Nectarinella manauara, Silveira & Santos-Junior, 2016

Silveira, Orlando Tobias & Santos-Junior, José Nazareno Araujo dos, 2016, Nectarinella manauara, new species and record of the genus from Brazilian Amazonia (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae), Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 60 (3), pp. 238-240 : 238-240

Nectarinella manauara sp. nov.

(Figs. 1–4)

Holotype: female, Brazil, Amazonas , Manaus, Reserva Ducke, 24.ix.1981, J. A. Rafael ( INPA).

Description (Female). Very small, wing length 4.3 mm. Head (Figs. 1 and 2) wider than high; palpal formula 5–3; mandible outer surface largely flattened; clypeus wider than high, ratio H/WCL 0.75, lateral margin sinuate, performing above a continuous regular curve, and very narrowly separated from eye, apex narrow, weakly truncate, almost rounded, ventro-lateral indentation shallow, corresponding adjacent inner lobe weakly prominent; tentorial pit as close to antennal socket as to eye margin; interantennal area roundly and strongly bulging; ocelli forming an equilateral triangle, widely separated from eyes ( POL:OOL a fraction less than 0.5); malar space wide (Fig. 1); occipital carina vestigial, developed as weak dorsal or dorso-lateral remnants (Fig. 2, red arrow); gena in lateral view narrowing above; pronotum (Figs. 3 and 4) very short, with lateral fovea located far below and close to ventral angle, fovea bordered in front by a short, low, but quite sharp margin; pronotal dorsal carina obtuse, not at all sharp, not strongly projecting forward, but otherwise quite well-developed and descending laterally to near the fovea (Figs. 3 and 4); pronotal anterior margin with a narrow lamella and with short central retreating sector; mesoscutum (Fig. 3) nearly circular, wider than long, ratio L/WMS 0.8, with distinct margin laterally opposite tegula; mesopleuron without mesepisternal sulcus (Fig. 4); scutellum as a swollen transversal block with posterior surface vertical; metanotum completely vertical, barely visible from above, posterior margin with a shallow, curved contour; propodeum vertical, central area flat without forming noticeable cavity, but with lateral extremities slightly swollen; propodeal valve rather wide (not at all linear), with rounded subtriangular shape; hind wing with 1cu1 much shorter than cu-a.

Sculpture. Integument of head and mesosoma generally smooth and shining, with variably scattered medium-sized punctures; metasoma duller with fine, regular, dense punctuation; clypeus with very sparse and shallow medium-sized punctures, frons with a slightly more pronounced pattern, with punctures more deeply impressed, similar patterns observable on mesoscutum (often separated there by 1–2 diameters) and scutellum, mesopleuron also similar with denser punctuations on scrobal sulcus; metanotum smooth, unpunctured; propodeum with weak punctuation only on sides; metasoma without any large punctures.

Vestiture. Most of face and dorsal two-thirds of clypeus with appressed whitish pubescence; vertex, frons and ventral margin of clypeus with sparse short erect hairs, longer hairs on clypeus (Fig. 1); eyes bare; similar patterns of decumbent and erect hairs on entire body, metasoma with erect hairs tending to be located near hind margin of terga and sterna.

Color. Dark brown, darker on head and dorsal section of mesosoma, lighter on mandible, clypeus, antenna, and metasoma; pale whitish marks as follows: circular marginal pattern on clypeus, paired marks on supraclypeal plate and interantennal area between antennal sockets, inner orbits rather widely, genal stripe widening below pronotal carina, elongated mesepisternal mark, lateral marks on mesoscutal margin adjacent to tegula and axillar region, narrow transversal anterior mark on scutellum and scutellar crest, narrow anterior mark on metanotum, axillar region and anterior face of fore coxa, elongated mark on fore tibia, apical spot on mid and hind femora and ventral metapleural plate, minute lateral mark on propodeum and lateral margin of metasomal tergum I, anterior band on tergum II, distal bands near posterior margin of terga II to VI, with associated small irregular lateral marks on terga III to V, most of the visible areas on sterna II to V.

Male unknown.

Nest unknown.

Etymology: the specific epithet manauara means “inhabitant of, or related to the Brazilian city of Manaus”.