Promicrogaster brandondinartei Fernandez-Triana & Boudreault, 2016

Fernandez-Triana, Jose, Boudreault, Caroline, Dapkey, Tanya, Smith, M. Alex, Rodriguez, J., Hallwachs, Winnie & Janzen, Daniel H., 2016, Revision of the genus Promicrogaster (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, Costa Rica, with a key to all species previously described from Mesoamerica, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 50, pp. 25-79 : 36

Promicrogaster brandondinartei Fernandez-Triana & Boudreault sp. n.

Figs 15-20 , 21-26

Holotype.

Female, CNC. COSTA RICA, Guanacaste, Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Sector Cacao, Sendero Arenales, 1080m, 10.92471, -85.46738. DNA Voucher code: DHJPAR0031290.

Paratypes.

1♀ (NMNH), same locality as holotype; 2♀ 1♂ (CNC), Costa Rica, Guanacaste, ACG, Sector Cacao, Sendero Circular, 1185m, 10.92714, -85.46683; 1♂ (CNC). Panama, Cerro Campana, 850m, 8° 40' N 79° 55' W. DNA Voucher codes: CNCHYM 01985, DHJPAR0031203, DHJPAR0031206, DHJPAR0031258, DHJPAR0031326.

Description.

Head: mostly black, labrum and mandibles light brown to yellow. Flagellomeres: dark brown to black. Mesosoma: black. Tegula: brown. Metasoma (dorsally): dark brown to black. Metacoxa: yellow. Malar distance: less than 0.2 × eye length. Fore wing areolet: present. T1 sculpture: mostly sculptured. T2 sculpture: mostly sculptured, except for smooth central area. Ocular-ocellar line: 0.15 mm. Interocellar distance: 0.10 mm. Posterior ocellus diameter: 0.08 mm. Body length: 3.54 mm. Fore wing length: 3.70 mm. Ovipositor length: 2.89 mm. Metacoxa length: 0.85 mm. Metafemur length: 0.97 mm. Metatibia length: 1.27 mm. T1 length/width at posterior margin: 0.50 mm/ 0.31 mm. T2 length/width at posterior margin: 0.11 mm/ 0.47 mm.

Distribution.

Costa Rica (ACG, cloud forest), Panama.

Etymology.

Promicrogaster brandondinartei is named in honor of 12-year-old Brandon Josué Dinarte Barrientos from the Huacas school for his growing enthusiasm for understanding and protecting the wild nature that occurs in his homeland.

Comments.

There are two barcode divergent groups within what we call Promicrogaster brandondinartei (Fig. 160 ). The holotype (DHJPAR0031290, from the barcode BIN BOLD:ABZ2999) and three of the paratypes (DHJPAR0031203, DHJPAR0031258, DHJPAR0031206, from the barcode BIN BOLD:AAM9535) form two sequence clusters that are not monophyletic within the genus. A fourth paratype specimen (DHJPAR0031326) is represented by a short sequence that clusters with the holotype. These two BINS are separated by 2.3 % sequence divergence, four amino acid differences and are derived from specimens collected from Malaise traps placed at different elevations along Volcán Cacao (Arenales and Circular at approximately 1,000m and 1,200m respectively). This may suggest that there are multiple species within this name. However, the trace files for the BIN associated with the holotype (BOLD:ABZ2999) contain ambiguities at the bases associated with the amino acid changes between the two BINS, a potential signal of co-amplification of a pseudogene or numt ( Zhang and Hewitt 1996). Since the specimens are morphologically indistinguishable, we consider it likely that the barcode records for P. brandondinartei contain variation derived from a pseudogene rather than representing a true mitochondrial variant. However, clearly delineating between the hypotheses of morphologically cryptic species-level variation (two BINS) or pseudogene-derived barcode variation within Promicrogaster brandondinartei will require further collections and specimens to be barcoded.

Figures

Figure 160. Neighbor-Joining (NJ - Saitou and Nei 1987) tree based on Kimura 2 - parameter distances (K 2 P - Kimura 1980) made using MEGA 6 (Tamura et al. 2013) for all currently barcode specimens of Promicrogaster in ACG. Tip labels include species name and specimen accession number. Panel on the right contains a single lateral image of each species. The order of the photographs within this panel from top to bottom corresponds to the order of the species within the tree from top to bottom.

Figures 15 - 20. Promicrogaster brandondinartei sp. n. holotype.

Figures 21 - 26. Promicrogaster brandondinartei sp. n. paratype.