Chromoteleia Ashmead

Chen, Hua-yan, Talamas, Elijah J., Valerio, Alejandro A., Masner, Lubomir & Johnson, Norman F., 2018, Revision of the World species of the genus Chromoteleia Ashmead (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae, Scelioninae), ZooKeys 778, pp. 1-95 : 1

Chromoteleia Ashmead

Chromoteleia Ashmead, 1893: 209, 211, 219 Type: Chromoteleia semicyanea Ashmead, by monotypy and original designation (keyed); Ashmead 1894: 216 (keyed); Dalla Torre 1898: 501 (catalog of species); Ashmead 1900: 327 (list of species of West Indies); Ashmead, 1903: 91, 93 (keyed); Kieffer 1907: 266 (key to species); Brues 1908: 26, 27, 28, 35 (diagnosis, keyed, list of species); Kieffer 1908b: 115 (keyed); Kieffer 1910a: 312 (key to species); Kieffer 1910b: 62, 68 (description, list of species, keyed); Kieffer 1913: 224 (description); Kieffer 1926: 269, 406 (description, keyed); Muesebeck and Walkley 1956: 342 (citation of type species); Masner 1976: 23, 24 (description, synonymy; key to separate Baryconus Forster, Bracalba Dodd, Chromoteleia Ashmead, Oxyscelio Kieffer); Carpenter 1992: 471 (fossil references); Johnson 1992: 363 (cataloged, catalog of world species); Loiácono and Margaría 2002: 557 (catalog of Brazilian species).

Petalosema Kieffer 1926: 267, 358. Type: Chromoteleia rufithorax Kieffer, by original description (keyed, key to species), designated by Muesebeck and Walkley 1956. Synonymized by Masner (1976); Muesebeck and Walkley 1956: 336 (citation of type species); De Santis 1980: 310: (catalog of species of Brazil).

http://zoobank.org/E5906ABF-3A4D-4005-BFEC-13B2AEBD6E81

http://bioguid.osu.edu/xbiod_concepts/8521

Description.

Length 3.38-9.20 mm; body elongate, robust.

Head. Head shape in dorsal view: transverse. Vertex: densely punctate to punctate rugose. Hyperoccipital carina: absent. Occipital carina: present, complete or broadly interrupted medially. OOL: lateral ocellus nearly contiguous with inner orbits, OOL <0.5 OD; lateral ocellus contiguous with inner orbit. Upper frons: convex, without frontal shelf or carina, punctate rugose. Antennal scrobe: broadly convex to concave medially with distinct depression. Submedian carina: absent. Orbital carina: absent. Inner orbits: diverging ventrally. IOS/EH: IOS distinctly less than EH. Interantennal process: short, often excavate medially. Central keel: present or absent. Antennal foramen: oriented laterally on interantennal process. Facial striae: absent. Malar sulcus: present. Malar striae: absent. Setation of compound eye: absent. Gena: broad, convex, distinctly produced behind eye. Clypeus shape: narrow, slightly convex medially, lateral corners not produced. Anterior (or ventral) margin of clypeus: pointed; straight. Labrum: not visible in anterior view. Number of mandibular teeth: 3. Arrangement of mandibular teeth: transverse. Number of maxillary palpomeres: 4. Shape of maxillary palpomeres: cylindrical. Number of labial palpomeres: 2.

Antenna. Number of antennomeres in female: 12. Number of antennomeres in male: 12. Insertion of radicle into A1: parallel to longitudinal axis of A1. Shape of A1: more or less cylindrical, not flattened. Length of A3 of female: distinctly longer than A2. Number of antennomeres with basiconic sensilla in female: 5; 6. Number of antennomeres with basiconic sensilla in female: 5; 6. Arrangement of sensilla on female clava: in longitudinal pairs. Number of antennomeres bearing tyloids in male antenna: 1. Shape of male flagellum: filiform.

