Chakra agathachristieae Veenakumari, 2022

Veenakumari, Kamalanathan, Sreedevi, Kolla & Mohanraj, Prashanth, 2022, Additions to the genus Chakra Rajmohana and Veenakumari, 2014 (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea: Scelionidae) from India, Journal of Natural History 56 (41 - 44), pp. 1657-1707 : 1660-1663

Chakra agathachristieae Veenakumari sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:AD1E5B91-840A-4F18-989C-14079198C136

( Figures 1 (a–f), 2(a–b), 23(a))

Female body length = 1.23–1.45 mm (n = 10); male body length = 1.13 mm (n = 1).

Colour

Head and mesosoma brown; posterior margin of mesoscutum, mesoscutellum and metascutellar spine, lateral propodeal area red-brown; anterior margins of T1 and T2 with red-brown transverse band; remainder of T1–T3 yellow-brown, remaining tergites brown; inner margins of ocelli black; radicle pale yellow, A1–A2, A5–A6 brown-yellow, remaining antennomeres brown-black; all legs brown-yellow with black apical tarsomeres.

Head

1.3× as wide as high, 1.6× as high as long. Setation on head: dense. IOS: 0.7× head width, 2.5× eye length. OOL> POL> LOL: 9.6:8.0:3.3. OOL: 4.3× MOD. Compound eye: small (L: W = 10.1:7.2). Sculpture on vertex: with setose protuberances, furrows between protuberances smooth. Sculpture of frons: with setose protuberances, furrows between protuberances smooth, except for reticulate-striate patch on dorsal and lateral sides of imaginary central keel. Central keel: absent. Sculpture of gena: with setose protuberances, furrows between protuberances smooth. Facial and malar striae: weak. Interantennal process: triangular.

Mesosoma

L:W of mesoscutum: 22.0:31.3. Setation of mesoscutum: dense. Sculpture of mesoscutum: with setose protuberances, furrows between protuberances smooth. Mesoscutal humeral sulcus: not foveate. Mesoscutal suprahumeral sulcus: not foveate. Scutoscutellar sulcus: foveate laterally. L:W of mesoscutellum: 9.4:20.3. Sculpture of mesoscutellum: with setose protuberances, furrows between protuberances weakly rugose. Setation of mesoscutellum: dense. Sculpture of metascutellum: weakly foveate. Armature of metascutellum: triangular spine. Sculpture of metanotal trough: foveate. Sculpture of lateral propodeal area: with depressions. Posterior propodeal projection: pointed, directed posterolaterally. Sculpture of lateral pronotal area: dorsally with setose protuberances, anteriorly with short uneven carinae, remainder smooth. Pronotal cervical sulcus: not foveate. Netrion sulcus: weakly foveate ventrally. Speculum of mesopleuron: transversely carinate. Episternal sulcus: not foveate. Postacetabular sulcus: not foveate. Prespecular sulcus: not foveate. Mesepimeral sulcus: not foveate. Mesepimeral area: almost smooth, wider than mesepimeral sulcus. Mesopleural carina: present. Sculpture of femoral depression: smooth, with sparse transverse carinae ventrally. Mesopleural pit: present. Sculpture of ventral mesopleuron: with setose protuberances. Sculpture of metapleuron: dorsally smooth except for a rugose patch posteriorly; ventrally with shallow depressions and a smooth patch posteriorly. Metapleural sulcus: foveate. Paracoxal sulcus: foveate. Metapleural epicoxal sulcus: not foveate. L:W of fore wing: 74.5:28.2. L:W of hind wing: 67.2:12.4. Marginal cilia on posterior margin of proximal fore wing: absent.

Metasoma

L:W of metasoma: 57.3:35.8. Sculpture of T1: weakly longitudinally costate. Length of T1: 0.5× the length of T2. Horn on T1: absent. Length of T2: 0. 5× the length of T3. Sculpture of T2: anteromedially smooth, followed by basal foveae and longitudinal costae. Sculpture of T3: weakly striate anteriorly, remainder smooth with sparse setigerous punctae posteriorly and posterolaterally. Sculpture of T4–T6: smooth with setigerous punctae.

Male

Similar to female. Shape of antennomeres: short and rectangular.

Material examined

Holotype. Female (Indian Council of Agricultural Research / National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources ) ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4454 ), INDIA: Karnataka: Bengaluru , Attur , 13.096°N 77.566°E, 936 m, PFT, 26 November 2013.

