Apanteles crassus Liu & Chen, 2020

Liu, Zhen, He, Jun-Hua, Chen, Xue-Xin & Gupta, Ankita, 2020, The ater-group of the genus Apanteles Foerster (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from China with the descriptions of forty-eight new species, Zootaxa 4807 (1), pp. 1-205 : 63-65

Apanteles crassus Liu & Chen , sp. nov.

( Figures 28 , 99 )

Description. Holotype. Female. Body length 2.3 mm, fore wing length 2.7 mm.

Head. Transverse in dorsal view, nearly 2.2× as wide as long, 1.2× wider than mesoscutum. Vertex between eye and posterior ocellus dull with small, even punctures. Temple rough with shallow punctures, strongly constricted. Face nearly 0.9× as high as wide, slightly shiny, rough with shallow punctures, inner margin of eyes subparallelsided. Ocelli large, posterior tangent to anterior ocellus transecting posterior ocelli, distance between fore and hind ocellus slightly shorter than diameter of hind ocellus, POL:OD:OOL=3.8:2.5:4.5. Antenna much longer than body length, closely articulated, penultimate flagellomere 1.8× longer than wide.

Mesosoma. Length:width:height = 41.0:38.0:25.0. Disc of mesonotum dull with strong, close punctures, interspaces much smaller than diameter of puncture, turns to be coarser at posterior end of notaulic courses, and no longitudinal striations, there being polished subtriangular zone at very hind. Scutellar sulcus strongly curved, narrow with sparse carinae inside. Scutellum dull with dense, strong, but coarser punctures as mesoscutum, median length indistinctly longer than basal width. Lateral polished field of scutellum reaching over half length of scutellum. Propodeum slightly shiny, areola incomplete with small V-shaped apically, deeply impressed inside, weakly rugulose around areola, costulae absent, spiracle partly enclosed by keel behind, with some transversal carinae behind spiracle, and with irregular short carinae posterio-laterally. Mesopleuron shiny only at apex, anterior most parts dull, subrugulose-punctate, finely strigulate on and above sternaulus.

Legs. Hind femur much thinner, 3.6× longer than wide. Hind coxa shiny, densely punctate above (basally). Spines on outer side of third tibia stout, not dense. Inner spurs of hind tibia 2/5 length of hind basitarsus, outer spur 1/4. Basitarsus of hind leg about as long as tarsomeres 2–4 combined, claws of normal size.

Wings. Pterostigma 3.1× as long as its widest part. Vein 1-R1 1.3× longer than pterostigma, 4.3× as long as its distance from apex of marginal cell. Vein r arising slightly behind middle of pterostigma, nearly perpendicular to the latter, 0.7× as long as width of pterostigma, r as long as 2-SR, distinctly angled at junction, 2-M nearly as long as 2-SR, weakly longer than 1-SR and 2-SR+M, cu-a 1.3× longer than 2-SR. First discal cell of fore wing much wider, over 1.3× wider than high. Second submarginal cell of hind wing high, 1.8× higher than wide. Vein cu-a curved. Hind wing narrow, length of 1-M indistinctly longer than distance between its distal extremity and apex of vannal lobe, and vannal lobe beyond its widest part somewhat convex and with a fringe of setae.

Metasoma. Nearly as long as mesosoma. T1 parallel-sided, weakly constricted at apical fourth, rather long and narrow, nearly 3.4× longer than hind width, concave at basal third, turned-over part dull and strongly rugose, scattered with some indefinite punctures, longitudinal trough irregularly rugose, not deep, and apical tubercle shiny and polished. T2 slightly shiny and smooth, except weakly rugulose laterally, 3.0× wider than long in the middle, curved into T3 apically. T3 2.2× longer than T2. Tergites posterior to T2 slightly shiny, smooth and pubescent. Hypopygium much longer than apex of metasoma. Ovipositor sheath weakly (1.1×) longer than length of hind tibia, relatively narrow, apical attenuation of ovipositor indistinct and short.

Colour. Black, except Tergites mostly brownish. Tegula brown. Palpi and spurs pale yellowish. Antenna and ovipositor sheath dark brown. Labrum and mandible dark brown. Legs dingy yellow (including hind coxa), except extreme apex of hind tibia and tarsus brownish. Wing membrane hyaline, distinctly brownish, C+SC+R, 1-R1, upper border of pterostigma, r, 2-SR and 2-M brown, the rest more or less pale brown, pterostigma somewhat pallid, pale brown.

Variation. Body length 1.9–2.3 mm, fore wing length 2.3–2.7 mm.

Male. Unknown.

Material examined. Holotype: 1♀, Shaoxing , Guangdong, 1992.V.11, Chen Xuexin, No. 921373 . Paratypes: 1♀, Mt. Wuyi, Chong’an , Fujian, 1989.VIII.5–10, He Junhua, No. 894749 ; 1♀, Changqiangou, Xishui , Guizhou, 2000.IX.29, Ma Yun, No. 200102797 .

Distribution. China (Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou).

Etymology. The specific name “ crassus ” derives from the Latin, referring to the thick mesosoma.

Remarks. This species is closely similar to A. coretas Nixon , but differs in the following: top of head slightly shiny (highly polished in latter); propodeum not strongly areolated (strongly areolated in latter); and hind coxa bright yellow (deeply infuscate throughout in latter).

Figures

FIGURE 28. Apanteles crassus Liu & Chen, sp. nov. Holotype. a. habitus, dorsal view; b. fore wing; c. propodeum; d. head, dorsal view; e. mesopleuron; f. head, frontal view; g. mesonotum and scutellum, dorsal view; h. metasoma, dorsal view; i. hind wing. Scale line = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 99. 17–32: Distribution map of ater-group of the genus Apanteles Foerster, 1862. 17: A. brevitempus Liu & Chen, sp. nov.; 18: A. brunnistigma Abdinbekova, 1969; 19: A. bulbus Liu & Chen, sp. nov.; 20: A. cannabis Liu & Chen, sp. nov.; 21: A. carpatus (Say, 1836); 22: A. carssus Liu & Chen, sp. nov.; 23: A. cerberus Nixon, 1965; 24: A. changhingensis Chu, 1937; 25: A. chloris Nixon, 1965; 26: A. clita Nixon, 1965; 27: A. cocotis Wilkinson, 1934; 28: A. crassus Liu & Chen, sp. nov.; 29: A. cyprioides Nixon, 1965; 30: A. cypris Nixon, 1965; 31: A. demades Nixon, 1965; 32: A. diocles Nixon, 1965.