Monoctonus koreanus Kim, Ckrkic & Tomanovic, 2024

Kim, Sangjin, Ckrkic, Jelisaveta, Tomanovic, Zeljko, Sohn, Ju-Hyeong, Lim, Jongok & Kim, Hyojoong, 2024, A new species of genus Monoctonus (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae) from South Korea, Biodiversity Data Journal 12, pp. 119476-119476 : 119476

Monoctonus koreanus Kim, Ckrkic & Tomanovic sp. nov.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; reproductiveCondition: 95% ehanol; occurrenceStatus: present; occurrenceID: 46F8464F-6708-5C83-B14C-733C9814325B; Taxon: scientificName: Monoctonus koreanus Kim, Čkrkić & Tomanović; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Arthoropoda; class: Insecta; order: Hymenoptera; family: Braconidae; genus: Monoctonus; specificEpithet: koreanus; scientificNameAuthorship: Kim, Čkrkić & Tomanović, 2024; Location: higherGeography: East Asia; country: South Korea; countryCode: KR; stateProvince: Gangwon-do; municipality: Yanggu-gun; locality: Songhyeon-ri ; Identification: identifiedBy: Sangjin Kim, Jelisaveta Čkrkić, Željko Tomanović, Ju-Hyeong Sohn, Jongok Lim, Hyojoong Kim; Event: eventDate: 24/09-27/10/2020; year: 2020

Description

Female. Length of body about 2.2 mm (Fig. 1 A). Length of fore-wing 1.9 mm (Fig. 1 J).

Head. Tentorial index 0.35 (Fig. 1 D). Clypeus oval with eight long setae. Malar space 0.2 × longitudinal eye diameter. Antenna 15-segmented (Fig. 1 B). F1 longer than F2 (F1/F2 length 1.2). F1 and F2 3.9 and 2.5 times as long as their width at the middle, respectively. Both F1 and F2 with three longitudinal placodes (Fig. 1 C). Maxillary palp with four palpomeres, labial palp with three palpomeres. Temple subequal to eye in dorsal view. Face width/height ratio 1.1 (Fig. 1 D).

Mesosoma. Mesoscutum with effaced notaulices, dorsal surface smooth with numerous setae (Fig. 1 E). Head width/mesoscutum width ratio 1.2. Propodeum areolated, central areola length/width ratio 1.5 (Fig. 1 F). Fore-wing pterostigma 5.7 times as long as wide. Ratio of pterostigma length to R1 vein (= metacarpus) length 3.2 (Fig. 1 B). Vein m-cu distinct, 2RS visible in half, veins r and 3RS distinct.

Metasoma. Petiole 2.0 times as long as wide at spiracles (Fig. 1 H, I). Dorsal surface rugose with prominent dorsal carinae (Fig. 1 H). Ovipositor sheath distinctly ploughshare-shaped. Ovipositor sheath length/width ratio 2.4.

Colour. F1 and basal ¼ to ½ of F2 yellow, remainder of antenna brown. Scape and pedicel yellowish-brown. Head and face black. Clypeus yellowish-brown. Mouthparts dark yellowish-brown. Dorsal side of mesoscutum and metasoma dark brown, except light brown propodeum and yellowish-brown petiole. Legs yellowish-brown.

Diagnosis

In some morphological characters (shape of the ovipositor sheath, shape of the first flagellomere and antenna, number of antennal segments and number of maxillary and labial palpomeres), M. koreanus sp. nov. is similar to M. brachyradius , M. nervosus and M. paulensis . However, it clearly differs from them in having a broad ovipositor sheath (ovipositor length/width is 2.4 in M. koreanus sp. nov., while 3.0 in M. brachyradius , 2.6-2.8 in M. nervosus and 2.7 in M. paulensis ). Additionally, having a longer distal abscissa of R1 vein than in M. brachyradius (pterostigma length/R1 length is 3.2 in M. koreanus sp. nov., while 4.8-5.1 in M. brachyradius ) and shorter than in M. nervosus and M. paulensis (1.8-2.3 in M. nervosus , 2.1-3.0 in M. paulensis ) and a higher number of longitudinal placodes in flagellomere 1 (three in M. koreanus sp. nov., while no placodes in other species). It differs from M. brachyradius and M. nervosus in possessing a less elongate pterostigma (pterostigma length/width ratio is 5.7 in M. koreanus sp. nov., while 7.5 in M. brachyradius and 6.1-6.7 in M. nervosus ) and a higher tentorial index (tentoriocular line length/intertentorial line length ratio is 0.35 in M. koreanus sp. nov., while 0.1 in M. brachyradius and 0.2 in M. nervosus ). Although the petiole is an important character, most known Monoctonus species having a short petiole length/width ratio at spiracles about 2.0 contain M. koreanus sp. n.), except for M. canadensis Čkrkić, Petrović & Tomanović, 2019, M. inexpectatus Čkrkić, Petrović & Tomanović, 2019 and M. montengrinus Petrović & Tomanović, 2023, in which these ratios are about 2.5, 2.3 and 2.6, respectively.

Etymology

The new species is named, based on its current known distribution (Republic of Korea).

Notes

Although the new species is morphologically most similar to members of the Monoctonus nervosus group s.s., molecular data place it closer to other members of the Monoctonus nervosus group s.l. ( Čkrkić et al. 2019). Since only one specimen was used in this description, it would be advisable to collect more samples and investigate potential intraspecific morphological and molecular variability, as well as aphid hosts of the new species.

Figures

Figure 1. Monoctonus koreanus sp. nov. Kim, Ckrkic & Tomanovic, Holotype female: A Body; B Antenna; C F 1 and F 2; D Head; E Mesoscutum; F Propodeum; G Ovipositor; H Dorsal view of petiole; I Lateral view of petiole; J Wings.