Pristomerus swahili, Rousse & Noort, 2015

Rousse, Pascal & Noort, Simon van, 2015, Revision of the Afrotropical species of Pristomerus (Ichneumonidae: Cremastinae), with descriptions of 31 new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 124, pp. 1-129 : 97-99

Pristomerus swahili sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B90C65C9-093B-40C9-9660-A53CF0A4CCB7

Fig. 36

Diagnosis

Moderate size; yellow to yellowish-orange with numerous dorsal black markings; trochanters and femora apically white-dotted, anterior edge of pterostigma whitish; face densely and shallowly punctate, sculpture smoother on remainder of head; clypeus weakly transverse, long; malar line short; antenna with 27–29 flagellomeres; mesosoma laterally moderately to densely and finely punctate with almost entire pronotum and ventral half of speculum smooth; mesoscutum alutaceous with punctures along notaulus line; scutellum quite smooth; propodeum mostly densely punctate; femoral tooth strong; ovipositor moderately short, apically moderately sinuous. Male unknown.

Differential diagnosis

Moderately sized, mostly yellowish to orange with numerous black markings dorsally; differentiated from all other Pristomerus species in the Afrotropical region by the combination of the quite smooth scutellum, the almost entirely smooth pronotum, the mostly coriaceous mesoscutum and the strong female femoral tooth.

Type material

Holotype

KENYA: ♀, “ KENYA, Tsavo Safari Lodge , Athi River, 518 m, 2°38.529’S 38°21.984’E, 19.vii.2008, S. van Noort, UG08–KEN–S02, Sweep, savanna woodland, SAM–HYM–P047411” ( SAMC).

Paratypes

KENYA: 2 ♀♀, same label data; 1 ♀, “Kenya, Ruma National Park, 1250 m, 0°39.121’S 34°19.417’E, 26 July 2008, S. van Noort, UG 08–KEN–S09, sweep, savanna woodland, SAM–HYM–P047412” ( SAMC).

Description

Female (4 specimens)

B 6.7–7.1; A 4.4–4.8; F 4.0–4.7; CT 1.6; ML 0.4; POL 0.9; OOL 1.0; Fl n-1 1.3; ASM 1.7; OT 1.4–1.6; FFT 2.

COLOUR. Yellowish-orange to reddish-orange, with yellow and black markings; yellow to pale yellow: clypeus, mandible, facial orbits, lower gena, and sometimes pronotum, fore and mid legs; black: inter- ocellar area, occiput more or less extensively, mesosoma postero-dorsally, most of tergites 1–2 and a large basal part of following tergites; base and apex of hind tibia strongly infuscate; trochanters and femora apically white-dotted; wings hyaline, venation brownish, anterior edge of pterostigma whitish.

HEAD. Face densely and shallowly punctate, punctation sparser on median bulge; inner margins of eyes barely converging ventrally; clypeus weakly transverse, long, nearly smooth with few punctures; malar line short; frons moderately and shallowly punctate; vertex and temple finely coriaceous; occipital carina joining hypostomal carina distinctly above mandible base; antenna with 27–29 flagellomeres.

MESOSOMA. Pronotum nearly smooth with anterior margin weakly crenulate and some punctures along posterior and dorsal margins; mesopleuron moderately punctate, with an oblique striate furrow below speculum, ventral half of speculum smooth; punctation slightly denser and coarser on metapleuron; mesoscutum alutaceous, somewhat longitudinally rugose posteriorly, with punctures along notaulus; notaulus moderate; scutellum quite smooth; propodeum moderately and deeply punctate, area superomedia centrally smoother and relatively short, area petiolaris transversely strigose. Legs. Femoral tooth strong, higher than basally wide, followed by a row of denticles.

METASOMA. Tergite 2 and apical half of tergite 1 aciculate; following tergites coriaceous; thyridium subelliptic, its main axis longitudinal; ovipositor moderately short, apically moderately sinuous.

Male

Unknown.

Distribution

Kenya.

Figures

Fig. 36. Pristomerus swahili sp. nov. Holotype, ♀. A. Habitus, lateral view. B. Head, mesosoma, dorsal view. C. Head, anterior view. D. Propodeum, dorsal view. E. Mesosoma, lateral view. F. Hind tibia, lateral view (inset: data labels).