Scelio effervesco 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 : 97-99

Scelio effervesco Yoder sp. n. Figures 12, 221-226; Morphbank 52

Description.

Female body length: 3.98-4.34 mm (n=4). Male body length: 3.76-4.44 mm (n=2). Color of pilosity of dorsal head in female: white. 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: brown. Color of scape in female: brown to dark brown throughout. Surface of the pronotal nucha in female: predominantly smooth. Color of pilosity of pronotal shoulder in female: white to light brown, lighter than that of mesoscutum. Sculpture of medial mesoscutum in female: smooth with rounded punctures. Color of pilosity of mesoscutum in female: predominantly white to off-white. Notaulus in female: not delimited. Notaulus in male: 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: with large smooth patch. Form of ventral margin of villus in female: very slightly concave, almost straight. Color of coxae in female: brown. Color of hind femur: dark brown throughout. Color of hind tibia: yellow throughout. Fore wing length in female: apex surpassing posterior margin of T6. Color of metasoma: entirely black. Sculpture of laterotergites in female: predominantly aciculate. 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: predominantly longitudinally striate. Color of pilosity on lateral T3-T5 in female: predominantly white. Lateral profile of T6 in female: more or less horizontal. Sculpture of T6 in female: predominantly rugulose to reticulate. Sculpture of lateral metasomal sternal bar in female: predominantly smooth to slightly irregularly rugose. Distribution of felt fields: 3 pairs present (S2, S3, S4).

Diagnosis.

Unique among all Afrotropical Scelio in the presence of 3 well-developed pairs of felt fields (on S2, S3 and S4) and the nearly completely smooth mesoscutum with only small punctures (vs. angular to roundly reticulate or striate strigose).

Etymology.

The epithet is used as a noun in apposition derived from the Latin word for boil over, in reference to the bubblelike sculpture of the mesoscutellum.

Link to distribution map.

http://hol.osu.edu/map-large.html?id=244971

Material examined.

Holotype, female: MADAGASCAR: Fianarantsoa Auto. Prov., Talatakely, Bellevue, secondary tropical forest, MA-02-09C-04, Ranomafana National Park, 21°15.99'S, 47°25.21'E, 1020m, 22. XI– 28.XI.2001, malaise trap, R. Harin’Hala, CASENT 2134281 (deposited in CASC). Paratypes: MADAGASCAR: 3 females, 2 males, CASENT 2043535, 2132796, 2132826, 2134282 (CASC); CASENT 2133413 (OSUC).

Comments.

Scelio effervesco is aberrant in many ways, and is only tentatively placed into the howardi-group on the basis of the presence of a reduced propodeal projection and associated concavity. The form of the propodeal projection differs, however, from other howardi-group species in that there is not an acute outer corner. In this respect the form of the propodeum of Scelio effervesco more closely resembles that of species in the irwini-group. The pilosity throughout is extremely short and determining the precise color in specific areas is not possible, though it appears to be off-white to light brown. The legs and antennae of males are yellow throughout as compared to the brown of females.