Meteorus caritatis Jones

Jones, Guinevere Z. & Shaw, Scott R., 2012, Ten new species of Meteorus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from Ecuador reared at the Yanayacu Biological Center for Creative Studies, Zootaxa 3547, pp. 1-23 : 6

Meteorus caritatis Jones , new species

( Figs 8–11 )

Holotype Female. Body length 3.2 mm; fore wing length 3.0 mm.

Body color: Orange head, ocellar patch black, antennae dark brown; mandibles cream with teeth brown; palpi cream; dorsal mesonotum black; in lateral view, pronotum yellow, mesopleuron and sternaulus black, metapleuron white; in dorsal view, propodeum white except for black B-shaped marking on anterior portion, first tergite white except for scattered brown spots on posterior portion, second tergite black; entire metasoma white laterally and ventrally; hind legs black; fore coxa cream, mid-coxae cream with median brown patch, hind-coxae black; fore legs yellowish, mid legs except for coxae white, hind legs black except for white trochantellus; transparent, densely setose brown wings with brown venation; black mesonotum; ovipositor light brown with brown sheath.

Head: Antenna with 32 flagellomeres; flagellar length/width rations as follows: F1 = 3.7, F2 = 3.0, F3 = 3.0, F30 = 2.0, F31 = 1.8, F32 = 2.4; ocelli small OCOD 1.5 X OCD; eyes small and nearly parallel with head height 1.7 X eye height and maximum face width to minimum face width ratio 1.2; minimum face width to clypeus width ratio 1.1; malar space length 3.4 X mandible width; mandibles strongly twisted; clypeus lightly longitudinally rugose; face and frons smooth; occipital carina complete.

Mesosoma: Defined notauli and mesonotal lobes; pronotum with distinct perimeter furrows; mesopleuron smooth; metapleuron foveolate; propodeum areolate-rugose.

Legs: Smooth hind coxae with white apical depression; tarsal claws simple.

Wings: Vein r 1.3 X length of 3 RSa; (RS + M)b present, 2.5 times shorter than r vein; densely setose; anterior end of second submarginal cell extremely narrow.

Metasoma: Ovipositor long, 2.0 times longer than first tergite.

Cocoon ( Fig. 11 ). Pale brown; ovoid; heavily baled with silk; cap 3 mm long, nipple paler than corpus and cap; corpus 5 mm long; short, suspending thread attached to posterior end of corpus.

Material examined.

Holotype female: Ecuador: Napo Province, Yanayacu Biological Station, S 00°35.9’ W 77°53.4’, 2163 m, collected 3 May 2006, Yanayacu Road, parasitoid pupation date unknown, adult wasp emerged 30 June 2006. Deposited in UWIM. Specimen reared at Yanayacu with database number YY #14222.

Distribution. Known only from the holotype locality in Napo Province, Ecuador.

Biology. Meterous caritatis is a solitary species ovipositing into the larva of Nymphalidae : Daedalma dinias Hewitson. This caterpillar was found feeding on the native bamboo, Chusquea scandens (Poaceae) . At this site, D. dinias is recorded as also being a host for Glyptapanteles spp . of microgastrine braconids (http://caterpillars.unr.edu).

Etymology. From the Latin word for love, esteem and regard, to reflect GJ’s passion for the subject.

Comments. With the anterior end of the second submarginal cell so narrow, there is a resemblance to the gregarious Costa Rican M. papiliovorus Zitani et al. (1997) , another butterfly parasitoid that also has a short, suspending silk thread on the cocoon. In terms of body color, M. caritatis is superficially similar to M. oreo due to the white propodeum and first tergite, but different to the orange head of M. caritatis .

Figures

FIGURES 8 – 11. 8. — Lateral habitus of Meteorus caritatis, new species: holotype female; 9. — Face of Meteorus caritatis, new species: holotype female; 10. — Dorsal view of mesosoma and metasoma of Meteorus caritatis, new species: holotype female, showing coloration; 11. — Cocoon of Meteorus caritatis, new species.