Heterospilus hypermekus Marsh

Marsh, Paul M., Wild, Alexander L. & Whitfield, James B., 2013, The Doryctinae (Braconidae) of Costa Rica: genera and species of the tribe Heterospilini, ZooKeys 347, pp. 1-474 : 361-362

Heterospilus hypermekus Marsh sp. n. Figure 245

Female.

Body size: 1.5 mm. Color: body dark brown, apical metasomal terga lighter brown; scape yellow without lateral brown stripe, flagellum brown; wing veins including stigma brown; fore legs yellow; mid and hind coxae and femora brown, trochanters and tarsi yellow, tibiae yellow on basal half, brown on apical half. Head: vertex smooth; frons smooth; face smooth; temple in dorsal view broad, bulging behind eye, width greater than 1/2 eye width; malar space greater than 1/4 eye height; ocell-ocular distance greater than 2.5 times diameter of lateral ocellus; 13 flagellomeres. Mesosoma: mesoscutal lobes granulate; notauli scrobiculate, meeting at scutellum in unsculptured area; scutellum granulate; prescutellar furrow with 3 cross carinae; mes opleuron granulate; precoxal sulcus smooth, shorter than mesopleuron; venter granulate; propodeum with basal median areas distinct but not margined, granulate, basal median carina absent, areola not margined, areolar area rugose, lateral areas entirely rugose. Wings: fore wing vein r shorter than vein 3RSa, vein 1cu-a beyond vein 1M; hind wing vein SC+R absent, vein M+CU slightly longer than vein 1M. Metasoma: first tergum longitudinally costate, length slightly greater than apical width; second tergum longitudinally costate; anterior transverse groove present, straight; posterior transverse groove present; third tergum smooth entirely; terga 4-7 smooth; ovipositor as long as entire body.

Holotype female.

Top label (white, partially printed and hand written) - Costa Rica: Guanacaste [;] Santa Rosa Natl. Park [;] 300m, ex. Malaise trap [;] Site #: (blank) [;] Dates: 13. iv– 4.v.1986 [;] I.D. Gauld & D. Janzen; second label (white, printed) - [H] open regenerating [;] woodland <10 years old [;] [C] more or less fully [;] shaded as possible; third label (red, partially printed and hand written) - HOLOTYPE [;] Heterospilus [;] hypermekus [;] P. Marsh. Deposited in ESUW.

Paratypes.

1 ♀, same data as holotype, dates of 4-24.v.1986, second label, [SE] Bosque San Emilio [;] 50yr old deciduous forest [;] [C] more or less fully [;] shaded as possible (ESUW).

Comments.

The very long ovipositor, broad temple and brown flagellum are distinctive for this species.

Etymology.

The specific name is from the Greek hypermekes, meaning very long, in reference to the unusually long ovipositor.