Chaenotetrastichus neotropicalis Marinho, 2019

Marinho, Diego, Costa, Valmir & Vivallo, Felipe, 2019, First record and new species of the parasitoid wasp Chaenotetrastichus Graham (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) for the Neotropical Region, with notes on its biology and a key for the species of the genus, Zootaxa 4604 (2), pp. 359-368 : 360

Chaenotetrastichus neotropicalis Marinho , Costa & Vivallo sp. nov.

Diagnosis. Paraocular area with few, sparse, weak, long setae, length of anterior leg tarsomeres 1–3 combined longer than the length of the fourth tarsal segment.

Description. Holotype female ( Figs. 1–3 ). Length (mm): 1.54 (measured from head to the tip of the last tergite), forewing length: 1.21; head max width: 0.44. Head, mesosoma and dorsal surface of metasoma metallic blue, with greenish tinge. Head almost entirely metallic green, with golden tinges on paraocular area. Vertex and occiput yellow around the toruli, clypeus and mandibles. Pedicel and scape yellow, funicle and clava brown. Compound eyes red. Mesosoma metallic green, with golden and bluish tinges on mesoscutum and scutellum. Metasoma metallic green dorsally and yellow ventrally. Legs entirely yellow ( Fig. 1 ).

Head ( Figs. 1–10 ). Slightly broader than mesosoma, 1.2 times broader than long. POL about 1.6 times OOL. Occiput sculpture coriaceous to reticulate near its dorsal surface and fully reticulate in the median area. Vertex narrow, about 0.63 times the diameter of the median ocellus, with erect setae throughout. Paraocular area with very few sparsely distributed setae, not reaching the middle height of eyes, reticulate sculpture. Toruli located at height of lower edge of eyes. Malar space shorter than eye length; malar sulcus present, extending from the lower edge of the eye to the mandibular base, curved anteriorly at base; the proportion among length of malar area, eye length and oral fossa as follows: 1: 2.18: 1.54. Clypeus bilobed. Mandible bidentate, falcate, with two inner teeth ( Fig. 4 ). Maxillary and labial palpi formed by one segment.

Antenna ( Fig. 9 ). With one anellus, three funicular segments and three claval segments. Flagellum with long and dense setae. First funicular segment shorter than second and third (proportion length/width = F1: 1.08; F2: 1.07; F3: 1.09); relative sizes of funicular segments to pedicel as follows: PDL: F1: F2: F3 = 1: 0.7: 0.75: 0.71. Clava 1.98 longer than wide, 1.1 wider than funicle.

Mesosoma ( Figs. 10–11 ). Pronotum very short medially in dorsal view with strongly raised reticulation; anterior surface descending towards the collum. Mesoscutum with engraved reticulation, the scutes forming longitudinally elongated cells; median line absent; midlobe of mesoscutum with a row of three adnotaular setae on each side, the first two setae nearer to each other than to the third. Scutellum with engraved reticulation, with two setae on each side, the scutes forming longitudinally elongated cells, submedian and sublateral lines poorly defined. Tegula triangular with its distal edge slightly concave. Dorsellum with raised reticulation. Propodeum with a strong median carina; median area with strong raised reticulation; paraspiracular carina curved and well-defined; propodeal spiracle with entire rim exposed; callus with two setae, its anterior region reticulated turning smooth posteriorly.

Forewing. Submarginal vein with one seta about its first third. Post marginal vein rudimentary. Parastigma with a single seta. Basal cell weakly defined by the basal vein. Discal area increasingly setose towards its apex. Subcubital vein well-defined, reaching the apical margin of the wing. Proportion of wing veins to stigma vein as follows: SMV: MV: STV: PMV = 1: 1.01: 0.29: 0.14.

Legs ( Figs. 1 , 5, 6 ). Fore and hind femur slightly enlarged and somewhat flattened, middle femur normal, smaller than the other two. Foreleg with basitarsus very short, distinctly shorter than the second tarsal segment; the tarsal segments 1–3 combined longer than the fourth (indicated by the vertical bars in Fig. 5 ). Tibiae with a distinct row of setae starting about the anterior fifth of their outer surface to the apical edge.

Metasoma ( Figs. 12–13 ). Lanceolate with seven exposed terga and scaly reticulate sculpture on the first tergum, faintly reticulate after that; the scaly elements on anterior half of each tergite with their distal part acute, some of them bifid, its posterior edge forming acute angles ( Fig. 13 , indicated by the white arrows). Terga with a median transverse row of setae. Three cercal setae, the middle one longer, extending beyond the postcercal area.

Male. Unknown.

Type material. Holotype and 25 paratype females ( MNRJ) with the following information: Brazil, RJ, Rio de Janeiro, Jardim Botânico (22°58’14”S, 43°13’8”W), July 17, 2017. Marinho, D., col. Reared from a brood cell of Auplopus aff. brasiliensis nest built in a trap-nest made of hose.

All specimens mentioned in this paper were lost in the fire that destroyed the Museu Nacional on September 2 nd, 2018 ( Zamudio et al. 2018). The morphological analysis and descriptions, however, were made prior to the fire, based directly on the study of pinned and alcohol-preserved specimens.

Distribution. BRAZIL: Rio de Janeiro.

Etymology. The name refers to the biogeographical realm where this species occurs.

Host. Auplopus aff. brasiliensis ( Hymenoptera : Pompilidae ).

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. Fig. 1. Holotype ♀, Chaenotetrastichus neotropicalis sp. nov., habitus (lateral view). Fig. 2. Holotype ♀, head slightly collapsed longitudinally (frontal view). Fig. 3. Holotype ♀, head showing the narrow vertex (dorsal view). Fig. 4. Paratype ♀, mandible shape in detail (frontal view).

FIGURES 7–9. Paratype ♀, Chaenotetrastichus neotropicalis sp. nov. Fig. 7. Head (laterofrontal view). Fig. 8. Details of vertex pilosity and sculpture. Fig. 9. Antennae.

FIGURES 10–11. Paratype ♀, Chaenotetrastichus neotropicalis sp. nov. Fig. 10. Detail of pronotum and mesoscutum. Fig. 11. Scutellum, dorsellum and propodeum.

FIGURES 5–6. Paratype ♀, Chaenotetrastichus neotropicalis sp. nov. Fig. 5. Habitus (lateral view). Note the vertical bars indicating the length of each tarsomere. Fig. 6. Habitus (dorsal view).

FIGURES 12–13. Paratype ♀, Chaenotetrastichus neotropicalis sp. nov. Fig. 12. Metasoma. Note the row of setae on each tergite. Fig. 13. Scaly elements in detail on tergite. Note the pointy elements indicated by the white arrows.