Eriborus elgonensis, Vas, 2022

Vas, Zoltán, 2022, Contributions To The Taxonomy And Biogeography Of Afrotropical Eriborus Förster, 1869 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Campopleginae), Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 68 (2), pp. 169-178 : 170-173

Eriborus elgonensis sp. n.

( Figs 1–3 )

Type material – Holotype: female, Kenya, Mt. Elgon Nat. P. [= National Park], bamboo ( Arundinaria alpina ) thicket, 2740m, 20.I.1992, leg. O. Merkl & G. Várkonyi, swept, No. 491; specimen card-mounted, left flagellum, fore and middle legs on left side missing, Id. No. HN- HM-HYM 155120 . – Paratype: male, same locality and collecting data, specimen card-mount- ed, Id. No. HNHM-HYM 155121 . – The holotype and the paratype are deposited in HNHM .

Diagnosis – The new species can be identified by the combination of the following characters: gena in dorsal view 0.6–0.7× as long as eye width, weakly, roundly narrowed behind eyes; malar space 0.6× as long as basal width of mandible; propodeal carinae complete, except the median section of posterior transverse carina; area basalis triangular; area superomedia pentagonal, relatively wide, slightly longer than its greatest width, posteriorly opened; fore wing without areolet, 2 rs-m shorter than abscissa of M between 2 rs-m and 2 mcu, nervulus weakly postfurcal; ovipositor sheath 1.5× as long as hind tibia; scapus and pedicellus ventrally more or less yellowish; tegula yellow; metasoma black; fore and middle legs predominantly orange; hind coxa black, femur and tibia predominantly orange, more or less infuscate.

Description – Female ( Figs 1–3 ). Body length ca. 4.5 mm, fore wing length ca. 3.5 mm.

Head: Antenna with 24 flagellomeres; first flagellomere 4× as long as its apical width; preapical flagellomeres longer than wide. Head transverse, matt, granulate with weak, indistinct punctures on clypeus; hairs rather short, on face and clypeus somewhat longer. Ocelli small, ocular-ocellar distance 1.3× as long as ocellus diameter, distance between lateral ocelli 1.5× as long as ocellus diameter. Inner eye orbits slightly indented opposite toruli, slightly convergent ventrally. Gena relatively long, in dorsal view 0.6–0.7× as long as eye width, weakly, roundly narrowed behind eyes. Occipital carina complete, reaching hypostomal carina little before base of mandible; hypostomal carina elevated. Frons flat, slightly impressed above toruli, median longitudinal carina not developed. Face and clypeus almost flat in profile, clypeus very weakly separated from face, moderately wide, its apical margin weakly convex, moderately blunt. Malar space 0.6× as long as basal width of mandible. Mandible moderately strong, lower margin with a relatively narrow flange from base towards teeth, flange gradually narrowed before teeth; upper mandibular tooth slightly longer and wider than lower tooth.

