Apanteles magnioculus Liu & Chen

Liu, Zhen, He, Jun-Hua & Chen, Xue-Xin, 2015, The lacteus-, laspeyresiella - and mycetophilus - groups of Apanteles Foerster, 1862 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) in China, with descriptions of eight new species, Zootaxa 3949 (3), pp. 370-392 : 383-385

Apanteles magnioculus Liu & Chen , sp. n.

Figure 7

Description. Female. Body length ca. 2.8 mm, fore wing length ca. 3.2 mm.

Head. Transverse in dorsal view, 1.9 as wide as long (29.6:15.2) and as wide as mesosoma. Temple abruptly and strongly constricted posteriorly ( Fig.7 a), highly shiny with indistinct punctures,. Face 0.8 as high as wide, relatively shiny, a narrow indistinct sulcus anterior-medially, almost impunctate, sparsely pubescent ( Fig. 7 c), inner margin of eyes subparallel. Ocelli relatively large, distance between fore and hind ocelli shorter than diameter of a hind ocellus, posterior tangent to fore ocellus virtually transecting hind two ocelli, POL:OD:OOL=4.0:2.5:4.5. Antenna almost as long as body length, penultimate antennomere 1.7 longer than wide.

Mesosoma. Length to breadth and height 47.5:30.0:34.8. Disc of mesonotum relatively shiny, relatively heavily punctate, interspaces bigger than diameter of punctures. Scutellar sulcus slightly straight, narrow with carinae in between. Scutellum polished with indistinct punctures. Propodeum shiny, weakly punctate anteriorly, a considerable amount of rugosity around nucha. Mesopleuron highly polished, its anterior half with shallow punctation of even size.

Legs. Spines on outer side of hind tibia sparse. Inner spur of hind tibia almost 2× longer than the outer one, 2/5 length of basitarsus, outer spur is 1/5 length of basitarsus. Hind basitarsus distinctly longer than tarsal segments 2– 4 combined.

Wings. Pterostigma 3× as long as its widest part. Vein 1-R1 (metacarp) 1.1× longer than pterostigma, it is 4× as long as its distance from the apex of the marginal cell. Vein r arising from middle of pterostigma, a little longer than width of pterostigma, vein r 1.4× longer than vein 2-SR, both veins indistinctly angled at their meeting, vein 2-M 2/ 3 length of vein 2-SR. 1st discal cell slightly narrower than high. Vein cu-a relatively more or less straight. Vannal lobe beyond its widest part straight and without projecting setae.

Metasoma. Slightly longer than thorax (49.5:47.5). T1 narrowed towards apex, basal width 1.8× hind width, and long, almost 2× longer than basal width. Deeply concave at basal 2/5, highly shiny, polished, except slightly uneven anterior to hind polished zone. T2 subtriangular, straight apically, 3.4× wider than long in the middle. T3 1.8× as long as T2 (9.0:5.0). Tergites after T1 relatively shiny, smooth. Hypopygium as long as apex of abdomen. Ovipositor sheath 1.3× as long as hind tibia (47.0:37.0), relatively thin.

Colour. Body black, except abdomen slightly yellow to reddish brown. Scape and pedicel dirty yellow. Flagellum and ovipositor sheath brown. Labrum and mandible dark reddish brown. Palpi, tegulae and spurs of tibiae pale yellow. Legs bright yellow, hind coxa and tibia more or less brown. Fore wing membrane hyaline, vein 1-R1, C+SC+R and pterostigma brown, other veins light brown.

Variation. Body length 2.6–2.9 mm. Metasoma slightly to distinctly longer than thorax. Concave part of T1 and T2 yellow to reddish yellow.

Male. Unknown.

Host. Unknown.

Material examined. Holotype: ♀, Mt. Leigong, Xiaodanjiang, Guizhou, 2005. VI.4–5, Liu Jingxian, No. 200606378. Paratypes: 3♀♀, Mt. Leigong, Xiaodanjiang, Guizhou, 2005. VI.4–5, Liu Jingxian, Nos. 200606460, 200606293, 200606371.

Distribution. China (Province: Guizhou).

Etymology. The specific name “ magnioculus ” derives from the Latin adjective “magnus” and noun “oculus”, referring to large ocelli.

Remarks. This species is similar to A. odites Nixon , but can be separated from the latter by the following: ovipositor sheath evenly narrow towards apex (in the latter species falcate); temple highly shiny with indistinct punctures (in the latter species coarsely, densely punctate); and vein r 1.4× longer than vein 2-SR and indistinctly angled at their meeting (the latter slightly longer than vein 2-SR, and distinctly angled).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Apanteles magnioculus Liu & Chen, sp. n. a head, dorsal view; b propodeum and T 1 – 3, dorsal view; c head, frontal view; d fore wing; e hind wing; f mesosoma, dorsal view; g habitus, lateral view. Scale line = 0.5 mm.