Prasmodon subfuscus Fernandez-Triana & Whitfield, 2014

Fernandez-Triana, Jose L., Whitfield, James B., Smith, M. Alex, Braet, Yves, Hallwachs, Winnie & Janzen, Daniel H., 2014, Review of the Neotropical genus Prasmodon (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae), with emphasis on species from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 37, pp. 1-52 : 33-35

Prasmodon subfuscus Fernandez-Triana & Whitfield sp. n. Figs 76-81

Type locality.

BRAZIL, Rio de Janeiro, Silva Jardim.

Holotype.

#1 in CNC. Specimen labels: 1. BRAZIL, Est. Rio de Janeiro, Silva Jardim, viii.1974, F. M. Oliveira. 2. DNA Voucher CNCHYM 01961.

Description.

Male. Body length 4.5-4.6 mm. Fore wing length 5.1-5.2 mm. Body color: meso- and metasoma with brown to black areas, metasoma with most of tergites 2-8 dark brown ( Figs 77, 80, 81 ). Scape color: partially dark brown to black ( Fig. 79 ). Flagellomeres color: all flagellomeres brown to black ( Fig. 76 ). Tegula and humeral complex color: tegula pale, humeral complex dark. Metatibia color: posterior 0.1-0.3 dark brown to black ( Fig. 78 ). Metatibia spurs color: yellow-orange ( Fig. 78 ). Fore wing color pattern: uniformly and entirely infumate (except for small hyaline area near veins (RS+M)b and 2M). Fore wing veins color: all veins dark brown ( Fig. 77 ). Pterostigma color: entirely dark brown. Hypostomal carina: highly raised ( Fig. 79 ). Scutoscutellar sulcus: with 5 impressions. Hind wing subbasal cell: mostly without setae. Hind tarsal claws: with pectination (teeth) very irregular in spacing and length. Shape of mediotergite 1: distinctly narrowing posteriorly, width at posterior margin clearly less than width at anterior margin and median width ( Fig. 81 ).

Female. Unknown.

Molecular data.

Sequences in BOLD: 1, barcode compliant sequences: 0.

Biology and ecology.

Unknown.

Distribution.

Brazil, Rio de Janeiro.

Etymology.

From Latin “subfuscus” =brownish, referring to the extensive brown coloration of the species, by far the least yellow of all known species of Prasmodon .

Comments.

This species, only known from a single male, was collected in the same locality and on the same date as Prasmodon silvatlanticus , which is known only from a single female. Both specimens are morphologically distinct, with different coloration of mesosoma, mediotergite 1, metacoxa, and trochanter ( Figs 70, 73, 75 vs Figs 76, 80, 81 ), as well as shape of mediotergite 2. We have not found sexual di morphism among any of the known species of Prasmodon (other than slight variations in the color of apical flagellomeres), and thus we do not think that the differences observed represent sexual dimorphism within a single species. Further evidence to consider those two specimens as separate species is provided by DNA barcoding; even though only short sequences (164 bp) could be recovered from both of them, they differed by 15 bp (9.5%).

The exact collection locality of Prasmodon subfuscus is not clear from the original labels. "Silva Jardim" is a municipality of 938 km2 in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Within the municipality is located the "Reserva Biologica de Poço das Antas", the largest lowland Atlantic Forest reserve in the state of Rio de Janeiro, containing 50 km2 of mostly secondary, evergreen forest. The area is very diverse (e.g., it contains at least 365 plant and 77 mammal species, Brito et al. 2004). This Atlantic Forest is one of the planet’s biodiversity hotspots, with an extremely diverse and unique mix of forest types (http://www.conservation.org/where/priority_areas/hotspots/Pages/hotspots_main.aspx). Thus, it is no surprise that two species of Prasmodon species occur in that region, just as multiple species do in the ACG rain forest in Costa Rica.

Figures

Figures 76 - 81. Prasmodon subfuscus. 76 Habitus 77 Fore wing 78 Metatibia 79 Head and mesosoma (partially), lateral view 80 Head and mesosoma, dorsal view 81 Propodeum and metasoma, dorsal view.