Heterospilus saturn Marsh

Marsh, Paul M., Wild, Alexander L. & Whitfield, James B., 2013, The Doryctinae (Braconidae) of Costa Rica: genera and species of the tribe Heterospilini, ZooKeys 347, pp. 1-474 : 406-407

Heterospilus saturn Marsh sp. n. Figure 279

Female.

Body size: 2.75 mm. Color: head with vertex and frons light brown, face yellow; scape yellow without lateral brown stripe; flagellum brown; mesosoma brown; wing veins including stigma light brown; legs yellow; metasomal tergum 1 brown, terga 2-6 honey yellow, tergum 2 brown medially and laterally, tergum 3 brown laterally. Head: vertex smooth; frons smooth; face weakly striate medially, smooth laterally; temple in dorsal view narrow, width less than 1/2 eye width; malar space slightly greater than 1/4 eye height; ocell-ocular distance about 2.5 times diameter of lateral ocellus; 23-24 flagellomeres. Mesosoma: mesoscutal lobes granulate, with long sparse hairs along notauli giving appearance of lobes being entirely hairy; notauli scrobiculate, meeting posteriorly in rectangular rugose area; scutellum weakly granulate or smooth; prescutellar furrow with 3-5 cross carinae; mesopleuron smooth; precoxal sulcus smooth, shorter than mesopleuron; venter smooth; propodeum with basal median areas margined, granulate, basal median carina absent, areola not margined, areolar area areolate-rugose, lateral areas entirely rugose. Wings: fore wing vein r slightly shorter than vein 3RSa, vein 1cu-a beyond vein 1M; hind wing vein SC+R present, vein M+CU shorter than vein 1M. Metasoma: first tergum longitudinally costate-granulate, length equal to apical width; second tergum longitudinally costate-granulate; anterior transverse groove present, straight; posterior transverse groove present; third tergum costate basally, smooth apically; terga 4-7 smooth; ovipositor half as long as metasoma.

Holotype female.

Top label (white, partially printed and hand written) - Costa Rica: Guanacaste [;] Santa Rosa Natl. Park [;] 300m, ex. Malaise trap [;] Site #: H-2-O [;] Dates: 20.xii.86-10.i.1987 [;] I.D. Gauld & D. Janzen; second label (white, printed) - [H] open regenerating [;] woodland, 10 years old [;] [O] in clearing, fully [;] isolated part of day; third label (red, partially printed and hand written) - HOLOTYPE [;] Heterospilus [;] saturn [;] P. Marsh. Deposited in ESUW.

Paratypes.

1 ♀, top label - Costa Rica: Guanacaste [;] Santa Rosa Natl. Park [;] 300m, ex. Malaise trap [;] Site #: 8 [;] Dates: 23. iii– 13.iv.1986 [;] I.D. Gauld & D. Janzen; second label (white, printed) - [SE] San Emilio [;] 50yr old deciduous forest [;] [C] more or less fully [;] shaded as possible (ESUW). 7 ♀♀, S.RosaPark, Guan. [;] C. Rica 5 Jan 78 to 4 Nov 77 [;] D.H. Janzen [;] Dry Hill and Riparian (AEIC).

Comments.

The sparse long hair along the notauli, the bicolored metasomal tergum 2 and the absence of the basal median carina of the propodeum are distinctive for this species.

Etymology.

Named for the Roman god, Saturn.