Goniozus antiquus (Olmi) Barbosa & Melo, 2023

Barbosa, Diego N. & Melo, Gabriel A. R., 2023, Revision of Bethylinae from Dominican amber, with description of a new genus (Hymenoptera, Bethylidae), Journal of Hymenoptera Research 96, pp. 167-180 : 167

† Goniozus antiquus (Olmi) comb. nov.

Pterosclerogibba antiqua † Pterosclerogibba antiqua Olmi, 2005: 186. Female holotype. Dominican Republic: amber from La Toca mine (GPCO, not examined).

Diagnosis.

Antenna, tibia, and tarsi light castaneous; head and mesosoma castaneous; metasoma dark-castaneous to nearly black. Head longer than wide, not punctured; clypeal carina strong, but not extending over frons; antenna relatively short, apical portion moniliform; malar space as long as eye length; eye small, without pilosity; ocellar triangle with a right anterior angle; vertex concave, apparently without thick setae. Mesosoma without conspicuous setae; posterior margin of dorsal pronotal area concave posteriorly; mesoscutum shorter than dorsal pronotal area, not punctured, notaulus absent; mesopleuron not gibbous; mesoscutellum as long as mesoscutum, not punctured; metapectal-propodeal complex as long as mesonotum. Forewing with clearly developed pterostigma, venation apparently reduced. Proleg with a swollen femur, almost 2.0 × longer than wide, metafemora not distinctly swollen. Metasoma without visible setae; sting curved downward.

Remarks.

Olmi (2005) described † Pterosclerogibba antiqua as the first fully winged female of Sclerogibbidae , and postulated that this species has a great importance for evolutionary studies of the family. However, the photographs of the holotype provided in Martynova et al. (2019: 1797) and Perkovsky et al. (2020: 3) clearly indicate to us that it represents a Bethylidae . The following features, which according to Azevedo et al. (2018) are useful for the identification of bethylid wasps, can be observed in the holotype: head elongate, depressed, and prognathous; clypeus with vertical carina extending between antennae; antenna placed close to the clypeus and with 11 flagellomeres in both sexes; clypeus partially covered by antennal base; occipital carina present and complete; dorsal pronotal area always present and at least as long as wide; mesoscutum-mesoscutellar suture always represented either by sulcus or pits, or both; metapostnotum well developed and invading propodeum; propleuron covered by pronotal collar in dorsal view; mesopleural pit always present centrally or nearly so; forewing with pterostigma present and well developed. Moreover, additional features observed in the holotype of † Pterosclerogibba antiqua indicate that it belongs to Bethylinae , as follows: head triangular-shaped, in lateral profile; swollen profemur; and strongly curved tarsal claws. Although both Olmi (2005) and Martynova et al. (2019) outlined what they interpreted as the wings, these represent small cracks in the amber around the inclusion. The true wings are folded over the specimen, as can be seen in Perkovsky et al. (2020).

Within Bethylinae , Olmi’s species can be accommodated in Goniozus based on its general morphology and especially for lacking diagnostic features found in other genera of Bethylinae . Considering that Goniozus , as currently defined (see Ramos and Azevedo 2020), represents a paraphyletic assemblage, future work should focus in better positioning † Goniozus antiquus among the many species groups found within this genus.