Cymodusopsis riedeli Vas

Vas, Zoltán, Rezaei, Shoreh, Fallahzadeh, Majid, Mohammadi-Khoramabadi, Abbas, Saghaei, Nazila & Ljubomirov, Toskho, 2022, Contributions to the taxonomy, identification, and biogeography of Palaearctic Campopleginae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), with the descriptions of four new species from Iran, Zootaxa 5134 (2), pp. 261-274 : 265-267

Cymodusopsis riedeli Vas , sp. nov.

Figs 5–8

Type material. Holotype: female, Iran, Kaftarak , 29°34’34.188”N, 52°41’43.489”E, 2019.06.31 –07.21., leg. Sh. Rezaei, No. 230, Id. No. HNHM-HYM 155254 . Paratype: female, Iran, Dalin , 30°02’15.0”N, 52°07’54.7”E, 2019.06.26 –07.02., leg. Sh. Rezaei, No. 242, Id. No. HNHM-HYM 155255 . The holotype and the paratype specimens are card-mounted, and are deposited in HNHM.

Diagnosis. The new species can be reliably identified by the following character states in combination: ocular-ocellar distance 1.7×, distance between lateral ocelli 2× as long as ocellus diameter; inner eye orbits strongly convergent ventrad, their shortest distance at face 0.53× as long as their maximum distance at frons; gena in dorsal view 0.6× as long as eye width, roundly narrowed behind eyes; propodeal carinae strongly developed, except distal halves of costulae more or less obsolescent, and median section of posterior transverse carina absent; area superomedia hexagonal, 1.3–1.5× as long as wide, about parallel behind costulae, posteriorly opened; fore wing with areolet, 3 rs-m present; posterior margins of apical tergites excised; ovipositor sheath 0.6× as long as hind tibia; middle tergites of metasoma apically and laterally orange-brown to orange; fore and middle legs predominantly orange; hind leg predominantly orange-brown, tibia basally and externo-medially somewhat paler, subbasally and apically little darkened.

Description. Female ( Figs 5–8 ). Body length ca. 4.5 mm, fore wing length ca. 3 mm.

Head: Antenna slender, with 23 flagellomeres; first flagellomere ca. 4.5× as long as its apical width; preapical flagellomeres longer than wide. Head with moderately short hairs, transverse, matt, entirely granulate except apical third of clypeus almost smooth. Ocelli rather small, ocular-ocellar distance 1.7× as long as ocellus diameter, distance between lateral ocelli 2× as long as ocellus diameter. Eyes large, bare. Inner eye orbits weakly indented, very strongly convergent ventrad, their shortest distance at face 0.53× as long as their maximum distance at frons ( Fig. 6 ). Gena relatively long, in dorsal view 0.6× as long as eye width, roundly narrowed behind eyes ( Fig. 7 ). Occipital carina complete, reaching hypostomal carina little before base of mandible; hypostomal carina slightly elevated. Frons flat, slightly impressed above toruli, median longitudinal carina weak. Face and clypeus almost flat in profile. Clypeus very weakly separated from face, its apical margin convex. Distance between anterior tentorial pit and eye margin 1.5–2.0× as long as pit diameter. Malar space 0.3× as long as basal width of mandible. Mandible small, lower margin with narrow flange from base towards teeth, flange gradually narrowed before teeth; mandibular teeth of about equal length.

Mesosoma: Mesosoma matt, granulate, with short, moderately dense hairs. Pronotum with weak, transverse and diagonal wrinkles on ventral half, epomia weak. Mesoscutum about as long as wide, convex in profile; notaulus not developed. Scuto-scutellar groove wide and deep. Scutellum convex in profile, without lateral carinae. Mesopleuron granulate, without punctures, and with weak transverse wrinkles anterior to speculum; speculum very finely granulate to smooth, polished. Epicnemial carina strong, pleural part bent to anterior margin of mesopleuron reaching it below its middle height, transversal part (i.e., the part at the level of sternaulus running through the epicnemium to the ventral edge of pronotum) not developed, ventral part (i.e., behind fore coxae) slightly elevated. Sternaulus indistinct. Posterior transverse carina of mesosternum complete, slightly elevated, medially slightly excised. Metanotum 0.4× as long as scutellum. Metapleuron without juxtacoxal carina; submetapleural carina complete, little elevated. Pleural carina of propodeum complete; propodeal spiracle very small, circular, separated from pleural carina by about 1.5× its length, connected to pleural carina by a distinct ridge. Propodeum ( Fig. 8 ) granulate with transverse wrinkles on posterior half, moderately convex in profile. Propodeal carinae strongly developed, except distal halves of costulae more or less obsolescent, and median section of posterior transverse carina absent. Area basalis trapezoidal, little longer than its basal width. Area superomedia hexagonal, 1.3–1.5× as long as wide, about parallel behind costulae, posteriorly opened, costulae distinctly before its middle. Area petiolaris moderately wide, medially slightly impressed, confluent with area superomedia, their junction discernible. Fore wing with shortly sessile, rectangular areolet, 3 rs-m present, second recurrent vein (2 m-cu) distal to middle of areolet; distal abscissa of Rs almost straight; nervulus (cu-a) interstitial, weakly inclivous; postnervulus (abscissa of Cu 1 between 1 m-cu and Cu 1a + Cu 1b) intercepted slightly above its middle by Cu 1a; lower external angle of second discal cell weakly acute to almost right-angled (80–85°). Hind wing with nervellus (cu-a + abscissa of Cu 1 between M and cu-a) vertical to slightly reclivous, weakly broken, intercepted by discoidella (Cu 1) at about its posterior third; discoidella spectral, proximally connected to nervellus. Coxae granulate. Hind femur slender, ca. 6× as long as high. Inner spur of hind tibia ca. 0.4× as long as first tarsomere of hind tarsus. Tarsal claws small, as long as or little longer than arolium, basally weakly pectinate.

