Sceliomorpha Ashmead, 1893

Johnson, Norman F., Masner, Lubomír & Musetti, Luciana, 2008, Review of Genera of the Tribe Sparasionini (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea, Scelionidae), and Description of Two New Genera from the New World, American Museum Novitates 3629 (1), pp. 1-24 : 13-18

Sceliomorpha Ashmead

Figures 20, 21 , 23 , 25 –34

Sceliomorpha Ashmead, 1893: 210 , 211, 239. Type: Sceliomorpha longicornis Ashmead , by original designation.

Aliofreniger Szabó, 1956: 49 . Type: Aliofreniger rugosiceps Szabó , by monotypy and original designation. Synonymized by Masner (1976).

DESCRIPTION: Small to large, length 2.3– 6.0 mm; body moderately elongate (figs. 20, 21, 25, 29, 33), rather robust; head black; mesosoma, metasoma varying from black to red or yellow, rarely with weak metallic reflections; macropterous.

Head transverse to subquadrate in dorsal view (figs. 20, 28, 30); upper frons without transverse shelf, evenly convex (figs. 26–28, 30, 34); hyperoccipital carina absent; occipital carina well developed, continuous medially, crenulate; lateral ocellus close to inner orbit of compound eye (figs. 28, 34), OOL short, less than diameter of lateral ocellus; compound eye nearly circular in lateral view, with scattered elongate setae (figs. 26, 31, 32); frons convex throughout, finely to coarsely punctate, sometimes transversely rugose ventrally, with elongate erect setae; frons produced into cowl-like, semiglobose flange over torulus (figs. 26, 31, 32), flange continuous with interantennal process, torulus opening ventrally; submedian carina absent; orbital carina absent; lower frons without fanlike striae; interocular space relatively narrow, shorter than eye height; inner orbits diverging ventrally; clypeus well developed, anterior margin convex, without strongly produced lateral angles, not divided into anteclypeus, postclypeus; malar sulcus absent; gena fairly narrow, abruptly declivous behind eye; labrum hidden beneath clypeus; mandible nearly parallelsided, strongly bidentate, teeth acutely point- ed, subequal in size, arrayed transversely across apex; maxillary palpus 5-segmented, penultimate segment expanded medially into lobe; labial palpus 3-segmented; antenna 12- merous in both sexes; radicle not differentiat- ed from remainder of A1; base of A1 strongly recurved, forming distinct U-shape (fig. 26: U), inserting below cowl of interantennal process; A1 gradually widened apically, apex with flange on outer side flanking insertion of pedicel; length of A3 greater than or equal to length of A2; female antenna without distinct clava, apical eight antennomeres gradually widened; gustatory sensilla on female antenna arranged in longitudinal pairs on apical antennomeres; claval formula A5–A12 2-2-2- 2-2-2-2-1; male antenna with tyloids on A4, A4–A5, A4–A7, or A4–A8.

Mesosoma in dorsal view longer than wide (figs. 20, 28, 30, 34), in lateral view deep, weakly convex dorsally (figs. 21, 27, 29, 33); pronotum in dorsal view broad laterally, anterolateral corners angulate; transverse pronotal carina present (figs. 27, 28: tpc), complete medially; vertical epomial carina present; horizontal epomial carina present; anterior face of pronotum sloping anteriorly, usually visible dorsally; lateral face of pronotum broadly concave, facing anterolaterally; netrion absent, posterior margin of pronotum with large, elongate row of deep punctures; anterior margin of mesoscutum meeting pronotum dorsally; mesoscutum pentagonal in outline; parapsidal lines present; notauli present, nearly percurrent or abbreviated, often obscured by coarse mesoscutal sculpture; skaphion absent; transscutal articulation well developed, deep, without crenulae; scutellum slightly wider than long, unarmed, weakly convex; axilla well developed; metanotum well developed, dorsellum clearly differentiated, produced into coarsely sculptured, quadrate or subtriangular prominence; dorsal surface of propodeum with dense, fine pilosity; with median, submedian, lateral longitudinal plicae, usually with apical transverse keel; posterior face of propodeum variably sculptured, setose; mesopleuron large, prominent; mesopleural depression well developed (fig. 27: dep); mesopleural carina well developed, nearly longitudinal in orientation; sternaulus absent; mesopleural pit absent; anterior margin of ventral portion of mesepisternum weakly projected anteriorly, not extending between forecoxae; posterior margin of mesopleuron with vertical row of deep foveae; episternal foveae absent; dorsal corner of mesepimeron angulate, without clearly developed posterior tooth; anteroventral portion of metapleuron triangular, separated from lateral face by carina, glabrous; metapleural pit absent; posterior margin of metapleuron lamellate; metapleuron fused with propodeum dorsally, without suture separating sclerites; propodeum areolate-punctate, posterolateral corner distinctly projecting posteriorly as quadrate prominence; legs moderately robust (figs. 25, 29, 33); posterior surface of hind coxa smooth or longitudinally rugulose; femora moderately incrassate; trochantellus absent from all legs; tibia with elongate, erect setae, outer surface of fore-, midtibiae sometimes with stout spines; hind tibiae expanded medially, with upper surface carinate; tibial spur formula 1-2-2, inner tooth longer than outer; tarsal formula 5-5-5; tarsomeres tapering in width apically, strongly compressed laterally; pretarsal claws simple; apex of forewing extending to T6 or beyond (figs. 25, 29), hyaline to slightly infuscate, marginal cilia short, but distinct; R fairly straight, extending at least through basal 0.4 of length of forewing, interrupted by distinct bulla basad of origin of r-rs, with strong bristles arising throughout its length; R 1 never reaching costal margin, both marginal and postmarginal veins absent, R 1 vein inflated to form pseudostigma; r-rs (stigmal vein) reflexed apically, arising just beyond bulla in R, away from costal margin; no other tracheate veins in forewing; hind wing with R tracheate only at extreme base, not extending to hamuli and costal margin; no strong dark bristles on R; costal margin of hindwing above R with rather dense, strong setae; four hamuli present.

