Dodogaster grangeri Rousse

Rousse, Pascal & Gupta, Ankita, 2013, Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) of Reunion Island: a catalogue of the local species, including 18 new taxa and a key to species, Zootaxa 3616 (6), pp. 501-547 : 523-524

Dodogaster grangeri Rousse , sp. nov.

Diagnosis. Ocelli concentrated on a small equilateral triangle. Propodeal areola hexagonal and transverse. All metasomal terga coarsely aciculo-rugose, apical margin of tergum 2 crenulate. Ovipositor sheath twice as long as hind tibia.

Color. Head and mesosoma dark brown, somewhat clearer on propodeum, metapleuron and pronotum, but antenna testaceous and scape ventrally yellowish, palpi pale yellow, mandible and labrum yellowish orange. Legs yellowish orange with fore coxa whitish and hind tarsi infuscate. Terga 1–3 bright orange, laterotergites whitish, the following tergites yellowish. Metasomal sternites yellowish with hypopygium darker, ovipositor sheath browntestaceous. Wings hyaline, venation light brown.

Description.

FEMALE (2 specimens). B: 2.6; A: 2.7; L: 3.1 (3.1–3.5).

Head. Entire head (including eyes) rather densely setose. Clypeus slightly separated from face, its ventral margin slightly concave. Face transverse, densely and shallowly punctate. Ocelli relatively small, concentrated in a small equilateral triangle. H i: 0.8; EH i: 0.8; C i: 2.9; Fl 1i: 2.4; Fl 2i: 2.4; FL1– 2 i: 1.0; Fl 15i: 1.0; Fl 16i: 1.5; OO i: 3.0; IO i: 1.0.

Mesosoma . Moderately setose on punctate areas. Pronotum with ventral and dorsal furrows crenulate. Mesopleuron polished, with moderately dense punctuation on anterior third and along ventral margin. Sternaulus triangular, deep and short. Metapleuron polished, anterior pit deep. Mesoscutum short, deeply and densely punctate basally, punctures large, progressively shallower and sparser toward apex, mesoscutum about smooth in front of scutellum. Scuto-scutellar suture deep and wide, crenulate. Scutellum flat, sparsely and shallowly punctate. MSC i: 0.6. Pronotum with faint transverse striations and a mid-longitudinal carina on basal half, extending about to the center of areola. Areola complete, hexagonal, transverse and wide, basally weakly closed. Costulae strong, laterally curved toward apex. Fore wing. R1/Pl i: 1.2; r/Pw i: 1.0; r/2Rs i: 0.9. Legs. Hind coxa finely, densely and shallowly punctate. Cx/T 1i: 1.2; F i: 4.6.

Metasoma. Tergum 1 coarsely aciculo-rugose, abruptly curved in profile view, medially bulged but basal third flat, lateral margins sub-parallel but basally constricted. Tergum 2 aciculo-rugose but its apical margin crenulate. Tergum 3 with basal margin slightly concave and apical margin regularly convex. Ovipositor very long, apically decurved, sheath regularly setose all along except on extreme base. T1a i: 1.4; T1b i: 2.1; T1/T 2i: 2.4; T2a i:0.4; T2b i: 0.4; T2/T 3i: 1.7; OT i: 1.9.

MALE. Unknown.

Material examined. HOLOTYPE Ƥ (MNHN EY8797) Verbatim label data: La Réunion D, Sainte-Suzanne, forêt Dugain 780m, piège Malaise au sol, taillis de Psidium cattleianum , 05/ 11.V.2001, Attié Marc, leg.; complete. PARATYPE (CNC) 1Ƥ same label data; complete.

Etymology. Dedicated to Charles Granger, entomologist at MNHN, who started the laborious global revision of braconid wasps of the Malagasy subregion.

Distribution records. Reunion.

Genus Dolichogenidea Viereck (Nixon 1965, Mason 1981)

Mesoscutum typically shining with coarse, distinctly separated punctures, or sometimes the punctuation nearly absent. Propodeum smooth to coarsely sculptured, never with a median longitudinal carina, often with a more or less well-defined areola (with or without costulae), though the propodeal carination is sometimes totally absent or reduced to a truncate area or median depression extending forward from the metasomal foramen. Fore wing with areolet open (r–m absent). Hind wing with vannal lobe margin uniformly convex and hairy, rarely slightly flattened. Tergum 1 longer than wide, almost always bearing a median apical longitudinal depression, usually parallel-sided or barrel-shaped, but sometimes slightly widening or narrowing apically. Tergum 2 wider than long, usually shorter than tergum 3. Hypopygium moderate to large, sharply folded medially and usually bearing a series of median longitudinal striae. Ovipositor sheath usually long, hairy throughout. Ovipositor straight to slightly decurved.

Dolichogenidea ’s hosts are most often microlepidoptera, with few exceptions.

This is a very large and widespread genus, closely related to Apanteles (cf. comments above) but morphologically more homogeneous. Five new species are described here.