Metasoma: Metasoma moderately compressed, finely granulate to shagreened, with few scattered, indistinctly weak punctures from third tergite on, and with sparse, short hairs. First tergite ca. 3.5× as long as width of its apical margin, apically curved; glymma absent; dorsomedian carinae of first tergite only basally discernible. Second tergite 2.1–2.3× as long as its apical width; thyridium elongate oval, its distance from basal margin of tergite ca. 2.5× as long as its length. Posterior margins of apical tergites distinctly, widely excised. Ovipositor sheath 0.6× as long as hind tibia; exposed ovipositor 1.1× as long as hind tibia; ovipositor compressed, almost straight, dorsal preapical notch deep, ventral valve abruptly narrowed before apex.

Colour: Flagellum brown, ventrally yellowish brown, scapus and pedicellus dorsally brownish, ventrally brownish yellow. Head black, except apical third of clypeus dark reddish brown, palpi and mandible yellowish, mandibular teeth reddish brown. Mesosoma black, except tegula pale yellow. Metasoma: first tergite black; second tergite blackish with narrow, orange-brown subapical band; third to fifth tergites basally widely brown, apically and laterally orange-brown to orange; following tergites predominantly to entirely brown; ovipositor sheath dark brown. Wings hyaline, wing veins light brown, pterostigma light brown to yellowish brown. Fore and middle legs: coxae orange, apically more or less yellowish; trochanters and trochantelli pale yellowish; femora orange; tibiae orange, externally yellowish; tarsi basally yellowish orange, apically brownish. Hind leg: coxa orange-brown, basally and dorsally darkened; trochanter brownish, apically narrowly yellowish; trochantellus yellowish; femur orange-brown; tibia orange-brown, basally and externo-medially somewhat paler, subbasally and apically little darkened; tarsus brownish. Hairs silvery to greyish.

Male: Unknown.

Distribution. Iran.

Etymology. The new species is named in honour of Matthias Riedel, a German taxonomist of Ichneumonidae .

Remarks on generic placement. The new species is included in Cymodusopsis due to its bare, strongly convergent eyes, position of anterior tentorial pits, and the shape and structure of first metasomal tergite. It can only be identified as Cymodusopsis according to Townes (1970), and agrees with the generic diagnosis ( Townes 1970; Sanborne 1986). This genus was known only from the Nearctic region by 10 valid species ( Yu et al. 2016), until recently Riedel et al. (2019a; 2019b) described two new species from Iran, provisionally including them in Cymodusopsis . This genus was synonymised with Cymodusa Holmgren by Dbar (1984), without any explanation given to the nomenclatural act, then removed from synonymy and re-established by Sanborne (1986). Although Sanborne (1986) supposed a possible close relationship between Cymodusopsis and Diadegma Förster , here we support the view that Cymodusopsis is obviously more closely related to Cymodusa than to Diadegma , and may be even congeneric with Cymodusa ( Dbar 1984; Riedel et al. 2019a; 2019b). Since the distinctly haired eyes represent possibly the most important distinguishing generic character of Cymodusa (which is absent in Cymodusopsis ), their synonymisation would greatly affect the generic diagnosis and delimitation of Cymodusa , which should be avoided until molecular studies are used to examine their relationship. Currently they represent two similar, however morphologically clearly delimited and readily distinguishable genera by the above mentioned characters; hence, their status can be considered appropriate until new information will be available.

Remarks on identification. The new species is not similar to any known Nearctic species of the genus (cf. Sanborne 1986; 1990). It can also be easily distinguished from the recently discovered Palaearctic species ( Riedel et al. 2019a; 2019b). For convenience, an identification key is provided below to the Palaearctic species of the genus.

1 Fore wing without areolet; metasoma black; hind coxa black........................................................................................... Cymodusopsis persicus Riedel, Mohammadi-Khoramabadi & Khayrandish

- Fore wing with areolet; metasoma extensively orange-coloured; hind coxa entirely orange or at least partly orange-brown... ................................................................................................... 2

2 Gena in dorsal view ca. 0.35× as long as eye width; ocular-ocellar distance 1.3× as long as ocellus diameter; area superomedia about as long as wide; lateromedian longitudinal carinae obsolescent behind area superomedia; hind coxa entirely orange; metasoma from third tergite on almost entirely orange........... Cymodusopsis rufator Riedel, Ameri, Talebi & Ebrahimi

- Gena longer, in dorsal view ca. 0.6× as long as eye width; ocelli smaller, ocular-ocellar distance 1.7× as long as ocellus diameter; area superomedia more elongate, 1.3–1.5× as long as wide; lateromedian longitudinal carinae strong behind area superomedia; hind coxa orange-brown, basally and dorsally extensively blackish; metasoma darker, tergites from third tergite on basally widely brown, apically and laterally orange-brown to orange................. Cymodusopsis riedeli Vas, sp. nov.

Figures

FIGURES 5–8. Cymodusopsis riedeli Vas, sp. nov. 5, holotype female, lateral habitus, scale bar = 1 mm; 6, head, frontal view; 7, head, dorsal view; 8, propodeum, dorsal view.