Meteorus anuae Aguirre & Shaw, 2014

Aguirre, Helmuth & Shaw, Scott R., 2014, Neotropical species of Meteorus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Meteorinae) parasitizing Arctiinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Erebidae), Zootaxa 3779 (3), pp. 353-367 : 354-356

Meteorus anuae Aguirre & Shaw n. sp.

( Figs. 1–4 )

Diagnosis. Mandibles twisted, occipital carina complete, notauli not distinctive, mesonotum mostly black-dark brown, pronotum dorsally black and ventrally yellow, propodeum aerolate-rugose, tarsal claw with large lobe, vein m-cu of forewing antefurcal, propodeum aerolate-rugose, dorsope and laterope absent, T1 totally black, ventral borders of first tergite joined completely along 1/2 of segment.

Body color. Antenna dark brown; annulus absent; head orange except vertex, occiput and area between ocelli dark brown; propleuron orange-yellow; pronotum dorsally black, ventrally yellow; mesonotum black-dark brown except a faint patch on the anterior part of the median mesonotal lobe and scutellum light brown; mesopleuron yellow except the area close to the tegula dark brown; metapleuron yellow; propodeum black-dark brown; prothoracic legs yellow except tarsus light brown; mesothoracic legs with coxa, trochanter, trochantellus, femur and tibia yellow; tarsus light brown; metathoracic legs with coxa yellow basally and brown apically, trochanter and trochantellus yellow, femur yellow except brown apically, tibia and tarsus brown; T1 black; T2–T3 black except a small patch near the anterior border of T2; T4 dark brown basally and yellow apically; remaining terga yellow; sterna yellow; wings hyaline.

Body length. 4 mm.

Head. Antenna with 29 flagellomeres; flagellar length/width ratios as follows: F1 = 3, F2 = 2.6, F3 = 2.4, F 27 = 1.7, F 28 = 1.7. F 29 = 2.7; head 1.2 x wider than high; occipital carina complete; ocelli ocular distance 0.8 x ocellar diameter; head height 1.4 x eye height; temples length 0.6 x eyes length in dorsal view; vertex in dorsal view not descending vertically behind the lateral ocelli; frons smooth and polished; maximum face width 1.2 x minimum face width; face strigulate; minimum face width equal to clypeus width; clypeus strigulate; malar space lenght 0.5 x mandible width basally; mandibles twisted.

Mesosoma. Pronotum in lateral view carinate and rugose; propleuron smooth; notauli not distinctive and rugose; mesonotal lobes not well defined; central lobe of mesoscutum puncticulate; scutellar furrow with five distinctive carinae; mesopleuron smooth and polished; sternaulus long, narrow and rugose; metapleuron rugulose; propodeum aerolate-rugose; longitudinal and transversal carinae on propodeum absent; median depression on propodeum absent.

Legs. Hind coxa strigate; tarsal claw with large lobe.

Wings. Wing length 3.7 mm; second submarginal cell of forewing not strongly narrowed anteriorly; length of vein r 0.9 x length of 3Rsa; length of vein 3RSa equal to length of rm; length of vein m-cu of forewing antefurcal; length of vein 1M 1.3 x length of cu-a; length of vein 1M 0.9 x length of 1r-m.

Metasoma. Dorsope and laterope absent; ventral borders of first tergite joined completely along 1/2 of segment; first tergite with costae parallel; ovipositor 1.6 x longer than first tergite; ovipositor shape thickened basally and sinuous.

Cocoon. Unknown.

Female variation. Body length 3.5-4 mm; maximum face width 1.1–1.2 x minimum face width; ocelli ocular distance 0.8–1 x ocellar diameter; vein r 0.6–0.9 x length of 3Rsa; vein 3RSa 0.9–1 x length of rm; ovipositor 1.6– 1.7 x longer than first tergite.

Male variation. Head orange except area between ocelli black; propleuron completely yellow; prothoracic legs yellow; mesothoracic legs yellow; T2–T4 brown laterally and yellow medially, T5–T8 yellow or light brown; minimum face width 1.2 x clypeus width; malar space length 0.7 x mandible width basally.

Comments. M. anuae resembles M. juliae in having the following combination of characters: mandibles twisted, notauli not distinctive, propodeum aerolate rugose, tarsal with large lobe, dorsope and laterope absent, and ventral borders of first tergite joined completely along ½ of segment. However, M. anuae differs from M. juliae by having vertex and occiput dark brown (orange in M. juliae ), pronotum dorsally black (completely yellow in M. juliae ), mesopleuron yellow ventrally (black-dark brown in M. juliae ), antenna with 29 flagellomeres (31–32 in M. juliae ), occipital carina complete and vein m-cu of forewing antefurcal (intersticial in M. juliae ).

Holotype. Female (point mounted) ECUADOR, Napo Province, Yanayacu Biological Station, S 00°35.9' W 77°53.4', 2163 m, collected 3 June 2010 as cocoon, host: larva of Arctiinae on Boehmeria pavonni Wedd. (Urticaceae) , parasitoid emerged 24 June 2010, YY 48650 (rearing code). Deposited at UWIM.

Paratypes. Seven females and seven males, same data as the holotype. Deposited at UWIM .

Distribution. ECUADOR, Napo Province, Yanayacu Biological Station, High Andean Cloud Forest, 2163 m.

Biology. Reared from cocoons associated with an arctiine larva on Boehmeria pavonni (Urticaceae) . Based on the collecting and emergence dates, the duration of the pupal stage is 21 days.

Etymology. This species is named after our entomologist colleague Anu Veijalainen whose research has centered on the overwhelming diversity and biogeography of Ichneumonidae of Peru.

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. M. anuae n. sp. 1) Female, habitus lateral view, 2) male, habitus lateral view, 3) female, habitus dorsal view, 4) female, head in frontal view.