Euodynerus (Euodynerus) gaya, Selis, 2024

Selis, Marco, 2024, Revision of the Afrotropical species of Euodynerus Dalla Torre (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae), Zootaxa 5399 (4), pp. 365-380 : 367-369

Euodynerus (Euodynerus) gaya sp. nov.

Figs. 1 , 7A

Diagnosis. Readily distinguished from other African Euodynerus by the following characters: head and mesosoma with dense long golden setae and lacking pubescence, mandible robust, mesosoma depressed with flattened mesoscutum and scutellum, tegula about 1.7× as long as wide with short posterior lobe, outer margin markedly curved, T1 with ill-defined translucent margin and nearly impunctate, T2 with punctures becoming progressively coarser apically, pattern red and black with longitudinal yellow bands on metasoma, male F11 bacilliform and straight. Genitalia in Fig. 7A .

Material examined. HOLOTYPE: ♁, labeled “ NIGER / Gaya / 21.X.75 / G. Popov // Euodynerus gaya / HOLOTYPUS ♁ / det. Marco Selis ” ( MSNVE).

Description. Male holotype. Body length 12.3 mm; fore wing length 10.2 mm. Head 0.8× as high as wide in frontal view. Clypeus 1.1× as long as wide, apical margin deeply emarginate and with translucent lamellar margin, 0.2× as wide as width of clypeus; apical teeth triangular and pointed, with short but strong carinae; clypeus in lateral view weakly and evenly convex. Interantennal space sharply carinate and slightly bulging in upper part. Distance between posterior ocellus and inner eye margin 0.7× as long as distance between posterior ocelli; distance between posterior ocellus and occipital carina 2.15× as long as distance between posterior ocellus and inner eye margin; ocelli disposed as an obtuse triangle, distance between posterior ocelli 3× as long as distance between anterior ocellus and posterior ocellus. Gena 0.55× as wide as eye at bottom of ocular sinus, furrowed along occipital carina; vertex distinctly sloping posteriorly in lateral view; occipital carina complete, distinct but weak on vertex, highly lamellate and sinuate on gena. F1 2.15× as long as wide and 1.4× as long as F2; F2–F10 distinctly longer than wide, becoming progressively shorter; F7–F9 slightly curved in lateral view; F 11 in lateral view nearly straight with shallowly depressed dorsal face, the apex weakly reflexed, in dorsal view parallel-sided and straight in basal fourth, then bent outwards with converging margins, apex flattened dorsoventrally and rounded, reaching base of F8. Mandible short and robust, four-toothed with basalmost tooth very small and almost completely fused to third tooth. Mesosoma in dorsal view 1.3× as long as wide; depressed dorsoventrally with an almost entirely flattened dorsal face. Pronotum in dorsal view with converging and weakly convex sides, shallowly depressed behind humeri; pronotal carina lamellate on dorsal face, slightly shorter on median line and almost disappearing just below humeri, then sharp but not lamellate on lateral faces; humeri rounded; pretegular carina very sharp on whole length; oblique humeral carina absent, but dorsal and lateral faces sharply separated, lateral faces depressed. Mesoscutum 0.95× as long as wide, barely convex on anterior half and flattened posteriorly; notauli extremely shallow and barely visible only along posterior margin of mesoscutum. Scutellum flattened with anterior margin slightly bulging in the middle, forming an even surface with mesoscutum but separated from it by a deep furrow; axillary fossa narrow and elongate, elliptical. Metanotum angled, with short horizontal dorsal face and much longer vertical posterior face; dorsal face short and very deeply furrowed in the middle, posterior face dorsally projecting due to strongly denticulate transverse carina; lateral longitudinal carinae very high and lamellate, much higher than metanotum itself. Tegula 1.7× as long as wide, outer margin evenly curved, posterior lobe subtriangular, short and blunt, equaling parategula; parategula flattened and wide, curved with truncate apex. Mesepisternum convex; epicnemial carina exceeding transverse furrow above and reaching mesosternum below, where it bifurcates before disappearing, strongly lamellate below transverse furrow. Propodeum in lateral view forming a dorsal horizontal surface about as long as metanotum; dorsal faces strongly convex and laterally sloping; lateral faces flattened, shallowly furrowed above submarginal carina; posterior face evenly deeply concave, with a shallow longitudinal median carina dorsally replaced by a small subtriangular sclerite; dorsal carinae strong and shortly lamellate, gradually disappearing laterally and not reaching posterolateral corners, suddenly disappearing near metanotum; lateral carinae present as a strong fold on posterior half, but not sharp; inferior carinae strongly denticulate; submarginal carina dull, forming a sharp short lobe just above apex of valvula. T 1 in dorsal view trapezoidal with convex anterior margin, 1.95× as wide as long; in lateral view with the weakly convex vertical face smoothly passing into the flattened horizontal face; apical margin translucent, more evidently on sides. S1 crescent-shaped, with sharp basal carina separating it from basal petiole. T2 0.8× as long as wide in dorsal view, weakly convex with shallowly depressed preapical area; apical margin somewhat thickened and duplicated in median third. S2 shallowly depressed, with slightly bulging basal corners; in lateral view bulging basally and then slightly convex to apex. S7 flattened with broadly rounded apex. Genitalia in Fig. 7A .