Metasoma moderately elongate (figs. 20, 21, 25, 29, 33), terga weakly convex, sterna deep, convex; T1–T5 subequal in length, none distinctly the longest; female with six terga, six sterna visible externally, male with seven terga, six sterna visible externally; submarginal ridge well developed, defined by narrow laterotergites to form deep submarginal rim; no spiracles visible; base of segment 1 longitudinally costate; suture between segments 1 and 2 basally crenulate; base of segments 2–7 costate; T1 horn usually absent, rarely weakly developed; female T6 without median raised field of microsetae or secretion; S1 laterally compressed, with median longitudinal keel, clasped between apices of hind coxae, not extending far anteriorly between bases hind coxae, sometimes produced posteriorly into hooklike projection; S2 with median longitudinal keel, anterior margin sometimes produced anteriorly into median tooth; no felt fields present on sterna; T7 not extruded with ovipositor, with short internal paired apodemes; S7 with paired lateral apodemes.

DIAGNOSIS: Distinguished from Sparasion , Mexon , and Electroteleia by the lack of a differentiated radicle and the U-shaped base of A1; from Listron by the absence of a transverse frontal shelf.

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: Southwestern United States (Arizona and Texas) to Paraguay, northern Argentina (Jujuy), and southeastern Brazil (Santa Catarina) (fig. 23).

COMMENTS: Sceliomorpha is a widespread and common genus in Latin America. It has been collected in a wide range of habitats, including rainforest and savanna, from sea level to 1800 m elevation. Both yellow pan traps and Malaise traps are effective in capturing specimens. Only eight species have been described, but the results from our ongoing revision of the genus indicate that the real number of species is at least forty. Despite the richness in numbers of both species and individuals, we have no host records for Sceliomorpha .

In his original description of the genus Ashmead (1893) included two species: the type species S. longicornis Ashmead (figs. 29–31) from Santarem in the Amazon Basin; and S. bisulca Ashmead , a phoretic species now placed in the genus Synoditella Muesebeck ( Muesebeck, 1972) . Szabó (1956) described Aliofreniger on the basis of a single specimen from Costa Rica (figs. 32–34). Masner (1976), based on examination of the type specimen, placed Aliofreniger as a junior synonym of Sceliomorpha . Aliofreniger rugosiceps Szabó , the type of the genus, clearly possesses all of the features of Sceliomorpha , including the Ushaped radicle and the flanges overhanging the toruli.

Figures

Figs. 19–22. Habitus of Sparasionini. 19, Sparasion, dorsal habitus. 20, Sceliomorpha, dorsal habitus. 21, Sceliomorpha, lateral habitus. 22, Sparasion, lateral habitus. Scale bars 5 1 mm.

Figs. 23–24. Distribution of Sparasionini. 23, Sceliomorpha. 24, Sparasion. Maps drawn with units of latitude and longitude of equal size.

Figs. 25–28. Sceliomorpha deplanata Kieffer (OSUC 10143). 25, Lateral habitus. 26, Head, frontal view. 27, Head and mesosoma, lateral view. 28, Head and mesosoma, dorsal view. dep, mesopleural depression; tpc, transverse pronotal carina; U, fused antennal radicle. Scale bars in millimeters.