Acropimpla tequila Khalaim & Ruíz-Cancino, 2022

Khalaim, Andrey I. & Ruíz-Cancino, Enrique, 2022, Darwin wasps of the subfamily Pimplinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) of Mexico: Ephialtes genus-group, Zootaxa 5169 (3), pp. 201-251 : 204-205

1. Acropimpla tequila Khalaim & Ruíz-Cancino , sp. nov.

( Figs 1–3 , 37 )

Material examined. Holotype female ( UAT), Mexico, [State of] Jalisco, 10 km S of Tequila, Volcán de Tequila , 20°47.4’N, 103°51.0’W, 2750–2850 m, 7.ii.2009, coll. A.I. Khalaim.

Paratype. MEXICO. Chiapas: 1 ♀ ( ZISP) 10 km ESE of San Cristóbal de las Casas, 16.668022, -92.550506, 2400 m, pine forest, 6–7.viii.2021, coll. A.I. Khalaim.

Description. Female ( Fig. 37 ). Body length about 9.0 mm. Fore wing length 7.5 mm.

Upper tooth of mandible longer than the lower tooth. Clypeus with lower margin bilobate. Malar space 0.35× as long as basal mandibular width. Face transverse, 1.3× as broad as long, weakly convex, with fine but sharp punctures, smooth and shining between punctures. Head in dorsal view with genae 0.65× as long as eye width. Lateral ocellus separated from eye by 1.15× its own maximum diameter.

Mesoscutum smooth, with fine setiferous punctures. Submetapleural carina entirely absent. Propodeum polished, laterally with fine punctures, with only a pair of lateral longitudinal carinae developed posteriorly. Pleural carina absent, its position indicated by groove behind spiracle (metapleuron and propodeum not separated in front of propodeal spiracle).

Fore wing with vein 1cu-a opposite M&RS ( Fig. 1 ). Areolet strongly oblique, triangular, receiving vein 2mcu at its outer corner ( Fig. 2 ). Hind wing with nervellus intercepted somewhat below middle, distal section of CU distinct.

First tergite of metasoma 1.1× as long as posteriorly broad, with lateromedian carinae strong in anterior 0.4 of tergite, converging towards centre of tergite. Second tergite slightly transverse, 0.85× as long as maximally broad, with oblique grooves cutting its basolateral corners, centrally coarsely and sparsely punctate, with posterior 0.2 impunctate. Tergites 3–5 strongly transverse, with conspicuous lateromedian convexities. Tergite 5 with weakly and tergite 6 with strongly reduced hind impunctate margin. Ovipositor straight, compressed laterally, projecting beyond hind margin of subgenital plate by 2.1× length of hind tibia; apex of ovipositor with weak dorsal angle, dorsal valve beyond nodus slightly concave, and two proximal teeth of lower valve subtending angle of about 35º ( Fig. 3 ).

Body black. Lower part of clypeus brownish black. Palpi brownish yellow. Hind corner of pronotum and tegula whitish. Pterostigma brown. Fore and mid legs reddish brown except whitish fore trochanter and trochantellus and infuscate apex of tarsomere 5 of mid leg. Hind coxa, trochanter, trochantellus and femur entirely reddish brown; tibia whitish with narrow fuscous subbasal and apical bands and broad fuscous stripe on ventral side; tarsomeres 1–3 whitish with fuscous apex, tarsomeres 4 and 5 more or less entirely fuscous.

Male. Unknown.

Etymology. The species is named after the type locality [Volcán de] Tequila, and a traditional Mexican tipple.

Comparison. The new species resembles the Nearctic species A. alboricta by having a similar apex of the ovipositor with a weak dorsal angle ( Fig. 3 ; fig. 331 a in Townes & Townes 1960: 627). Acropimpla tequila sp. nov. differs from two other Nearctic species, A. alboricta and A. pronexus Townes , by its entirely orange-brown hind femur without fuscous preapical mark, completely lacking submetapleural carina (more or less complete in A. alboricta ) and propodeum dorsally without any vestiges of lateromedian longitudinal carinae (distinct dorsally in A. alboricta ). The new species also differs from the occurring in Mexico Iseropus hylesiae by the pronotum with only extreme upper hind corner white (in I. hylesiae pronotum with long white band on its upper margin), fore wing with areolet receiving vein 2m-cu at its outer corner (slightly behind centre of areolet in I. hylesiae ), and hind wing with nervellus intercepted below middle (above middle in I. hylesiae ).

Distribution. Mexico (Jalisco, Chiapas). First record of genus from Mexico.

Figures

FIGURES 1–7. Acropimpla tequila sp. nov., holotype, ♀: 1—apex of fore wing; 2—areolet; 3—apex of ovipositor, lateral. Anastelgis garciai, ♀ (Veracruz): 4—habitus, lateral; 5—head and mesosoma, lateral; 6—base of metasoma, dorsolateral; 7— apex of ovipositor, lateral.

FIGURES 37–40. Habitus, lateral, ♀: 37—Acropimpla tequila sp. nov. (holotype); 38—Scambus aplopappi; 39—S. longicoxa sp. nov. (paratype); 40—S. irapuatoensis sp. nov. (paratype).