Genaemirum phacochoerus Broad, Rousse & van Noort

Rousse, Pascal, Broad, Gavin R. & van Noort, Simon, 2016, Review of the genus Genaemirum Heinrich (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Ichneumoninae) with interactive identification keys to species, ZooKeys 636, pp. 77-105 : 89-91

Genaemirum phacochoerus Broad, Rousse & van Noort sp. n. Fig. 3

Type material.

HOLOTYPE ♀: [TANZANIA] 'Mahali Peninsula. I 10.ix.1959. 2nd. Oxford U[niversity]. Exped[ition]. B.M. 1960-279.' 'Kungwe Camp: Forest clearing. 6 ’000ft.’ (BMNH).

Diagnosis.

Female. Body length 16 mm, fore wing length 13mm. Black mesosoma with large creamy-white markings on head and mesosoma and metasoma dull yellow beyond black first segment; face, large spot on upper vertex, lower edge of pronotum, scutellum, large oval patch on mesopleuron and spot on metapleuron all creamy-white; legs black except for dull reddish hind tibia; wings strongly infumate; antenna with 29 flagellomeres; lower gena produced laterally as a massive, rounded protuberance, concave and heavily rugose on outer side, with a triangular projection on its lower edge at half length; hypostomal carina produced as large, rounded triangular projection; clypeus slightly concave, corners elongate with edge deeply emarginate; lower face coriaceous, slightly concave, with pointed projection between antennal sockets; upper frons rugose; scrobe smooth, impunctate, with some weak rugae; scrobe dorsally demarcated by triangularly pointed projections; mesosoma mostly coriaceous, sparsely punctate; metasoma with sparse but distinct punctures, coriaceous, except tergites 2-3 medially strigose. Male. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis.

The unique clypeus, which is deeply emarginate with long, sharp corners, and the exceedingly long, strongly sculptured genal protuberance, makes this a distinctive species, with the most extreme head ornamentation that we have seen in Genaemirum (or any ichneumonid). The European Auritus elephas (Brauns) has genae expanded in a similar, but less extreme, fashion; however, we have only seen illustrations of this species ( Tereshkin 2004). The colour pattern (yellow metasoma and infuscate wings) is also distinctive compared to Genaemirum doryalidis , which is the closest congener in its head ornamentation.

Etymology.

The name is derived from the genus name for warthogs, after the resemblance of the head to that of a warthog. Noun in apposition.

Description.

FEMALE. Color. Head black with face and large spot on vertex creamy-white, with narrow black border to clypeus and gena; mesosoma black, with creamy-white markings: anterior margin of pronotum (except medially), median 2/3 of mesopleuron, scutellum and large spot on posterior half of metapleuron; metasoma with first segment black, remainder dull yellow, paler posteriorly; flagellum uniformly black; legs black except hind tibia dull reddish brown, fore tibia brown on inner edge; wings infuscate, venation black, pterostigma pale brown; setae mostly pale, inconspicuous, but many setae on 6th and 7th tergites black.

Head. Mandible rather stout, slightly concave on outer aspect, mid-longitudinally punctate, teeth smoother with upper tooth about 2.5 × as long as lower tooth; malar space 1.2 × as long as mandible basal width; lower gena massively expanded as an elon gate protuberance, apically rounded, concave and rugose on outer aspect with triangular projection on lower edge; in frontal view, genae ventrally diverging so that maximum breadth is 1.1 × head width at widest point of eyes; ventral portion of occipital carina difficult to trace, one branch meets hypostomal carina far from base of mandible, another branch turned abruptly anterior then deflected to mandible base, delimiting strongly emarginate area on lower vertex; hypostomal carina distinctly expanded at apparent junction with occipital carina into a large, blunt, roughly equilateral triangle; clypeus about 0.9 × as wide as high (measured at maximum height of projections from tentorial pits and width at tentorial pits), in profile slightly concave, not differentiated from face, ventral margin with elongate lateral lobes, face and clypeus coriaceous with punctures denser on clypeus, separated by 1.5 –2× puncture width; upper face with conical projection between antennal sockets; lower frons quite smooth, flat and steeply elevated above toruli, with some rounded rugae forming a V-shaped slightly raised area medially, separated from upper frons by a transverse carina extended laterally into sharply pointed projections; upper frons coarsely rugose, rugose-striate around ocelli; vertex coriaceous with sparse punctures; temple distinctly narrowed behind eye; occipital carina raised, distinctly lamellar ventrally; ocellar triangle wider than long, ocelli rather small, POL 1.25, OOL 1.7; antenna stout, widened and slightly flattened medially, thinner apically, with 29 flagellomeres, first flagellomere 1.7 × as long as apically wide, second 1.0 × as long as wide, then widening towards middle with 8th flagellomere 0.7 × as long as wide.

Mesosoma. Pronotum ventrally finely and densely punctate fading dorsally to sparsely striate, pronotum collar rugose-striate, epomia strong; mesopleuron bulging, strongly convex, mostly coriaceous, smooth and shining posteriorly, speculum barely differentiated, epicnemium finely and densely punctate, otherwise mesopleuron scarcely punctate, posterior suture deeply crenulate, epicnemial carina nearly reaching pronotal margin below subtegular ridge, dorsally fading into striations, area below strongly rounded, expanded subtegular ridge rugose-striate; metapleuron coriaceous with large punctures, denser dorsally, crenulate along pleural carina; mesoscutum evenly rounded, mesoscutum and scutellum (mesoscutellum) coriaceous with very fine, sparse punctures, notaulus narrow, deep, distinct to anterior third, scuto-scutellar groove quite smooth, deep and narrow, scutellar margin overhanging; scutellum with lateral carina to about 2/3 of length, quite flat in profile; propodeum typical of genus, gently and evenly rounded in profile with median areas fused, carination distinct, enclosing elongate central area that is 2.2 × wider posteriorly than anteriorly, densely punctate with punctation obsolescent mid-basally, coriaceous anteriorly and over entire area basalis+superomedia. Legs. Fore and mid tibiae with short and rather dense bristles along anterior faces, bristle sockets large and cupular.

Metasoma. Petiole with lateral and submedian dorsal carinae strong, abruptly enlarged into second tergite from level of spiracle, petiole coriaceous dorsally, more weakly sculptured on apex of postpetiole where sparsely punctate and faintly striate medially, tergite laterally strongly rugose; remainder of metasoma weakly coriaceous, more shining posteriorly, second tergite sparsely punctate laterally, medially longitudinally strigose; following tergites unevenly and sparsely punctate except tergite 2 medially and tergite 3 antero-medially longitudinally strigose, 4th tergite with short area of median, anterior striae; gastrocoelus deep, thyridia separated by 1.7 × their own width; 6th and 7th tergites with strong setae; ovipositor sheath slightly protruding beyond metasomal apex.

MALE. Unknown

Biology.

Unknown, but see discussion on biology under the genus treatment.

Distribution.

Tanzania.