Digonocryptus coloratus ( Szépligeti, 1916 )

Aguiar, Alexandre Pires & Ramos, Adriana C. B., 2011, 2846, Zootaxa 2846, pp. 1-98 : 29-30

Digonocryptus coloratus ( Szépligeti, 1916)

Figs 61, 62, 123, 145, 186, 226

Stenarella colorata Szépligeti, 1916:316 . ♀ Description, key.

Digonocryptus coloratus: Townes and Townes, 1966:126 . Generic transfer.

Digonocryptus coloratus: Yu and Horstmann, 1998:241 . Listed.

Description. FEMALE. Fore wing 13.3 mm.

Head. Ventral tooth of mandible about as long as dorsal tooth. Clypeus apical area delimited medially by crease, laterally contiguous with remaining of clypeus ( Fig. 123); clypeal margin with two teeth. Antenna partially missing, white band with 8 flagellomeres, 6 entirely white.

Mesosoma . Mesopleuron with sparse weak pilosity, 100% of cuticular surface visible, very weakly strigate. Subalar prominence very narrow, elongate, not carinate ( Fig. 145). Sulcus between sternaulus and scrobe absent. Posterior transverse carina of mesosternum absent. Lower metapleuron finely strigate. Propodeum ( Fig. 62): area in front of anterior transverse carina polished, smooth, medially without traces of longitudinal ridges. Propodeal apophyses developed as weak but distinct scale-like structures, continuous with complete, strong posterior transverse carina. Area between anterior transverse carina and petiolar foramen varying from obliquely to transversely crossed by about 15 stout strigae. Fore wing in Fig. 186; vein 3-Cu 1.55 length of 4-Cu. Hind wing in Fig. 226.

Metasoma. Postpetiole dorso-anteriorly with shallow but distinct, suboval depression; dorsolateral and median dorsal carinae absent; petiolar spiracles in dorsal view not prominent. Ovipositor 1.41 length of hind tibia. Apex of lower valve with 15 teeth.

Color. Head and mesosoma light orange; metasoma main color black, with yellow stripes. Lateral pattern as in Fig. 61. Orbital band present but inconspicuous behind, distinct at level of supraclypeal area, where it projects triangularly towards center to almost meet at parantennal impression, present but weak on supra-antennal area. Labrum pale yellow, mandible mostly yellowish, except apex black. Mesosoma unicolorous, without yellow or black marks of any kind ( Figs 61, 62). Fore and mid legs, hind coxa, trochanter and trochantellus colored as pleural region, except fore leg t3–5, mid leg t1–2 apex and t3–5, dark brown; hind femur black, except basal end orange; hind tibia black, except basal 0.1 white; hind tarsus white, except t1 basal 0.3 and t4–5 apical half dark brown. Metasoma lateral color pattern as in Fig. 61; T 1 progressively changing from basally orange to apically black, apical margin with weak, narrow, diffuse whitish stripe; T3–8 apical margin with narrow, pale yellow stripe, widest on T2–3, triangularly widened medially on T7; T8 black.

Morphological variation. Fore wing 10.0– 17.8 mm. Ovipositor 1.26–1.43 length of hind tibia. All taxonomically relevant features for females were coded for all examined specimens and cladistically analyzed in the item “The D. inflatus complex.” Complement and further variation: Antenna with 27 flagellomeres, white band with 4, starting at apical half of flagellomere VI; mesopleuron distinctly, entirely strigate; supraclypeal area with yellow restricted to eye margins, not reaching parantennal impression; hind t1 basal 0.5 and t5 entirely, black; T4–6 yellow stripe medially greatly narrowed to widely interrupted. The extension of black on the hind femur is highly variable for all species of the inflatus group and does not seem to be of taxonomic relevance.

MALE. Very similar to female, except as follows. [Antennae missing]. Propodeum sculpturing in one specimen fine, with about 20 strigae; orbital band distinct, linear along temple and gena; clypeus, including or not clypeal suture, and entire supraclypeal area, pale yellow; fore t5, mid t1 apical 0.3 and entire t2–5, dark brown; hind t4–5 entirely white; metasoma T2–7 apical margin with complete whitish stripe.

Comments. Female very similar to those of D. sutor (Fabricius) , from which D. coloratus can be isolated essentially by differences in the propodeum sculpturing (compare Figs 64 vs. 62; see also comments for D. sutor ). Males of D. sutor have metasoma with wide white stripe along apical margin of T1, T3 and T7, while males of D. coloratus show a narrower stripe on T1–7. Although there is a great overall similarity between these two species, the observed differences are also appreciable, making an eventual synonym questionable. For this reason, and to prevent taxonomic confusion, both D. sutor (Fabricius) and D. coloratus (Szépligeti) are here recognized as valid taxa.

Material examined. 2 females, 2 males. Homotype . ♀ [ Db 06] “Kamakusa// BritGuiana// H.Lang ”; “HOMO- TYPE // Stenarella ,// colorata Szep // V.K.GUPTA 1983.”; “ Digonocryptus // coloratus // Szep.// S. GUPTA, 198” ( AEIC) . Other specimens: ♂ “Sinop, M. Grosso// 12º31’S 55º37’W // Oct. 1975 Brazil // M.Alvarenga ” [ Digonocryptus coloratus S. Gupta det.] ( AEIC) . ♂ “ Jatún Yacu // 700m ”; “ Banos, Ecuador // III.20,1937 // W.Clarke-MacIntyre” [ Digonocryptus coloratus S. Gupta det.] ( AEIC) . ♀ [ Db 15] “ Brasil Pará// Serra Norte// N3–MATA// 18. VI.1985 ”; “ Brasil Pará// P.Tadeu ”; “ Agonocryptus sp. // M.C.Gonçalves DET1994” ( MPEG) .

Distribution. British Guiana NR, Ecuador NR, Brazil (MT, PA).