Clypeus silky-shiny with sparse shallow punctures, interspaces larger than puncture diameter and with extremely fine shagreen. Frons shiny with deep dense punctures, interspaces mostly narrower than puncture diameter and very finely shagreened; ocular sinus mostly impunctate in lower half; vertex and gena with punctures larger and sparser than on frons. Scape weakly shiny and densely micropunctate, with sparse small punctures. Dorsal face of pronotum, mesoscutum and scutellum sculpted similar to vertex, but punctures larger and deeper, partly arranged in irregular transverse or oblique series; lateral faces of pronotum largely impunctate in dorsal third, densely and coarsely punctate below; anterior face of pronotum smooth except for fine setae-bearing punctures along upper margin and on anterior part. Tegula shiny, with deep sparse punctures on anterior and posterior lobes, disc impunctate and shiny. Metanotum very densely and coarsely punctate, interspaces reduced to sharp ridges on dorsal face. Mesepisternum with large flat-bottomed punctures arranged in vertical series, with only some very short interspaces in lower half; epicnemium finely shagreened and silky-shiny; mesosternum sparsely punctate with irregular transverse striation. Metaepisternum weakly shiny and almost entirely smooth, except for few shallow punctures along ventral margin. Dorsal faces of propodeum with dense flat-bottomed punctures, interspaces shiny and large in anterior third, reduced to narrow ridges posteriorly; posterior face weakly shiny and shagreened, with some punctures along upper margin and obliquely striate along median carina; lateral faces matte with sparse shallow flat-bottomed punctures, Partly arranged in series. Metasoma velvety due to dense shagreen; T1 mostly impunctate, with few scattered fine punctures along basal curvature and on disc, some coarse dense punctures along lateral margins; T2 with sparse oblique punctures, coarser and denser on apical fourth, almost disappearing on lateral thirds; T3–T6 sculpted similar to apex of T2 but punctures progressively finer and sparser; T7 shagreened and impunctate; S1 irregularly punctate and rugose; S2 with deep punctures, interspaces mostly wider than puncture diameter; S3–S6 similar to respective tergites but punctures finer; S7 silky-shiny with very dense shagreen and sparse very fine punctures. Head, mesosoma and legs with golden setae, longer than ocellar diameter on dorsal side of mesosoma and much shorter on legs, each seta originating from the bottom of a puncture, pubescence inconspicuous and barely visible at high magnification on dorsal side of mesosoma only; clypeus with short appressed whitish setae and inconspicuous pubescence on upper margin; propodeum with whitish pubescence on lateral faces and long white setae on inferior carinae; metasoma with extremely fine dark pubescence giving a velvety appearance to the tergites, less evident on sternites, points bearing short oblique setae, slightly longer on sternites; apical margin of S7 with a brush of very dense black setae, preceded by a sparser series of golden setae.

Head, mesosoma and legs entirely red, with most of face and lower side of scape yellow and irregular black markings around ocelli and on mesoscutum; metasoma black with lateral longitudinal yellow bands, starting as an isolate spot on T1, red markings on sides of T1, most of T7 and nearly whole sternites. Wings bicolor, reddishhyaline in basal half, infuscate with purplish reflections in apical half.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. Niger ( Fig. 8 ).

Etymology. The specific name is in reference to the locality where the holotype was collected, Gaya. It is a noun in apposition.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Euodynerus gaya Selis, sp. nov., male holotype. A, habitus in dorsal view. B, head in frontal view. C, flagellum in lateral view.

FIGURE 7. Male genitalia: aedeagus in ventral view, aedeagus in lateral view, digitus + volsella. A, Euodynerus gaya Selis, sp. nov. B, Euodynerus histrionicus (Gerstäcker, 1857). C, Euodynerus niloticus (de Saussure, 1855). D, Euodynerus salzi (Giordani Soika, 1952). E, Euodynerus semiaethiopicus (Giordani Soika, 1943).

FIGURE 8. Distribution map of Afrotropical species of Euodynerus Dalla Torre.