figures 32-33 ) and, at the moment, this serves as a useful diagnostic character for the genus.

Diagnosis of Chakra .

Scelio -type ovipositor; propodeum coarsely rugose; epomial carina present; head, mesoscutum and mesoscutellum punctate with interstitial micrcosculpture; malar striae present; facial striae present; occipital carina complete; lines of sculpture extending around interantennal process; clypeus divided dorsoventrally by transverse furrow.

Figures

Figures 22 - 25. Chakra pachmarhicus (Sharma), female holotype (USNMENT 01109836) 22 head and mesosoma, lateral view 23 head, mesosoma, metasoma, dorsal view 24 mesoscutellum, metascutellum, propodeum, T 1, dorslateral view 25 head, anterolateral view. Scale bars in millimeters.

Figures 26 - 29. Chakra pachmarhicus. 26 male holotype of Paridris dubeyi Sharma (USNMENT 01197116), head, mesosoma, metasoma, lateral view 27 male holotype of Paridris dubeyi Sharma (USNMENT 01197116), head, mesosoma, metasoma, dorsal view 28 male (USNMENT 01109626), mesosoma, lateral view 29 male holotype of Paridris dubeyi Sharma (USNMENT 01197116), head, anterior view. Scale bars in millimeters.

Figures 30 - 35. 30 Chakra sp., male (OSUC 170290), head and mesosoma, dorsal view 31 Chakra sp., female (OSUC 261908), head and mesosoma, dorsal view 32 Chakra sp., male (OSUC 170291), head and mesosoma, lateral view 33 Chakra sp., female (OSUC 261908), head and mesosoma, lateral view 34 Chakra sp., male (OSUC 170291), head and pronotum, anterolateral view 35 Chakra sp., female (OSUC 261908), head and mesosoma, anterolateral view. Scalebars in millimeters.