Yelicones aff. vojnitsi Papp, 1992

Abu El-Ghiet, Usama M., Edmardash, Yusuf A. & Gadallah, Neveen S., 2022, New species and records of braconid wasps from Farasan Archipelago (Jazan) Saudi Arabia, with notes on Diolcogaster mayae Shestakov, Zootaxa 5104 (1), pp. 49-79 : 64

Yelicones aff. vojnitsi Papp, 1992

Figs 9A–F

Yelicones vojnitsi Papp, 1992: 152 , 153.

Diagnosis. elongated species ( Fig. 9A ), with head and mesosoma dark reddish brown ( Figs 9B, C ), metasoma ( Fig. 9F ), hind leg and basal half of antenna yellowish red; stemmaticum black; base of hind tibia and tarsus pale yellowish; fore wing slightly infuscate, pterostigma dark brown, clear yellow at base ( Fig. 9D ), veins pale brown. Head transverse, about 1.5× as wide as long; vertex to ocellar area extending medially (narrowly) to base of clypeus peculiarly wrinkled ( Fig. 9B ); face 1.75× as wide as its height; temple short and constricted behind eye, 0.3× as long as eye height; 29 antennomeres, last flagellomeres submoniliform, last one with fine spine apically; mesoscutum densely punctate that are denser and closer on lateral lobes ( Fig. 9C ); propodeum coarsely rugose, transversely wrinkled posteriorly ( Fig. 9C ); mesopleuron shiny, nearly smooth to superficially punctate ( Fig. 9A ); fore wing with pterostigma 0.77× as long as 1R1; marginal cell ending closer to wing apex; cell 2a relatively large, vein 2–SR+M non tubular medially; vein r relatively long and oblique, issued from near to the middle of pterostigma to base, r vein of fore wing 1.5× as long as 3-SR, r: 3–SR: SR1 = 29: 19: 76; vein 1–SR linearly connected with 1–M; vein 1–M slightly curved to nearly straight; vein M+CU distinctly curved; cu-a postfurcal, vein 1–CU1 0.5× as long as 2–CU1 ( Fig. 9D ); metasomal T1 distinctly widened posteriorly, its posterior margin 2.4× as wide as its basal margin, not protruding posteriorly; all T1 and most of T2 (except posteriorly) longitudinally rugose; rest of tergites smooth and shiny, with few setae ( Fig. 9F ). Ovipositor sheaths very short, hardly exserted from tip of metasoma.

Material examined. 1♀, KSA: Jazan (Farasan Islands, Al-Sajid ), 16.860626N 41.932564E, 5. iii. 2017, light trap, leg. Usama M. Abu El-Ghiet & Tarek M. El-Sheikh.

General distribution. Egypt, Oman ( Quicke & Chishti, 1997), Saudi Arabia (Farasan Islands, Jazan) (new record).

Remarks. The genus Yelicones is a first record for the fauna of Saudi Arabia. Characters of the Saudi Arabian specimen agree well with the Omani specimen in Quicke & Chishti’s key (1997, couplet 7, p. 78), except for: shortest distance between hind ocelli 0.9× to nearly as long as distance between hind ocellus and eye (in Omani specimens, 1.8-2.5×); length of head behind eye 0.52× as long as horizontal length of eye (measured perpendicular to plane of face) (In Omani specimens, 0.65×); the general body colour which is uniformly reddish yellow in the Omani specimens (in Saudi Arabian specimen, head and mesosoma dark reddish yellow with some parts ferruginous, metasoma orange). It also agrees with Papp’s key (1992, couplet 6, p. 155), as well as Papp’s description (1992, p. 152). It differs from the Tanzanian specimens ( Papp 1992) in the following: temple 0.3× as long as eye height (0.5× in Tanzanian specimens); pterostigma 3.0× as long as wide (2.64× in Tanzanian specimen); vein r 1.6× as long as pterostigmal width (slightly longer than pterostigmal width in Tanzanian specimens); SR1 4.0× as long as 3–SR (4.5-5.0× in the Tanzanian specimens); posterior width of T1 2.4× as wide as its basal width (twice in the Tanzanian specimens). In addition to the above-mentioned references. Our specimen is compared with coloured photos of Y. vojnitsi from Egypt, Gambia and Namibia (British Museum of Natural History (London) (NHML)). All specimens are in bad condition, however, the main difference that could be seen is the general body colour, which is yellowish red (except black stemmaticum), while in our specimen, head and mesosoma are dark red, with some parts ferruginous, and metasoma light yellowish red.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Yelicones aff. vojnitsi Papp, 1992 (♀). A, lateral habitus; B, frontal view of head; C, dorsal view of mesosoma; D, fore wing; E, fore tarsus; F, dorsal view of metasoma. A: scale bar (= 1×); B, D: 1.4×; C: 1.5×; E: 2.1×.