Scelio crepo Yoder

Yoder, Matthew J., Valerio, Alejandro A., Polaszek, Andrew, Noort, Simon van, Masner, Lubomir & Johnson, Norman F., 2014, Monograph of the Afrotropical species of Scelio Latreille (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae), egg parasitoids of acridid grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Acrididae), ZooKeys 380, pp. 1-188 : 79-81

Scelio crepo Yoder sp. n. Figures 175-180; Morphbank 44

Description.

Female body length: 4.36-5.26 mm (n=2). Color of pilosity of dorsal head in female: golden to brown. Occipital carina in female: percurrent. Color of pilos ity of the frons below the anterior ocellus in female: predominantly golden to brown. Pilosity of eye in female: absent. Medial keel on interantennal process: absent. Width of lower gena in lateral view: wide, posterior margin of lower half of gena parallel to posterior orbit. Genal carina: absent. Color of genal pilosity: brown. Color of scape in female: brown to dark brown throughout. Surface of the pronotal nucha in female: predominantly sculptured. Color of pilosity of pronotal shoulder in female: white to light brown, lighter than that of mesoscutum. Sculpture of medial mesoscutum in female: predominantly longitudinally strigose to rugulose. Color of pilosity of mesos cutum in female: predominantly light brown to brown. Notaulus in female: present as more or less uninterrupted channel in posterior 1/2 of mesoscutum. Form of axillular carina in female: small, not particularly expanded or projected from the lateral edge of the mesoscutellum. Pilosity of propodeal nucha: absent. Pilosity of netrion: absent. Surface of mesopleural depression in female: sculptured throughout. Form of ventral margin of villus in female: bent ventrally in posterior, obviously not straight throughout. Color of coxae in female: brown. Color of hind femur: dark brown throughout. Color of hind tibia: yellow throughout. Fore wing length in female: apex between anterior margin of T5 and posterior margin of T6. Color of metasoma: light reddish brown. Sculpture of laterotergites in female: predominantly smooth. Pilosity of laterotergites in female: absent. Sculpture of medial T1 in female: most prominent elements predominantly longitudinal. Sculpture of medial T2 in female: most prominent elements predominantly longitudinal. Pattern of sculpture on T3-T5 in female: predominantly longitudinally striate. Color of pilosity on lateral T3-T5 in female: predominantly golden to brown. Lateral profile of T6 in female: more or less horizontal. Sculpture of T6 in female: predominantly transversely rugose. Sculpture of lateral metasomal sternal bar in female: predominantly smooth to slightly irregularly rugose. Distribution of felt fields: 2 pairs present (S2, S3).

Diagnosis.

Differing from other brown subgroup species by the combination of the completely yellow tibia (Fig. 176) and the transverse rugae of T6 (Fig. 180, more reticulate in most others).

Etymology.

The epithet is used as a noun in apposition derived from the Latin word for to rattle, clatter, crackle.

Link to distribution map.

http://hol.osu.edu/map-large.html?id=244980

Material examined.

Holotype, female: TANZANIA: Tanga Reg., hills, Amani, 23. VI– 24.VII.2001, D. Quicke, OSUC 212511 (deposited in CNCI). Paratype: TANZANIA: 1 female, OSUC 212514 (CNCI).

Comments.

The sculpture of the mesoscutum is somewhat finer (Fig. 177) than seen in other closely related species. There is some aciculate sculpture on the laterotergites, but they are predominantly smooth. There is a hint of a third felt field pair on S4, but we have coded only two pairs as present.