Labena tekalina González-Moreno & Bordera, 2015

González-Moreno, Alejandra, Bordera, Santiago & Sääksjärvi, Ilari Eerikki, 2015, Description of three new species of Labena Cresson from Mexico (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Labeninae), with notes on tropical species richness, Zootaxa 3948 (3), pp. 573-586 : 581-583

Labena tekalina González-Moreno & Bordera , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 E, 4A, 5A, 5C, 7)

Diagnosis. Labena tekalina can be distinguished from all New world species by the following characters in combination: antenna in dorsal view entirely black or blackish brown ( Fig. 1 E); clypeus apically with margin convex; mesopleuron centrally smooth; metapleuron without striae ( Fig. 5 A); pleural carina entirely absent below spiracle; area superomedia strongly delineated, hexagonal, relatively small, wider posteriorly than anteriorly, 1.2– 1.6 × as broad as long; area petiolaris obliterated by a long section of median longitudinal carinae ( Fig. 4 A); fore wing hyaline, slightly infuscate at distal half of marginal cell and anterior half of submarginal cell ( Fig. 1 E); tergite I orange brown, yellow at 0.3 apical ( Fig. 5 C); first sternite without a central transverse ridge; tergites III–IV with posterior margin straight not exposing membrane. Propodeum predominantly light brown with anterior carinae dark brown ( Figs 4 A, 5A). Metasoma orange brown, tergites yellow at 0.3 apical ( Fig. 1 E).

Description. Male. Body length 9–14 mm. Fore wing length 7–10 mm.

Head. In dorsal view about 1.9–2.0 × as wide as long; clypeus in anterior view, basally flat, with a broad shallow impression either side of slightly convex central apical region, with apical margin centrally strongly convex, about 1.8 × as broad as high; clypeo-facial suture and central apical region with scattered and long setae; malar space 0.40–0.45 × as long as basal width of mandible; frons flat, shiny, with very fine setiferous punctures; vertex and gena smooth and shiny with very fine setiferous punctures; gena in dorsal view short, rounded and weakly constricted behind eyes, about 0.4 × as long as eye; lower part of gena moderately broad; interocellar area elevated; posterior ocellus separated from eye by 1.0 × its own maximum diameter; distance between posterior ocelli 1.2–1.6 × the maximum diameter of posterior ocellus; occipital carina complete, reaching hypostomal carina far from base of mandible at same distance of width of mandible base; hypostomal carina from base of mandible to the union with occipital carina moderately raised; antenna with 40–45 flagellomeres elongated, apical flagellomere subtriangular with apex truncate, bearing a small flat sensillum.

Mesosoma. Pronotum smooth and shiny with upper lateral corner with dense fine setiferous punctures, lower part, glabrous; in dorsal view, with two lateromedian pits centrally; epomia absent; mesoscutum finely and very densely punctate, with notauli absent, with a very short transverse crest at anterior end; scutellum densely punctate, slightly convex, almost flat, without lateral carinae; mesopleuron smooth and shiny, lower part and upper anterior part with fine and moderately dense punctures; upper end of epicnemial carina curved towards anterior margin slightly below the centre of hind margin of pronotum; metapleuron ( Fig. 5 A) smooth and shiny, upper posterior part with very fine and moderately dense setiferous punctures, setae short; propodeum ( Figs 4 A, 5A) smooth and shiny with sparse setiferous punctures behind posterior transverse carina, denser laterally, setae long; pleural carina absent anteriorly, so that area spiracularis is open externally, present posteriorly, weaker in section enclosing area lateralis or replaced by a furrow; in dorsal view, with area superomedia strongly delineated, hexagonal, short, wider posteriorly than anteriorly, 1.2–1.6 × as broad as long; area basalis oval, 1.2–1.5 × as broad as long; area dentipara confluent with area posteroexterna; area petiolaris obliterated by a long section of median longitudinal carinae; lateral longitudinal carina complete, area externa hexagonal, fully enclosed, 0.9–1.2 × as broad as long; area lateralis transverse, ventrally quite shorter than dorsally. Mid leg with tibia not inflated, with scattered small bristles on outer surface, second tarsomere 3.3–3.7 × as long as broad and about same length of the following two tarsomeres; hind coxa about 3.1–3.3 × as long as deep; hind tibia with scattered bristles. Fore wing with areolet transverse, 0.37–0.39 × as broad as length of distal abscissa of M, with 3rs-m subequal to 2rs-m; vein Cu-a opposite to vein Rs & M or slightly basad; abscissa of Cu 1 between 1 m-cu and Cu 1 a slightly longer as Cu 1 b. Hind wing with vein Cu-a longer than abscissa of M+Cu between M and Cu 1.