Mesosoma: Mesosoma matt, granulate with weak, indistinct punctures, except punctures on mesopleuron stronger, more distinct; hairs short, dense, on propodeum little longer. Pronotum with weak traces of transverse wrinkles on ventral half, epomia discernible. Mesoscutum about as long as wide, convex in profile; notaulus absent. Scuto-scutellar groove wide and deep. Scutellum convex in profile, lateral carinae absent. Speculum relatively small, finely granulate to almost smooth, subpolished. Epicnemial carina complete, pleural part bent to anterior margin of mesopleuron reaching it at about its middle height, transversal part (i.e., the part at the level of sternaulus running through the epicnemium to the ventral edge of pronotum) not developed, ventral part (behind fore coxae) strong. Sternaulus indistinct. Posterior transverse carina of mesosternum complete. Metanotum 0.5× as long as scutellum. Metapleuron without juxtacoxal carina; submetapleural carina complete, elevated. Pleural carina of propodeum strong; propodeal spiracle small, circular, separated from pleural carina by less than its length, connected to pleural carina by a distinct, short ridge. Propodeum convex in profile, granulate with mostly transverse rugosity on posterior half. Propodeal carinae complete, except the median section of posterior transverse carina. Area basalis triangular, slightly longer than its basal width. Area superomedia pentagonal, relatively wide, only slightly longer than its greatest width, posteriorly opened, its lateral carinae posterior to costulae convergent. Area petiolaris confluent with area superomedia, relatively wide. Fore wing without areolet, 3 rs-m absent, second recurrent vein (2 m-cu) postfurcal, intercubitus (2 rs-m) shorter than abscissa of M between 2 rs-m and 2 m-cu; distal abscissa of Rs almost straight, at extreme apex weakly curved towards wing margin; nervulus (cu-a) postfurcal by about its width, slightly inclivous; postnervulus (abscissa of Cu 1 between 1 m-cu and Cu 1a + Cu 1b) intercepted little above its middle by Cu 1a; lower external angle of second discal cell acute. Hind wing with nervellus (cu-a + abscissa of Cu 1 between M and cu-a) about vertical, not intercepted by discoidella (Cu 1); discoidella spectral, proximally not connected to nervellus. Coxae granulate. Hind femur ca. 5.5× as long as high. Inner spur of hind tibia ca. 0.6× as long as first tarsomere of hind tarsus. Hind basitarsus with a midventral row of closely spaced, short hairs (appearing as a darker, more or less scaly, inconspicuous line). Tarsal claws small, about as long as arolium, basal half pectinate.

Metasoma: Metasoma moderately compressed, finely granulate to shagreened, and with dense, short hairs. First tergite almost 3× as long as width of its apical margin; glymma moderately strong; dorsomedian carinae of first tergite weak. Second tergite relatively stout, 1.2–1.3× as long as its apical width; thyridium oval, relatively large, its distance from basal margin of tergite ca. 0.7× as long as its length. Posterior margins of apical tergites not excised. Ovipositor sheath long, 1.5× as long as hind tibia; ovipositor compressed, strong, evenly upcurved, dorsal preapical notch distinct.

Colour: Antenna dark brown, except scapus and pedicellus ventrally partly yellowish. Head black, except palpi and mandible yellow, mandibular teeth dark reddish brown. Mesosoma black, except tegula yellow. Metasoma black. Wings hyaline, wing veins brown, pterostigma light brown. Fore leg orange, except coxa, trochanter and trochantellus yellowish, apical tarsomeres darkened. Middle leg orange, except coxa black, apically narrowly yellowish, trochanter and trochantellus yellowish, apical tarsomeres darkened. Hind leg: coxa black; trochanter dark brown, apically very narrowly yellowish; trochantellus yellowish; femur reddish orange, basally weakly darkened; tibia orange, basally and apically slightly darkened; tarsus orange-brown, apical tarsomeres darkened.

Male: Similar to female in all characters described above, except: ocular-ocellar distance 1.5× as long as ocellus diameter, distance between lateral ocelli 1.2× as long as ocellus diameter; punctures on mesopleuron weaker, speculum larger and smoother than in female; costulae partly obsolescent; area superomedia somewhat narrower and more elongate than in female; thyridium smaller, its distance from basal margin of tergite about as long as its length; scapus and pedicellus ventrally predominantly brownish; middle coxa extensively orange; middle and hind femora and tibiae more or less infuscate.

Distribution – Kenya.

Etymology – The specific epithet elgonensis is the masculine form of the Latin adjective elgonensis , -is, -e meaning from (Mt.) Elgon; it refers to the type locality of the new species.

Remarks on identification – Among the Afrotropical Eriborus species the new species is most similar to Eriborus pallipes ( Brullé, 1846) ; however, the new species can be readily distinguished from that species by its well-developed propodeal carinae and long, weakly narrowed gena (propodeal carination strongly reduced and gena short, strongly narrowed in Eriborus pallipes ( Brullé, 1846)) .

Figures

Figs 1–3. Eriborus elgonensis sp. n., holotype female: 1 = lateral habitus (scale bar = 1 mm); 2 = gena in dorsal view; 3 = propodeum in dorsal view