Episyron nigrocalcarius Anju, Girish Kumar & Thejass, 2024

Anju, K., Kumar, P. Girish & Thejass, P., 2024, Review of the spider wasp genus Episyron Schiødte, 1837 (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) from India, with description of three new species, Zootaxa 5405 (4), pp. 562-576 : 568-571

Episyron nigrocalcarius Anju, Girish Kumar & Thejass , sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8A4CD7D8-A1A3-41A3-8DDD-E79B718DFEAF

Figures 17–28

Type material. Holotype, ♀, India: Kerala, Wayanad district, Thondernad (11º46’27’’N, 75º50’29’’E), 29.ix.2021, Coll. T.A. Arvind, [ ZSIK] ZSIK Regd. No. ZSI/WGRC/IR/INV.24965.

Paratypes. Kerala: 1♀, Kasaragod district, Ranipuram (12º25’45’’N, 75º21’44’’E), 22.i.2020, Coll. K. Anju, [ ZSIK] ZSIK Regd. No. ZSI / WGRC /IR/INV.24966 ; 1♀, Kozhikode district, Kakkavayal (11º29’36’’N, 75º58’24’’E), 26.vii.2017, Coll. P. Girish Kumar, [ ZSIK] ZSIK Regd. No. ZSI / WGRC /IR/INV.24967 ; 1♀, Wayanad district, Vythiri (11º33’11’’N, 76º02’21’’E), 4.iii.2019, Coll. P.M. Sureshan & Party, [ ZSIK] ZSIK Regd. No. ZSI/ WGRC/IR/INV.24968 .

Diagnosis. The new species differs from all other congeners by the following characters: Clypeus entirely black; hind tibia black without any marking; tibial spurs black; numerous long black setae on T6, almost uniformly distributed; and paired basolateral transverse fascia on T2 and T3.

Description of Female. Holotype, Female ( Figs 17–28 ). Body length 10.15–11.13 mm; length of fore wing 9.18–10.23 mm.

Colour. Body largely black with following markings creamy yellow/yellowish white: narrow stripes alopng inner orbits in the median part of frontal face, stripes along the posterior margin of eye more narrower and pale, medially interrupted band on posterior margin of pronotum, paired basolateral transverse fascia on T2 and T3 and spot on apex of all coxae; very narrow orange brown smooth line along anterior margin of clypeus; tibial spurs black; wings fusco-hyaline, broadly infuscated at apex; veins and pterostigma brown.

Pubescence. Pubescence moderate; pronotum, propodeum and T1 having metallic reflection with bluish white appressed flattened and squamiform setae; head moderately pubescent with whitish pubescence mainly concentrated below the antennal region and clypeus; pubescence on clypeus uniform with pubescent-free anterior medial region; few smooth long setae along lateral regions of mesosoma; silver pubescence at joining region of scutellum and metanotum; metapostnotum with silver shiny pubescence at cavities; bluish white shining pubescence on plural region minimum; pubescence on propodeum concentrated towards posterior half; T6 with numerous long black setae.

Head. Head slightly wider than high in frontal view (1.09–1.13×), wider than mesosoma ( Fig. 19 ); hardly visible minute punctuations on frons; shallow median line or furrow present from anterior ocellus to interantennal space; eyes 1.92–1.98× as long as wide ( Fig. 21 ), slightly arcuate above, the rest parallel; MID as long as LID, UID 0.66–0.71× MID and LID ( Fig. 19 ); ocelli equal sized forming acute angle; POD about as long as OOD (0.25: 0.22) ( Fig. 20 ); clypeus large, convex in lateral view, semi-circular in frontal view, anterior margin boldly arched, posterior margin straight, more than twice as broad as long ( Fig. 19 ); labrum small, concealed beneath clypeus, not visible in frontal view; mandible long crossing each other, bidentate; malar space reduced, shorter than half of pedicel; toruli situated little above posterior clypeus margin; antennae slender, closely placed, F1 the longest flagellomere, 1.8–1.9× as long as scape, almost 1.7–1.82× as long as F2 and F3, scape slightly longer than twice of its width, pedicel about as wide as long; gena narrower than compound eye in lateral view ( Fig. 21 ).

Mesosoma. Pronotum 1.8–1.9× as wide as long; mesoscutum large, prominent, 1.34–1.48× as long as scutellum in dorsal view ( Fig. 23 ), abbreviated furrow on each side not reaching the anterior margin; scutellum smooth with conspicuous prescutellar sulcus, medially triangularly raised; metanotum curved; metapostnotum much reduced with two curves posteriorly ( Fig. 23 ); propodeum 1.2–1.3× as wide as long along the middle, smooth without apparent sculpturing ( Fig. 23 ), gradually sloped at apex.

Legs. Tibiae and tarsi with long hard spines throughout, apically with different length spines; fore tarsus with cylindrical tapering spines, tarsomere 1 with three outer spines; tarsal claws bifid; basitarsus 0.51–0.59× hind tibia, hind tibial spur long, 0.67–0.71× as long as hind basitarsus.

Wings. Fore wing with SMC3 smaller than SMC2; length of SMC3 less than its distance from the wing apex; SMC2 receiving crossvein 1m-cu beyond middle of base, SMC3 receiving crossvein 2m-cu medially; crossvein 2m-cu curved basally; pterostigma elongated, about as long as vein r-rs ( Fig. 28 ); crossvein cu-a of hind wing arc-like forming obtuse angle with vein A.

Metasoma. Smooth; subsessile; as broad and long as mesosoma ( Fig. 24 ); apical segment slightly acute.

Male. Unknown.

Etymology. The species epithet is derived from black coloured hind tibia and tibial spur.

Variation. Pale yellow markings on body segments vary in intensity and distribution in paratypes.

Distribution. India (Kerala).

Comparison. The new species E. nigrocalcarius Anju, Girish Kumar & Thejass , sp. nov. shows similarities with E. arrogans and E. keralaensis Anju, Girish Kumar & Thejass , sp. nov., in general body coloration but can be segregated from them by its entirely black clypeus, hind tibia and tibial spurs all without any markings.

Figures

FIGURES 17–24. Episyron nigrocalcarius Anju, Girish Kumar & Thejass, sp. nov. Holotype, ♀. 17, habitus, lateral view; 18, habitus, dorsal view; 19, head, frontal view; 20, head, dorsal view; 21, head, lateral view; 22, mesosoma, lateral view; 23, mesosoma, dorsal view; 24, metasoma, lateral view. Scale bar: 17, 18—1 mm; 22, 23, 24—0.5 mm; 19, 20, 21—0.25 mm.

FIGURES 25–28. Episyron nigrocalcarius Anju, Girish Kumar & Thejass, sp. nov. Holotype, ♀.25, metasoma, dorsal view; 26, metasoma, ventral view; 27, hind tibia; 28, wings. Scale bar: 28—1 mm; 27—0.75 mm; 25, 26—0.5 mm.