Austrocodrus gladiogeminus, Rodriguez-Serrano, Enrique & Zuniga-Reinoso, Alvaro, 2018

Rodriguez-Serrano, Enrique & Zuniga-Reinoso, Alvaro, 2018, A new species of Austrocodrus Ogloblin (Hymenoptera, Proctotrupidae, Austroserphinae), a Gondwanic relict from southernmost South America, ZooKeys 803, pp. 155-160 : 156-157

Austrocodrus gladiogeminus sp. n. Figures 1, 2

Type locality.

Chile, Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena Region, Antártica Chilena Province, Cabo de Hornos County, Puerto Williams City, Parque Etnobotánico Omora (54°56'38"S, 67°39'25"W).

Type material.

Holotype: 1 ♀, from the type locality, February 2003. leg. A. Zúñiga. (MZUCCC 45974)

Description.

Female. Fore wing length 5.84 mm.

Head. Frons with dense pilosity; ocelli globular, translucent. Area between toruli with a marked “Y” shaped carina; the arms of the Y are strongly projected anteriorly. Distance between toruli 0.5 × their diameter (Fig. 2A). Occipital carina absent. Postoccipital carina visible. Maxillary palpus with 4 segments; 2 distalmost segments very elongated. Labial palpus very short, 3-segmented. Mandibles small, not touching each other. Labrum extremely reduced, triangular. Clypeus sharply convex, triangular. Gena in frontal view equal to eye height, strongly excavated to give head a triangular appearance. Scape with conspicuous apical spine, 2 × pedicel length. Antenna long, filiform, with 11 antennomeres. The first 2 antennomeres> 10 × as long as wide (Fig. 2C). Eye bare, globular.

Mesosoma. Pronotum dorsally occluded by mesoscutum and not visible in dorsal view. Epomium strong, which are connected dorsally by carina. First anterodorsal portion of pronotum shiny, smooth, the remainder strongly reticulated, sparsely pilose. Mesoscutum with notauli narrow, deep, originating from the anterior margin not reaching mesoscutellum. Groove in front of mesoscutellum with 7 foveae (Fig. 2D). Scutellum 1.3 × as wide as long, with glabrous center. Axillae deep, sculptured. Metanotum well developed, 1.2 × as long as mesoscutellum, with median section elevated and subtriangular. Axillary trough of metanotum sculptured. Wings hyaline, pilose, with the major part of veins tubular. Anterior portion of M nebulous. Also, M arising close and apical to 1cu-a. Cu and m-cu joining at a distance equal to the length of 2cu-a (Fig. 2B). Propodeum with a short distinct transverse carina on the anterior margin which connects with irregular lateral longitudinal carinae. Petiolar area separated from dorsal propodeum by a strong transverse carina, laterally delimited with low developed apophysis. Propodeum strongly reticulate, pilose and with a raised bare lateral area. Propodeal spiracle elongated, declined 15° from a transverse plane tangent to its ventral end. Propleura flat and strongly pilose. Mesopleuron with prepectus sparsely rugulose and pilose. Prepectal area separated from central mesopleuron by a foveate groove. Central mesopleuron swollen, bare and shiny. Mesopleural suture anteriorly foveate with similar size foveae. Mesepisternum narrow and bare. Mesosternum slightly swollen, strongly pilose. Mesepimeron and mesosternum separated anteriorly by delicate carina anteriorly. Petiole present, with longitudinal wrinkles, 0.3 as long as high.

Metasoma. Gaster anteriorly swollen, tapering very strongly to apically. Single synterguite visible with translucent lateral margins. Ovipositor sheaths 2 × as long as metasoma and sword-shaped. Ovipositor without apical notch, pointed, only 10% exposed.

Male. Unknown.

Distribution, habitat and behavior.

The type locality of A. gladiogeminus sp. nov. is on the northern coast of Isla Navarino, in the glacially fragmented landscape of southernmost Chile, and lies within the Magellanic Forest biogeographical province in the Subantarctic subregion of the Andean region (sensu Morrone 2015). The new species was collected from a Subantarctic Nothofagus forest, dominated by Nothofagus pumilio (Poepp. & Endl.) Reiche, and came from a microhabitat of open mixed forest with old and young N. pumilio trees. The specimen was collected with a net while flying during an afternoon of the austral summer.

Etymology.

The epithet gladiogeminus refers to the exceptionally sword-shaped ovipositor sheaths. It is a composition from the Latin noun “gladius”, a sword, the basic weapon of Roman legionnaires after the Punic Wars, and the adjective “geminus”, double or paired.

Remarks.

Austrocodrus gladiogeminus sp. nov. is the first record of an austroserphine from Chile, and only the second record of the subfamily from South America. Other than the two species of Austrocodrus , all other species of the subfamily are distributed in Australia and few southern Pacific islands, which suggests that Austrocodrus is a relict of the past connection between these land masses. Additionally, A. gladiogeminus sp. nov. has the southernmost distribution of any proctotrupid, reaching almost the 55°S.

The body size of the holotype, with a fore wing length of 5.84 mm, might be the largest among species of the subfamily; the forewing length of A. patagonicus is about 3.7 mm, in species of Acanthoserphus , between 3.1 and 3.7 mm, and in Austroserphus between 5.3 and 5.8 mm. Additionally, we find that the venation pattern of the genus Austrocodrus is not so similar to that of Acanthoserphus (sensu Townes and Townes 1981). The relative position of M basal to 1cu-a in Acanthoserphus and Austroserphus allows differentiating these genera from Austrocodrus , which has 1cu-a basal to M.

We provide a key to species of the genus Austrocodrus ( Ogloblin 1960):