Bathyaulax ramosus, Kaartinen & Quicke, 2007

Kaartinen, Riikka & Quicke, Donald L. J., 2007, A revision of the parasitic wasp genus Bathyaulax Szépligeti (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Braconinae) from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, Journal of Natural History 41 (1 - 4), pp. 125-212 : 193-194

Bathyaulax ramosus sp. nov.

( Figures 98, 99 )

Material examined

Holotype: female ( BMNH): South Africa, Bethanie , 17.– 18.1.1972.

Description

Female: Length of body 17 mm, of fore wing 15 mm, of ovipositor 16 mm.

Antennae with 81 flagellomeres, terminal flagellomere 2.8 times longer than wide. Height of clypeus:inter-tentorial distance:tentorio-ocular distance51.0:4.7:3.3. Width of face:width of head:height of eye51.3:2.1:1.0. Height of face:width of face51.0:1.8. Sculpture on face punctate. Clypeus rugose. Frons depressed, smooth, with medial longitudal groove. POL:transverse diameter of posterior ocellus:shortest distance between posterior ocellus and eye51.1:1.0:2.8. Length of eye in dorsal view:distance of occiput and posterior margin of eye51.4:1.0.

Mesosoma approximately 1.8 times longer than maximally deep.

Fore wing: length of veins r:3-SR:SR151.0:3.1:3.9. Length of veins 2-SR:3-SR:rm51.0:2.5:2.0. Length of veins m-cu:2-M51.0:3.2. Length of veins 1-CU1:2- CU151.0:6.0. Shape of vein 1-SR+M straight. Swelling in vein 3-CU1 1.3 times thicker than the other part of the vein.

Legs: Length of fore femur:tibia:tarsus52.2:2.6:1.0. Fore basitarsus 5.3 times longer than deep. Length of hind femur:tibia:tarsus52.1:3.0:1.0. Hind basitarsus 6.5 times longer than deep.

First metasomal tergite 1.6 times longer than wide; raised median smooth and posteriorly strigose. Second tergite 1.9 times wider than long; antero-medial triangular area raised and smooth. From the apical end of the triangle continues a ridge towards posterior margin, and some additional ridges branching from it postero-laterally forming a conspicuous pattern. Third tergite 2.0 times wider than long; with strigated transverse furrows on anterior and subposterior margins, raised median area rugose, antero-lateral areas smooth and connected medially with a ridge. Tergites four and five with strigated transverse furrows on anterior and subposterior margins, medial and antero-lateral areas smooth and raised. Tergites six to eight smooth.

Yellow except for the following which are black: antenna, temples and dorsal side of the head, occiput, apex of mandibles and ovipositor sheets. Both wings darkened with hyaline area in fore wing below pterostigma. About apical half of pterostigma darkened.

Etymology

Named after the branching ridges on second metasomal tergite.

Figures

Figures 96–99. Automontageș images of Bathyaulax species. (96, 97) B. pippolaensis, metasomal tergites 2–4 and metasomal tergites 4–6. (98, 99) B. ramosus, head and metasomal tergites 2–4.