Scelio fremo Valerio & 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 : 51-53

Scelio fremo Valerio & Yoder sp. n. Figures 115-120; Morphbank 34

Description.

Female body length: 5.60 mm (n=1). Color of pilosity of dorsal head in female: golden to brown. Occipital carina in female: percurrent. Color of pilosity of the frons below the anterior ocellus in female: predominantly white. 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: white. Color of scape in female: yellow 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; golden to dark brown, concolorous with that of mesoscutum. Sculpture of medial mesoscutum in female: predominantly angular reticulate to rugulose. Color of pilosity of mesoscutum in female: predominantly light brown to brown. Notaulus in female: not delimited. 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: straight. Color of coxae in female: brown. Color of hind femur: light brown throughout. Color of hind tibia: yellow throughout. Fore wing length in female: apex not reaching anterior margin of T5. 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: T 3 predominantly reticulate, T4-T5 predominantly longitudinally striate to strigose. Color of pilosity on lateral T3-T5 in female: more or less evenly split between white and brown. Lateral profile of T6 in female: more or less horizontal. Sculpture of T6 in female: predominantly longitudinally striate to strigose. Sculpture of lateral metasomal sternal bar in female: predominantly smooth to slightly irregularly rugose. Distribution of felt fields: 2 pairs present (S2, S3).

Diagnosis.

Similar to Scelio balo which also has a long metasoma and fore wings not reaching T5. Differing from Scelio balo by the straight ventral margin of the villus (com pare Figs 118 and 160) and the white pilosity of the face (Fig. 119, compared with extent of brown pilosity in Fig. 161).

Etymology.

Derived from the Latin for roar, howl, grumble; the epithet is considered as a noun in apposition.

Link to distribution map.

http://hol.osu.edu/map-large.html?id=244969

Material examined.

Holotype, female: GABON: Estuaire Prov., Citrus orchard, Ntoum, VII-1984, malaise trap, A. Pauly, OSUC 212795 (deposited in CNCI).

Comments.

The amount of pilosity on the anterior meso- and metapleuron (Fig. 118) is more than that seen in other Afrotropical howardi-group species. The mix of light and dark pilosity on the lateral portions T2 and T3 is also notable. Scelio fremo is only superficially similar to Scelio balo . Scelio balo appears to be more closely related to those species with brown pilosity on the pronotal shoulder than with Scelio fremo shares the color pattern more typically seen in Scelio howardi and its putative relatives.