Gammabracon curticornis Quicke and Butcher, 2017

Quicke, Donald L. J., Hogan, James E., Bennett, Andrew M. R., Broad, Gavin R. & Butcher, Buntika A., 2017, Partial revision of the Indo-Australian braconine wasp genus Gammabracon Quicke (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) with descriptions of new species from Indonesia (Mollucas), Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, Journal of Natural History 51 (21 - 22), pp. 1249-1294 : 1257-1258

Gammabracon curticornis Quicke and Butcher sp. nov.

( Figure 3 )

Material examined

HOLOTYPE: Female. MALAYSIA ‘ Pasoh Forest Res., Negri S., Malaysia, XI.19.[19]78 for. gap, P. & M. Becker’ ( EMUS).

PARATYPES: 3 females, same data as holotype except 19 July 1978, 6 April 1978, 12 April 1978 ( EMUS) .

Description

Female: Length of body 7–10 mm, of forewing 6.5–8.1 mm, of antenna 6.0– 7.3 mm, of exserted part of ovipositor 8.2–9.5 mm.

Head. Antenna with 38–41 flagellomeres; terminal flagellomere pointed but not acuminate; median flagellomeres 1.15 × wider than long; 1st flagellomere 1.2 and 1.35 × longer than 2nd and 3rd, respectively; width of head:width of face:height of eye = 2.05:1.0:1.05; intertentorial distance 1.4 × shortest distance between tentorial pit and eye; frons weakly impressed, with narrow midlongitudinal sulcus, largely smooth; shortest distance between posterior ocelli:transverse diameter of posterior ocellus:shortest distance between posterior ocellus and eye = 1.0:2.3:4.0; length of head behind eye 0.4 × length of eye in dorsal view.

Mesosoma 1.9 × longer than high; scutellar sulcus wide, with 5 pits, middle one only marginally enlarged and anterior margin of scutellum only weakly emarginate there; posterior margin of propodeum with strong lateral carinae, medially rather abruptly swollen and with pair of short diverging carinae which divide into two.

Wings. Forewing vein 3RSb 5.0 and 2.5 × longer than 3RSa and rs-m, respectively; anterior junction of vein 1cu-a weakly swollen, strongly postfurcal; vein m-cu thickened and curved; base of hind wing without glabrous area, not emarginate.

Legs. Foretibia with golden-yellow setae.

Metasoma. 1st tergite 1.9 × longer than apically wide, median area strongly defined by dorsal carinae, area between dorsal and dorsolateral carine with well-developed transverse rugae; 2nd tergite with midbasal triangular area acute, almost reaching posterior margin, with posteriorly converging sublateral carinae reaching approximately 0.8 of distance to posterior margin; 3rd tergite with finely crenulate basal and medial transverse grooves and median area; 4th tergite with complete, finely crenulate transverse median groove; ovipositor sheaths with dense, short setae and without especially long subvertical ones.

Colour. Head (except flagellum), mesosoma (except dark posterolateral corners of propodeum), fore and mid legs orange-yellow; flagellum, hind legs, metasomal tergites 1–4 (except pale posteriorly converging carinae on tergite 2 and central line on 3rd and 4th tergites), black; wing membrane yellow-hyaline, pterostigma largely yellow, venation brown becoming darker towards wing base.

Etymology

Named after the short antennae.

Comments

Although the number of flagellar segments in idiobiont braconine wasps is generally quite variable intraspecifically and typically positively related to body size, the small number in this species (38–41) is consistent and markedly lower than in even smaller individuals of all other species of Gammabracon . It can also be recognized from all others by the pale lines on the metasoma, the setose hind wing base and the short forewing submarginal cell.

Figures

Figure 3. Gammabracon curticornis sp. nov. (a) Habitus. (b) Head, dorsal view. (c) Forefemur and tibia. (d) Face frontal view. (e) Wings. (f) Base of hind wing. 1(g). Metasomal tergites 1–3.