Metasoma. Tergite I, 2.4–2.8 × as long as posteriorly broad, without lateromedian and lateral carinae ( Fig. 5 C); sternite I reaching 0.5 of length of tergite, without a central transverse ridge; tergite II, 1.0–1.5 × as long as posteriorly broad, with fine and very dense pubescence; tergites III–IV with posterior margin straight not exposing membrane.

Coloration ( Fig. 1 E). A predominantly light brown species. Head mostly yellow, with blackish brown marks in gena above occipital carina, a transverse band through the ocelli, and sometimes a longitudinal dark stripe centrally at occiput; scape and pedicel yellow ventrally, light brown dorsally; flagellum entirely dark brown. Mesosoma with three longitudinal orange brown marks on mesoscutum; scutoscutellar groove black; peripheries of mesoscutum with brown marks; mesopleuron with a dark brown longitudinal stripe under subtegular prominence, posteriorly and centrally with orange marks; anterior carinae of propodeum from posterior transverse carina, except abscissae closing area superomedia, dark brown. Metasoma orange brown; tergites progressively yellow at 0.3 apical. Front and mid legs yellow anteriorly. Hind leg orange with tarsus infuscate. Wings hyaline; fore wing slightly infuscate at distal half of marginal cell and anterior half of submarginal cell.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. The name is related to Tekal village, where the holotype was collected.

Phenology. Figure 7 .

Taxonomic remarks. In comparison with the other Mexican species, L. tekalina is very close to L. schausi but can be distinguished from it by the following characters in combination:

L. tekalina . Tergite I orange-brown, yellow at 0.3 apical ( Fig 5 C). Area superomedia strongly delineated, hexagonal, relatively small, wider posteriorly than anteriorly, 1.2–1.6 × as broad as long; area petiolaris obliterated by a long section of median longitudinal carinae ( Fig. 4 A). Fore wing hyaline, slightly infuscate at distal half of marginal cell and anterior half of submarginal cell ( Fig. 1 E).

L. schausi . Tergite I yellow basally and distally, orange medially, with a dorsal longitudinal black stripe ( Figs 5 E-F). Area superomedia delineated anteriorly, though often rather weakly so laterally, subquadrate and quite large, area petiolaris delineated, small ( Figs 4 C-D). Fore wing hyaline, with a black spot at distal 0.3 of marginal cell and distal half of submarginal cell ( Fig. 1 G).

This species can be distinguished from the species with unknown males, L. acerba , L. lachryma , L. morda , L. osai , L. pluvia , L. polemica and L. striata among other characters by the structure of propodeum.

Material examined. Holotype male (CER-UADY currently loaned in CEUA), Mexico, Yucatán, El Cuyo, Tekal, 18.III–01.IV.2009, Selva, TM 12, leg. González. Paratypes: Mexico, Yucatán, El Cuyo, Cementerio, 21.I– 04.II.2009, Matorral, TM 6, leg. González, 1 ♂ ( CEUA); same locality, 04–18.II.2009, Matorral, TM 6, leg. González, 2 ♂ (1 ♂ CEUA, 1 ♂ ZMUT); same locality, 18.III–01.IV.2009, Matorral, TM 5, leg. González, 1♂ (CER-UADY); same locality and date, Matorral, TM6, leg. González, 4 ♂ ( CEUA); same locality, 01–15.IV.2009, Matorral, TM6, leg. González, 3 ♂ (1 ♂ CEUA, 2 ♂ CER-UADY); El Cuyo, Tekal, 18.III–01.IV.2009, Selva, TM 12, leg. González, 1 ♂ (CER-UADY).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus of Labena spp.: A— L. littoralis (♀ holotype); B— L. marginata (♀); C— L. littoralis (♂ paratype); D— L. marginata (♂); E— L. tekalina (♂ paratype); F— L. madoricola (♂ holotype); G— L. schausi (♂).

FIGURE 4. Propodeum of Labena spp., dorsal view: A— L. tekalina (♂ holotype); B— L. madoricola (♂ paratype); C— L. schausi (♀); D— L. schausi (♂).

FIGURE 5. Propodeum and tergite I of Labena spp.: A— L. tekalina (♂ paratype), propodeum, lateral view; B— L. madoricola (♂ holotype), propodeum, lateral view; C— L. tekalina (♂ holotype), tergite I, dorsal view; D— L. madoricola (♂ paratype), tergite I, dorsal view; E— L. schausi (♀), tergite I, dorsal view; F— L. schausi (♂), tergite I, dorsal view.

FIGURE 7. Phenology of L. tekalina.