Aleiodes (Hemigyroneuron) dubiosus (Fullaway) Areekul-Butcher & Quicke, 2011

Areekul-Butcher, Buntika & Quicke, Donald L. J., 2011, Revision of Aleiodes (Hemigyroneuron) parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Rogadinae) with reappraisal of subgeneric limits, descriptions of new species and phylogenetic analysis, Journal of Natural History 45 (21 - 24), pp. 1403-1476 : 1427-1429

Aleiodes (Hemigyroneuron) dubiosus (Fullaway) comb. nov.

( Figures 11 , 36C )

Hemigyroneuron dubiosus Fullaway, 1919: 46 .

Material examined

Holotype. Male , Papua New Guinea ( SE), “Laloki Riv. 1910 F. Muir ” ( BPBM) (photographed and examined by Shepherd Myers).

Morphology

Length of body 7.5 mm, and of fore wing 6.9 mm.

Head. Transverse; frons without pit in front of anterior ocellus but with some transverse rugae; with carinate ridge along edge next to and almost touching eye; occiput rugulose; occipital carina broadly incomplete medially.

Mesosoma . Mesoscutum coriaceous-rugulose and densely short-setose; notauli weakly impressed; mesopleuron with a large, slightly concave area; prepectal carina complete, well-developed dorsally and giving rise to distinct spur postero-dorsally; scutellar sulcus with five carinae between the outer ones.

Fore wing. Subbasal cell almost entirely glabrous and highly distorted; vein 1-CU1 1.3 times length of 2-CU1, distal half strongly and abruptly widened; vein cu-a of even thickness and strongly curved; length of veins r: 3-SR: SR1 = 1.0: 1.7: 7.8; vein 2-M

1.7 times length of r-m; vein m-cu 0.6 times length of 2-SR+M, forming angle of 130 ◦ with 3-CU1.

Hind wing. vein M+CU 0.67 times length of vein 1-M; vein 2-SC+ R obliquely transverse; vein SR distinctly angled sub-medially. Basal cell basally and posteriorly, subbasal cell largely and discal+subdiscal cell antero-basally glabrous.

Metasoma. Tergites 1, 2 and basal half of tergite 3 longitudinally striate with irregular punctures between the striae; 2nd tergite 1.55 times wider than medially long, 1.15 times longer than 3rd; tergites 4 and 5 of male with large subbasal depressions with fine pores and distinctive pattern of setae; without mid-posterior pore.

Colouration

Body and legs largely honey-yellow except: antennal flagellum dark brown; head black; 2nd metasomal tergite, most of 3rd tergite except medio-basally, lateral and anterior part of 4th tergite dark brown to black; hind femora dark brown; hind tibia yellow-brown. Wings nearly clear, wing venation, except basally and distally, and pterostigma dark brown.

Notes

This is a highly distinctive species and can be distinguished from all other members of the subgenus by the form of forewing vein 1CU-1 which comprises two halves at angles with one another and of markedly different thickness, by the very long fore wing vein 2-SR+M (compared with m-cu) and the short fore wing 2nd submarginal cell compared with vein SR1. Additionally, this species is unque among those for which males are known in lacking a glandular pore opening near the mid-posterior margins of metasomal tergites 4–6, and instead having a pair of presumably gland-release areas submedially on the anterior parts of at least the 4th and 5th tergites ( Figure 36C ).

Figures

Figure 11. Aleiodes (Hemigyroneuron) dubiosus (Fullaway), light micrographs. (A) Lateral habitus; (B) head, fronto-dorsal aspect; (C) dorsal habitus; (D) mesosoma, lateral aspect; (E) wings; (F) detail of fore wing subbasal cell.

Figure 36. Features of male tergal gland light micrographs. (A, B) Aleiodes (Hemigyroneuron) subscleroma, metasomal tergites 4 and 5 respectively, following maceration in potassium hydroxide and staining with chlorazol black, showing setae inside duct behind pore (arrows) and chitinous intima of large bilobed gland reservoir; (C) Aleiodes (Hemigyroneuron) dubiosus (Fullaway), posterior metasomal tergites showing peribasal concavities and specialised setal arrangement.