Paratypes. 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4455 ), Karnataka: Bengaluru, Attur, 13.096°N 77.566° E, 936 m, YPT, 08 April 2014; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4456 ), Karnataka: Bengaluru, Attur, 13.096°N 77.566°E, 936 m, PFT, 12 August 2013; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4457 ) , Holotype: Female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4454 ), INDIA: Karnataka: Bengaluru, Attur , 13.096°N 77.566°E, 936 m, PFT, 26 November 2013, Karnataka: Bengaluru , Attur , 13.096°N 77.566°E, 936 m, YPT, 30 August 2011 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4458 ), Karnataka: Bengaluru , Attur , 13.096°N 77.566° E, 936 m, PFT, 12 June 2014 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4459 ), Karnataka: Bengaluru , Attur , 13.096°N 77.566°E, 936 m, PFT, 09 January 2014 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4460 ), Karnataka: Bengaluru , Attur , 13.096°N 77.566°E, 936 m, YPT, 29 December 2012 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4461 ), Arunachal Pradesh: Pasighat , CHF, 28.080°N 95.324°E, 173 m, YPT, 10 November 2014 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4462 ), Karnataka: Bengaluru , Attur , 13.096°N 77.566°E, 936 m, YPT, 06 March 2015 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4463 ), Karnataka: Bengaluru , Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture ( CIFA), Hessaraghatta , 13.133°N 77.490°E, 859 m, YPT, 29 August 2013 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4464 ), Karnataka: Bengaluru , CIFA, Hessaraghatta , 13.133°N 77.490°E, 859 m, YPT, 07 August 2014 ; 3 females ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4465–4467 ), Karnataka: Bengaluru , CIFA, Hessaraghatta , 13.133°N 77.490°E, 859 m, YPT, 07 July 2014 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4468 ), Karnataka: Bengaluru , Hessaraghatta , 13.133°N 77.490°E, 859 m, YPT, 21 August 2015 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4469 ), Karnataka: Bengaluru , Jarakabande Kaval , 13.094°N 77.543°E, 921 m, MT, 24 November 2016 ;; 5 females ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4470–4474 ), Karnataka: Bengaluru , Hebbal , NBAIR, 13.027°N 77.584°E, 927 m, YPT (grass), 27 July 2012 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4475 ), Bengaluru , Hebbal , NBAIR, 13.027°N 77.584°E, 927 m, YPT, 25 July 2015 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4476 ), Tamil Nadu: Vellore , Yelagiri , 12.578°N 78.662°E, 969 m, YPT, 17 June 2016 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4477 ), Kerala: Thiruvananthapuram ; Vellayani , 8.730°N 76.987°E, 11 m, SN, 21 November 2015 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4478 ), Karnataka: Udupi , Brahmavara , 13.430°N 74.745°E, 36 m, YPT (weeds), 29 May 2014 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4479 ), Karnataka: Dakshina Kannada : Vittal , Central Plantation Crops Research Institute ( CPCRI), 12.524°N 74.964°E, 6 m, YPT (cocoa plot), 20 February 2015 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4480 ), Kerala: Kasargod , CPCRI, 12.524°N 74.964°E, 6 m, YPT, 20 February 2015 ; 2 females ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4481 – P4482 ), Arunachal Pradesh: Pasighat , CHF, 28.080°N 95.324°E, 173 m, YPT, 10 November 2014 ; 1 female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4483 ), Assam: Dibrugarh , Krishi Vigyana Kendra ( KVK), 27.472°N 94.911°E, 109 m, YPT, 07 November 2014 ; 1 male ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4484 ), Karnataka: Bengaluru , Attur , 13.096°N 77.566°E, 936 m, PFT, 27 August 2011 .

Etymology

This species is named after Dame Agatha Christie, the internationally recognised queen of detective fiction. The name is treated as a noun in the genitive case.

Diagnosis

This species resembles C. valluvari sp. nov. and C. sarvatra , but differs from them in having OOL longer than POL, OOL> 4.3× MOD and a triangular interantennal process with a wide base; while in the latter two species POL is longer than OOL, OOL <3.3× MOD and the interantennal process is rectangular and elongate.

Figures

Figure 1. Chakra agathachristieae sp. nov. (♀): (a) Habitus, dorsal view; (b) frons; (c) head and pleuron; (d) head and mesoscutum; (e) wings; (f) antennae.