Pristomerus dikidiki, Rousse & Noort, 2015

Rousse, Pascal & Noort, Simon van, 2015, Revision of the Afrotropical species of Pristomerus (Ichneumonidae: Cremastinae), with descriptions of 31 new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 124, pp. 1-129 : 43-45

Pristomerus dikidiki sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:93406C5D-7EE2-4A1E-9F84-0F50CB9BD95B

Fig. 8

Diagnosis

Large; mostly black with legs mostly testaceous and trochanters and apex of femora pale dotted; anterior edge of pterostigma whitish; face densely punctate, clypeus almost totally punctate, sculpture smoother on remainder of head; clypeus transverse; malar line moderately short; inner margins of eyes parallel; antenna with 38 flagellomeres, penultimate flagellomere quadrate; mesosoma densely and deeply punctate with a smoother dorsal area on pronotum, ventral half of speculum smooth; area superomedia rather stout, weakly carinate laterally; female femoral tooth very strong; ovipositor moderately long, strongly sinuous. Male unknown.

Differential diagnosis

Large and mostly black species, differentiated from most other Afrotropical species by the combination of the colour pattern, the strong femoral tooth and the extensively punctate mesonotum. It is morphologically closely related to P. nzakara sp. nov., whose ovipositor is distinctly stouter with a straight apex.

Type material

Holotype

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: ♀, “Yangambi (Stan.), XII–1958, P. Dessart ” ( MRAC).

Description

Female (holotype)

B 12.1; A 6.2; F 7.7; CT 1.9; ML 0.4; POL 0.8; OOL 1.6; Fl n-1 1.0; ASM 1.7; OT 1.7; FFT 2.

COLOUR. Head black with frontal orbit orange, mandible and palpi yellow; mesosoma black; metasoma black with apical and lateral margins of tergites 3 and following testaceous–orange; fore and mid legs testaceous, hind leg mostly dark brown; trochanters and apex of femora pale dotted; wings apically infuscate, venation pale brown, anterior edge of pterostigma whitish.

HEAD. Face deeply and densely punctate, mid-longitudinally weakly bulging; inner margins of eyes parallel; clypeus transverse, entirely punctate; malar line short; frons finely and densely punctate with a weak mid-longitudinal ridge from upper face to median ocellus; vertex and temple coriaceous; occipital carina joining hypostomal carina distinctly above mandible base; antenna with 38 flagellomeres, penultimate flagellomere quadrate.

MESOSOMA. Moderately elongate; pronotum sparsely punctate with anterior margin crenulate and a dorsal smoother area; mesopleuron and metapleuron deeply and very densely punctate, with a striate oblique furrow below speculum, speculum ventrally smooth; mesoscutum densely punctate-granulate, punctures apically confluent into transverse rugosities, notaulus moderate and rugose; scutellum densely punctate- granulate, apically striate; propodeum deeply punctate-rugose, carination thick, area superomedia rather stout, centrally smoother and hardly delimited laterally. Legs. Femoral tooth long and acute, higher than basally wide.

METASOMA. Tergite 2 and apical half of tergite 1 longitudinally aciculate, following tergites coriaceous; thyridium elliptic with main axis longitudinal; ovipositor moderately long and apically strongly sinuous.

Male

Unknown.

Distribution

Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Figures

Fig. 8. Pristomerus dikidiki sp. nov. Holotype, ♀. A. Habitus, lateral view. B. Head, mesosoma, dorsal view. C. Head, anterior view. D. Propodeum, dorsal view. E. Mesosoma, lateral view. F. Hind tibia, lateral view (inset: data labels).