Mesosoma. Posterior apex of pronotum in dorsal view: straight, bifid apically to articulate with tegula. Epomial carina: present. Anterior face of pronotum: oblique, visible dorsally, short. Lateral face of pronotum: weakly concave below position of dorsal epomial carina. Netrion: present. Netrion shape: moderately wide, open ventrally. Anterior portion of mesoscutum: vertical, flexed ventrally to meet pronotum. Mesoscutum shape: pentagonal, excavate at base of wings. Skaphion: absent. Notauli : present, percurrent. Parapsidal lines: absent. Antero-admedian lines: absent. Transscutal articulation: well-developed, narrow. Shape of mesoscutellum: trapezoidal, without spines. Lateral mesoscutellar spine: absent. Median mesoscutellar spine: absent. Axillular spine: absent. Surface of mesoscutellum: convex throughout. Median longitudinal furrow on mesoscutellum: absent. Metascutellum: clearly differentiated. Shape of metascutellum: trapezoidal with broad posterior margin; elongate trapezoidal but with deeply incised apex, forming two spines laterally. Posterior margin of metascutellum: straight; concave; convex. Setation of metascutellum: present. Metapostnotum : fused to propodeum. Lateral propodeal projection: absent. Medial propodeal projection: absent. Mesopleural carina: present. Mesal course of acetabular carina: not separating fore coxae. Setation of subalar pit: present. Mesopleural pit: present. Posterodorsal corner of mesopleuron: rounded anteriorly.

Legs. Number of mesotibial spurs: 1. Number of metatibial spurs: 1. Dorsal surface of metacoxa: smooth; punctate. Shape of metacoxa: cylindrical, ecarinate. Trochantellus: indicated by transverse sulcus on femur.

Wings. Wing development of female: macropterous. Wing development of male: macropterous. Tubular veins in fore wing: present. Bulla of fore wing R: absent. Length of marginal vein of fore wing: punctiform, R terminating at costal margin. Origin of r-rs in fore wing: basal of point at which R meets costal margin. Basal vein (Rs+M) in fore wing: spectral; nebulous. Development of R vein in hind wing: complete.

Metasoma. Number of external metasomal tergites in female: 6. Number of external metasoma sternites in female: 6. Number of external metasomal tergites in male: 7. Number of external metasomal sternites in male: 7. Shape of metasoma: lanceolate. Laterotergites: present, narrow. Laterosternites: present. T1 of female: flat; medially convex as a small hump anteriorly. Relative size of metasomal segments: T2-T3 subequal in length, remaining terga shorter. Metasomal tergites with basal crenulae: T2. Sublateral carinae on tergites: present. Median longitudinal carina on metasomal terga: absent. Shape of female T6: flattened; laterally compressed. Anterior margin of S1: not produced anteriorly, straight. Felt fields on S2: absent. Felt fields on S3: absent. Ovipositor: Scelio -type ( Austin and Field 1997).

Generic diagnosis.

The large size and distinctive characters of Chromoteleia (metascutellum large and setose, propodeum without projections, marginal vein of fore wing punctiform) make it a relatively easy genus to identify. The setation of the metascutellum is found in relatively few scelionine genera, typically among the more robust genera, and is a useful diagnostic character. Chromoteleia appears closest to Bracalba Dodd and Romilius Walker, from which it can be separated by the setation of the eyes (absent in Chromoteleia ).

Comments.

The distribution of Chromoteleia in Africa and South America is a phenomenon of biogeographical interest. Dispersal from South America to Africa has been demonstrated in the parasitoid wasp genus Kapala Cameron ( Eucharitidae ) ( Murray and Heraty 2016) and a similar event could explain the disjunct distribution of Chromoteleia . Alternatively, the dispersal event could have occurred in the opposite direction, followed by radiation in the New World tropics. While there is no direct evidence that the distribution of Chromoteleia represents relictual populations, this is likely the case with other scelionine taxa. For example, Archaeoteleia Masner, which today is known from New Zealand and South America, has been documented from Burmese amber (Talamas et al. 2017), suggesting that the extant fauna of this genus is the remainder of a once widespread distribution.

Chromoteleia is widespread in continental Mesoamerica, Central America, and South America. It is found as far north as the Mexican state of Jalisco, and in the south extends to Itapúa Department in Paraguay and Paraná in southern Brazil. It is noteworthy, though, that it is entirely absent from the Greater Antilles. In the Lesser Antilles, one species, C. semicyanea , apparently is endemic in St. Vincent, and a second, C. aequalis , is known from Dominica (as well as Guyana). This is unusual for scelionines of comparable size and presumed biology: genera such as Scelio , Baryconus , Macroteleia , Triteleia and Opisthacantha are common and richly represented in species throughout the Caribbean.