Colpixys eburnus, Gumovsky, 2023

Gumovsky, Alex, 2023, Revision of Xiphentedon Risbec, 1957 and Colpixys Waterston, 1916 (Hymenoptera, Eulophidae), with descriptions of new species from the Afrotropics, European Journal of Taxonomy 905, pp. 1-83 : 23-24

Colpixys eburnus sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:14E0E8DC-2A5F-4615-8C06-7C2A5086F78E

Figs 9B , 11

Diagnosis

As for the genus, and also: medium-sized species (about 2.5 mm in length, ♀); scape pale, only the base slightly darker, rest of antenna dark; fore and mid femora darkened (except tips), hind femur with a dark spot dorsally, pretarsi darker ( Fig. 11 ); prosternum with a transverse carina or ridge at its arc; metascutellum short, but visible in dorsal view, about ¼ of length of propodeum, margins of median propodeal furrow sinuate and subparallel, its surface coriaceous ( Figs 9B , 11F ); fore wing with fuzzy weak cloud ( Fig. 11A–C ); metasomal petiole transverse, with robust raised and margined ‘roof’, about 0.3× as long as propodeum ( Figs 9B , 11F ); WIP with broad red field along apical margin followed by narrow blue, green and violet stripes ( Fig. 11B ).

Female

Pedicel plus flagellum about 1.8 × as long as scape, scape slender, about 4.0–5.0 × as long as wide; gaster 1.1–1.2 × as long as wide, syntergum transverse; costal cell without setae on ventral side.

Etymology

The specific epithet concerns the collecting locality, Côte d’Ivoire ( Ivory Coast): ‘ eburnus ’ is the Latin adjective for ‘ ivory ’.

Type material examined

Holotype

IVORY COAST • ♀; Lamto; Malaise trap; 9 Apr. 1985; J.-Y. Rasplus leg.; CBGP.

Paratypes

IVORY COAST • 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; 5 May 1985; CBGP • 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; 9 Apr. 1985; CBGP • 2 ♀♀; same collection data as for holotype; 16 Apr. 1985; CBGP • 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; 11 Apr. 1985; CBGP • 2 ♀♀; same collection data as for holotype; 27 Apr. 1985; CBGP • 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; 15 Apr. 1985; CBGP • 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; 29 Mar. 1985; CBGP • 1 ♀; Ranch Marahoué , 60 km NW of Mankono; gallery forest; Malaise trap; 16 Apr. 1980; J.W. Everts c.s. leg.; NHMUK .

Description

Female

Body length 2.0– 2.4 mm.Dark green to black, with green or blue tint on posterior mesoscutum, propodeum and syntergum, mesoscutellum occasionally with violet tint; legs: coxae black, trochanters white, fore and mid femora broadly brown in mid part, hind femur pale with small brown spot posteriorly, tibiae pale; all tarsi pale brown; antennal scape pale, pedicel and flagellum dark; fore wing slightly infumate, venation pale brownish; OMA pale brown, sunken in a pit with raised borders.

Head in dorsal view 2.3–2.5 × as wide as long; ocelli of moderate size, MDO: OOL: OCL in ratio 66: 69: 65, POL 2.4–2.5× OOL. Occipital margin carinate. Eye densely pubescent.

Head in frontal view 1.4 × as wide as high. Face evenly reticulate, but borders of meshes indistinct just above frontal sutures. Eye height and interocular distance in ratio 48: 47, eye height about 4.0–4.5 × malar space. Surface between toruli poorly elevated. Width of oral fossa 2.7–2.8 × malar space.

Antenna inserted at a distance equivalent to the diameter of antennal torulus above lower eye margin. Antennal scape slender, about 4.0–5.0× as long as wide, 0.6× eye height, with ventral margin slightly flattened; combined length of pedicel plus flagellum 0.7–0.8× width of the head; pedicel slightly more than 2.0 × as long as wide, 0.7–0.8 × F1 which is about 3.0 ×, F2 nearly 2.0×, F3 about 2.0 × as long as wide, clava two-segmented, about 2.0× as long as wide, with short terminal spine.

Mesosoma 1.5–1.6 × as long as wide. Pronotal collar not carinate, pronotal shoulders wide, blunt. Prosternum with rugulose sculpture, with distinct, short subtriangular flange. Mesoscutum nearly 2.0× as broad as long; mesoscutellum wide, as long as wide, slightly longer than mesoscutum. Axilla with one seta.

Axillula without a projection, with rugulose sculpture.

Metascutellum short, in shape of a narrow semi-circular bar, about ¼ length of propodeum.

Propodeum lightly reticulate anteriorly and coarser posteriorly, with rugulose median furrow delimited by irregularly sinuate rugae. Supracoxal flange narrow.

Fore wing about 2.0 × as long as wide, CC mostly asetose, but occasionally with isolated short setae moved from SC, 7.0–9.0 ×as long as wide, SC with two setae; MV 1.4–1.5 × CC, PMV slightly longer than STV; speculum partly closed below: basal hairline represented by two setae, cubital hairline by a row of five setae, though these rows not meeting; apical marginal fringe short, length and mean width of PR in ratio 2:3.

Metasomal petiole robust conical, slightly broader than long, with clearly sculptured and sharply margined dorsal ‘roof’, about 0.3× as long as propodeum. Gaster slightly longer than broad. OMA delimited by somewhat raised margins.

Male

Unknown.

Biology

Unknown.

Distribution

Ivory Coast.

Remarks

The species differs from C. necator in possessing ashort petiolate metasoma, in particular, in the shape of the metasomal petiole with a distinctly margined ‘roof’ being about 0.3× as long as the propodeum (0.4 × in C. necator ), the relatively narrow metascutellum being about ¼ of length of the propodeum (about ¼ in C. necator ) and the prosternum bearing a carina on its arc (evenly curved in C. necator ).

Figures

Fig. 9. A, C–D. Colpixys necator Waterston, 1916 (NHMUK). B. C. eburnus sp. nov. (paratype, Ivory Coast; CBGP). E–F. C. gigas Bouček, 1972 (paratype, Ghana; NHMUK). A–B. Propodeum. C–D, F. Axillula. E. Head in dorsal view.

Fig. 11. Colpixys eburnus sp. nov., ♀, holotype (Ivory Coast; CBGP). A–B. Wings under direct (A) and reflected (B, showing WIP) light. C, E. Habitus in lateral (C) and dorsal (E) views. D. Head in frontal view. F. Propodeum.