The New World ant parasitoid genus Orasema (Hymenoptera: Eucharitidae)
Author
Baker, Austin J.
Author
Heraty, John M.
text
Zootaxa
2020
2020-11-30
4888
1
1
84
journal article
9442
10.11646/zootaxa.4888.1.1
da69a4c8-2962-4d6d-9abf-627b77bb9116
1175-5326
4297699
574A35A5-A551-4A7E-B2BC-481D703B1BE7
Orasema violacea
Ashmead
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:
B4A7D285-5759-413D-AF1D-97C8CD7E450C
(
Figs 7B
,
10
)
Orasema violacea
Ashmead 1888: 187–188
.
Orasema violacea
;
Gahan 1940: 445–446
. Redescription and identification key.
FIGURE 10
.
Orasema violacea
. Female (UCRCENT00411756):
A
, habitus, lateral;
B
, head, anterior;
C
, mesosoma, lateral;
D
, antenna;
F
, mesosoma, dorsal;
G
, propodeum, posterior. Male (UCRCENT00248390):
E
, antenna.
Diagnosis.
Distinguished from
O. scaura
by having five tarsomeres and the length of the flagellum as long as or longer than the height of the head, and from
O. iridescens
by having a shorter female petiole (PTL:PTW = 0.9–1.2
versus
2.1–3.0 in
O. iridescens
), shorter/wider antenna (female F2L:F2W = 1.3–1.6
versus
2.0–
2.5 in
O. iridescens
), and setose eyes (
Fig. 10B
).
This species is most similar to
O. coloradensis
, but is distinguished by more coarsely areolate sculpture on the mesoscutal midlobe compared to the costate sculpture in
O. coloradensis
and other members of the group (
Fig. 7
).
Orasema violacea
also tends to have a larger body size than most, but not all, specimens of
O. coloradensis
.
Description. Female.
Length
3.3–3.8 mm
(
Fig. 10A
).
Color.
Head and mesosoma blue, green, or some com-bination. Scape, pedicel, anellus, and flagellum brown. Coxae iridescent blue-green; femora mostly brown with iridescence, tips pale; tibiae yellow. Gaster same as mesosoma or brown with iridescent reflections.
Head
(
Fig. 10B
). HW:HH = 1.1–1.2; face rugose-reticulate; eyes sparsely setose, IOD:EH = 1.5–1.6; MS:EH = 0.7–0.8; supraclypeal area as long as broad, equal to length of clypeus, weakly rugose. Labrum with 4 digits. Occiput with dorsal margin abrupt. Pedicel globose, as broad as F1. FL:HH = 1.0–1.2; F2L:F2W = 1.3–1.6, F2L:F3L = 1.3–1.5 (
Fig. 10D
).
Mesosoma
(
Fig. 10C, F
). ML:MH = 1.2–1.4. Mesoscutal midlobe rugose-areolate to areolate-reticulate, sparsely setose; lateral lobe rugose-reticulate. Axilla areolate-reticulate, dorsally rounded, on roughly same plane as mesoscutellum; scutoscutellar sulcus broad, irregularly foveate, and broadly separated from transscutal articulation; mesoscutellar disc areolate-reticulate; frenal line irregularly foveate; frenum areolate-reticulate; axillular sulcus distinct and foveate; axillula areolate-reticulate. Propodeal disc flat, rugose-areolate, without median carina (
Fig. 10G
); callus areolate-reticulate, densely setose. Propleuron reticulate. Prepectus areolate-reticulate. Mesepisternum, upper-, and lower mesepimeron reticulate; transepimeral sulcus weakly impressed. Metepisternum laterally reticulate. HCL:HCW = 1.5–1.8, reticulate; HFL:HFW = 4.4–4.8. FWL:FWW = 2.2–2.4, FWL:ML = 1.6–1.7; submarginal vein with several long setae; postmarginal vein slightly longer than stigmal vein.
Metasoma.
Petiole broad, linear in profile, PTL:PTW = 0.9–1.2, PTL:HCL = 0.7–0.8, areolate-reticulate, lateral margin with longitudinal carina continuous with basal flange, ventral sulcus absent. First (ventral) valvula with 6–8 small, narrowly separated teeth, second (dorsal) valvula with 8–10 annuli that are narrowly separated dorsally, the carinae coalescing.
Male.
Length
2.8–3.1 mm
. HW:HH = 1.1–1.3. Scape brown; FL:HH = 1.3; anellus disc-shaped; F2L:F2W = 1.3–1.5 (
Fig. 10E
). Femora mostly brown, tips pale; tibiae yellow. PTL:PTW = 1.7–2.3, PTL:HCL = 1.0–1.3.
Hosts.
Unknown.
Plant associates.
Unknown.
Distribution
(
Fig. 5
).
United States
: FL. Collected June–July.
Material examined.
Holotype
.
UNITED STATES
.
Florida
:
Eastern Florida
[
♀
, deposited in USNM: USN-MENT00809466, type images: http://n
2t
.net/ark:/65665/3b0c20be4-0882-4c1b-ad6a-a0987be4f0ce]
.
Additional
material examined.
UNITED STATES
.
Florida
:
Franklin Co.
,
St. George State Park
,
29
°
44’46”N
,
84
°
52’8”W
,
13.vi.1980
, L. Stange [1³, FSCA: UCRCENT00411767]. Levy Co.,
29
°
19’12”N
,
82
°
44’24”W
,
22.vi.1957
, H.V. Weems, Jr. [3³, FSCA: UCRCENT00411765, LACM: UCRCENT00305126, USNM: UCRCENT00248390];
3.vii.1954
[
2♀
, USNM: UCRCENT00248392–93];
3.vii.1958
[
1♀
, FSCA: UCRCENT00411754];
7.vii.1955
[
1♀
, FSCA: UCRCENT00411756].
Discussion.
Specimens of
O. coloradensis
from
Florida
show a large amount of morphological variation with some specimens quite similar overall to those of
O. violacea
, making the two species occasionally difficult to distinguish (
Fig. 7B
). This may indicate that
O. violacea
and
O. coloradensis
are conspecific or, if separate, that some introgression between the two may occur in
Florida
. Without molecular data for
O. violacea
to confirm or reject these hypotheses, it seems inappropriate at this time to synonymize these species. There is a specimen of
O. coloradensis
worth noting (USNM: UCRCENT00248391) that was collected by Ashmead from the
O. violacea
type
locality, eastern
Florida
, but has no additional label information. The few specimens examined that were determined to be
O. violacea
were mostly collected in the 1950s with a single specimen collected in 1980. Multiple recent attempts failed to collect fresh specimens, which, given the context of the changing ant fauna in
Florida
(especially
Solenopsis
, one of the hosts for
O. coloradensis
), may indicate extinction of the species.