Glyptapanteles ruhri Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin, 2022

Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P., McCLELLAND, Alana R., Bird, Andrew J., Giannotta, Madalene M., Bradford, Tessa M. & Austin, Andrew D., 2022, Systematic revision of the parasitoid wasp genus Glyptapanteles Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) for Australia results in a ten-fold increase in species, European Journal of Taxonomy 792 (1), pp. 1-116 : 101-103

Glyptapanteles ruhri Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:983624B0-EA3C-4AA3-B31B-54955164B7CB

Figs 13B , 50

Diagnosis

Glyptapanteles ruhri sp. nov. is in the G. arcanus species group and can be separated from the other members of the species group, other than from Glyptapanteles rodriguezae sp. nov., by having the hind femur pale in colouration, the propodeum punctate with smooth areas between punctures and with little-tono rugosity and T1 punctured in the posterior half. There was no external morphological character found which easily separates G. ruhri sp. nov. from G. rodriguezae sp. nov. and we do not provide a morphological diagnosis between these two species. The two species are sister lineages in the current phylogeny ( Fig. 2 ), but Glyptapanteles ruhri sp. nov. is 6 bp different in the wingless sequence from G. rodriguezae sp. nov. and>6% divergent in the COI barcode and we therefore feel confident that they are different species.

Etymology

Named for researcher Peter Rühr, who was part of the collection of the type specimen and contributed to the success of a field trip in northern QLD in 2019 that led to the collection of many important microgastrine specimens.

Material examined

Holotype AUSTRALIA • ♀; Queensland, Hallorans Hill Lookout, Atherton ; -17.268, 145.4917268; 858 m a.s.l.; 21 Nov. 2019; E. Fagan-Jeffries, J.B. Dorey and P. Rühr leg.; sweeping vegetation; Extraction1198, BOLD: AUGLY071-21; QM T250986 .

Paratypes AUSTRALIA – Queensland • 1 ♂; Woonoonooroon National Park scenic drive ; -17.585, 145.7028957; 674 m a.s.l.; 21 Nov. 2019; E. Fagan-Jeffries, J.B. Dorey and P. Rühr leg.; sweeping vegetation; Extraction832, BOLD: AUGLY001-21; QM T250987 • 1 ♂; same collection data as for preceding; Extraction844, BOLD: AUGLY002-21; QM T250988 • 1 ♀ (ethanol); Lamington National Park ; -28.21, 153.139; 474 m a.s.l.; 9–19 Apr. 2007; C. Lambkin and N. Starick leg.; IBISCA Plot # IQ- 500-C rainforest Malaise trap; Extraction636, BOLD: AUMIC418-18; QM T208406 • 1 ♀; Lamington National Park ; -28.148, 153.137; 267 m a.s.l.; 8–18 Jul. 2007; C. Lambkin and N. Starick leg.; IBISCA Plot # IQ-300-A rainforest Malaise trap; Extraction639, BOLD: AUMIC420-18; QM T208407 .

Description

Female

COLOURATION. Gena without a pale spot; labrum pale or reddish-brown; scape colour in ventral half uniformly paler than flagellomeres;flagellomeres all black/dark brown or uniformly reddish-brown; tegula pale; wing veins uniformly black or brown, or with small lighter area proximally; anteromesoscutum all dark or dark with significant orange patches on posterolateral corners; scutellar disk and metanotum dark; propodeum dark; fore coxa white; mid coxa white; hind coxa dark; fore femur pale yellow; mid femur pale yellow; hind femur pale yellow; fore tibia pale yellow; mid tibia pale yellow; hind tibia darkening posteriorly; hind basitarsus light brown; T1 dark; T2 sclerotised area dark or dark reddish-brown; T2 lateral area same colour as sclerotised area, or only slightly paler or dark extends past indentation, but then pale; T3 dark or uniformly brown; T4+ dark or reddish-brown.

HOLOTYPE BODY MEASUREMENTS. Body length 1.9 mm; fore wing length 2.1 mm; antennal length slightly longer than body length.

HEAD. Antennal flagellomere 14 length/width 1.57–2.00; antennal flagellomere 2 length/width 2.62– 3.00; OOD/POD 1.57–1.71; IOD/POD 1.43.

MESOSOMA. Anteromesoscutum sculpturing with very sparse, deep punctures; scutellar disk sculpturing with only very shallow punctures, smooth and shiny; 9–10 pits in scutellar sulcus; propodeum with median carina absent, irregular rugose sculpturing along centre line with punctures in anterior half of propodeum, postero-lateral areas smooth or median carina absent, propodeum mostly punctate with some irregular shallow rugosity in centre, postero-lateral corners smooth and shiny.

WINGS. Pterostigma length 0.53 mm; pterostigma width 0.16 mm; r 0.22 mm; 2RS 0.14 mm; 2m 0.08 mm; (RS+M)b 0.06 mm.

METASOMA. T1 lateral edges parallel for anterior 3/4 of length, then narrowing posteriorly; T1 mostly smooth, some punctures in posterior half; T1 length 0.30 mm; T1 width at posterior edge 0.14 mm; T2 an isosceles trapezoid, lateral edges straight; T2 smooth and shiny, or smooth with some very shallow punctures in posterior half; T2 length 0.14 mm; T2 width at posterior edge 0.2 mm; ovipositor slightly protruding from end of metasoma.

Male

As female, 7–10 pits in scutellar sulcus.

Remarks

Glyptapanteles ruhri sp. nov. constitutes BIN BOLD:ADL3583 and is 6.25% (p-dist.) divergent from the closet BIN in the database (BOLD:AAU5026; Glyptapanteles rodriguezae sp. nov.).

Using the BOLD Batch ID engine, the COI barcode of the holotype is 6.4% different from the most similar COI sequence from an Australian specimen (BOLD: ASQAS187-11, which was not included in the original study and AUGLY062-21; Glyptapanteles rodriguezae sp. nov.). All five type specimens were sequenced for the wingless gene, which is identical among the type specimens and differs by a minimum of 6 bp from all other species with available sequence data.

Distribution

This species is known from a significant stretch of eastern QLD, from Atherton in northern QLD to Lamington National Park, south of Brisbane.

Figures

Fig. 13. A. Glyptapanteles deliasa Austin & Dangerfield, 1992, paratype, ♀ (WINC), ventral half of antennal scape darker than flagellomeres. B. G. ruhri Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (QM T250986), ventral half of antennal scape paler than flagellomeres.

Fig. 50. Glyptapanteles ruhri Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (QM T250986). A. Lateral habitus. B. Dorsal habitus. C. Anterior head. D. Fore wing. E. Dorsal head. F. Lateral head.

Fig. 2. Maximum likelihood phylogeny constructed using IQ-TREE ver. 1.6.12 of a concatenated COI and wingless alignment including Glyptapanteles Ashmead, 1904 from Australia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, with specimens of Cotesia Cameron, 1891 from Australia included for contextual placement of the genus. Branch support values are given as SH-aLRT support (%) / ultrafast bootstrap support (%), with symbols representing value ranges as follows: * = 96–100; • = 91–95; ^ = 85–90; - = <85.