Chakra valluvari 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 : 1698-1700

Chakra valluvari Veenakumari sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B8563040-2E5A-4EC1-A4DB-24FE635BEDEA

( Figures 21 (a–f), 23(m))

Female body length = 1.33 mm (n = 1).

Colour

Head and mesosoma yellow-brown, posterior margin of mesoscutellum, metascutellar spine and lateral propodeal area red-brown; T1–T2 yellow brown, remaining tergites brown; anterior margin of T1 red-brown; T2 with a wide red-brown transverse band on anterior margin; inner margins of ocelli black; radicle, A1–A2 yellow-brown, A3–A6 brown, 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: sparse. IOS: 0.8× head width, 2.3× eye length. POL = OOL> LOL: 8.5:8.5:4.7. OOL: 2.9× MOD. Compound eye: small (L: W = 11.3:7.0). Sculpture on vertex: with setose protuberances, furrows between protuberances with weak rugose sculpture. Sculpture of frons: dorsally with setose protuberances except for weak longitudinal striae above interantennal process. Central keel: absent. Sculpture of gena: with setose protuberances. Facial and malar striae: weak. Interantennal process: wide, narrowing in apical 1/3, beak-like.

Mesosoma

L:W of mesoscutum: 19.6:28.8. Setation of mesoscutum: sparse. Sculpture of mesoscutum: with setose protuberances, with reticulations between protuberances posteromedially. Mesoscutal humeral sulcus: weakly foveate. Mesoscutal suprahumeral sulcus: not foveate. Scutoscutellar sulcus: wide, entirely foveate. L:W of mesoscutellum: 10.3:19.9. Sculpture of mesoscutellum: with setose protuberances with reticulations between protuberances. Setation of mesoscutellum: sparse. Sculpture of metascutellum: smooth. Armature of metascutellum: triangular spine. Sculpture of metanotal trough: weakly foveate. Sculpture of lateral propodeal area: with depressions. Posterior propodeal projection: pointed, directed posteriorly. Sculpture of lateral pronotal area: dorsally with sparse setose protuberances, remainder smooth except for transverse carinae ventrally. Pronotal cervical sulcus: not foveate. Netrion sulcus: foveate ventrally. Speculum of mesopleuron: transversely carinate, carinae spaced apart. Episternal sulcus: weakly foveate. Postacetabular sulcus: not foveate. Prespecular sulcus: not foveate. Mesepimeral sulcus: not foveate. Mesepimeral area: weakly reticulate, wider than mesepimeral sulcus. Mesopleural carina: absent. Sculpture of femoral depression: smooth. Mesopleural pit: not distinct. Sculpture of ventral mesopleuron: with setose protuberances interspersed with sparse transverse carinae. Sculpture of metapleuron: dorsally smooth, ventrally setigerous punctate except for a smooth patch posterodorsally. Metapleural sulcus: weakly foveate. Paracoxal sulcus: weakly foveate. Metapleural epicoxal sulcus: not foveate. L:W of fore wing: 79.8:29.2. L:W of hind wing: 72.6:11.4. Marginal cilia on posterior margin of proximal fore wing: absent.

Metasoma

L:W of metasoma: 59.4:36.3. Sculpture of T1: longitudinally costate, with two oblique carinae sublaterally on anterior margin. Length of T1: 0.8× the length of T2. Horn on T1: absent. Length of T2: 0.4× the length of T3. Sculpture of T2: small basal foveae present, followed by longitudinal costae. Sculpture of T3: weakly longitudinally striate. Sculpture of T4: weakly reticulate. Sculpture of T5–T6: smooth.

Male

Not known.

Material examined

Holotype. Female ( ICAR / NBAIR / P4488 ), INDIA: Tamil Nadu: Hosur, Uddanapalli , 12.624°N 77.924°E, 758 m, YPT, 30 January 2015.

Etymology

The species epithet ‘valluvar’ is in honour of Tiruvalluvar, the accomplished Tamil poetsaint of South India who composed the Tirukkural, a secular work on ethics consisting of well over a thousand couplets. The name is treated as a noun in the genitive case.

Diagnosis

Chakra valluvari sp. nov. resembles C. sarvatra but differs from it in the following combination of character states. In C. valluvari , T3 is longitudinally striate, and the setose protuberances on dorsal frons, mesoscutum and metascutellum are spaced apart; whereas in C. sarvatra T3 is smooth with sparse short carinae anteriorly, and the setose protuberances, mesoscutum and metascutellum are closely spaced.

Figures

Figure 21. Chakra valluvari sp. nov. (♀): (a) Habitus, dorsal view; (b) frons; (c) head and pleuron; (d) head and mesoscutum; (e) wings; (f) antenna.