Afrepsilon ferrugineoaureum gen. et sp. nov., 2024

Selis, Marco & Carpenter, James M., 2024, Revision of the Afrotropical genus Afrepipona Giordani Soika, 1965 and description of Afrepsilon gen. nov. (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae), European Journal of Taxonomy 944, pp. 1-80 : 64-67

Afrepsilon ferrugineoaureum gen. et sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:47B039EE-3696-4FCA-8677-3F042BAEC3BE

Figs 21E, G , 23 , 27P

Diagnosis

Recognized by the following characters: occipital carina angled in the middle of vertex and followed by a striated depression, punctures on pronotum, mesoscutum and scutellum very dense and mostly coalescent, interspaces reduced to sharp irregular ridges; metanotum oblique, long and semicircular when seen from above; dorsal faces of propodeum smoothly passing into posterior face; metasoma covered by dense and long brownish pubescence, partly hiding surface of tergites; preapical ridge of T2 lamellate and long, completely covering lamellate apical margin in middle and partly on extreme sides ( Fig. 23F ); apical margin of T3 and some of following tergites ferruginous and translucent; body largely marked with red and yellow, mesosoma including propodeum with yellow and red markings. Genitalia in Fig. 27P .

Etymology

The specific epithet was found on a red label pinned under the holotype of this species, handwritten by Giordani Soika. It probably refers to the coloration of this species.

Type material

Holotype

SOUTH AFRICA • ♀; Pondoland , Port St. John; 6–25 Feb. 1924; R.E. Turner leg.; MSNVE.

Paratypes

SOUTH AFRICA • 1 ♂; Marley , Berea; 14 Mar. 1918; MSVI .

Description

Female

MEASUREMENTS. Body length 7.5 mm; fore wing length 8.0 mm.

MORPHOLOGY. Head 1.3 × as wide as long in frontal view. Clypeus 1.3 × as wide as long, apical margin evenly emarginate between apical teeth, 0.3 × as wide as maximum width of clypeus, emargination 0.2 × as deep as wide; apical teeth subtriangular, with slightly pointing out rounded apex, with short longitudinal carinae; clypeus in lateral view very slightly convex. Vertex 1.6 × as long as distance from posterior ocellus to inner eye margin; cephalic foveae very small and separated by less than their diameter, placed in a small barely depressed area with different sculpture; gena 0.5 × as wide as eye at bottom of ocular sinus, depressed along posterior margin; occipital carina complete, sharp but not raised on vertex and angulate in the middle, raised in a sharp ridge on gena, evenly and weakly curved in lower half; area behind middle of occipital carina with a shallow striate depression. F1 1.4 × as long as wide and 1.5 × as long as F2, F2–3 subquadrate, F4–9 transverse and becoming progressively shorter. Mesosoma 1.3 × as long as wide. Sides of pronotum in dorsal view convex and weakly converging in dorsal view; pronotal carina complete, shortly lamellate, evenly rounded on humeri; pretegular carina complete and sharp; lateral faces of pronotum smoothly passing into dorsal face, weakly depressed in lower half. Mesoscutum about as long as wide, evenly convex in lateral view. Scutellum weakly convex; anterior margin crenate, median pit larger and deeper than others. Metanotum very weakly convex in lateral view. Tegula not equaling parategula, outer margin strongly convex in the middle, posterior lobe very short and blunt, shallowly depressed with raised posterior margin; parategula small and curved. Epicnemial carina barely visible, reaching epipleural suture and mesosternum. Propodeum falling almost vertically behind metanotum in lateral view; posterior face shallowly concave but not sharply separated from other faces; lateral faces flattened; submarginal carina shallowly produced above valvula. T1 more or less trapezoidal, 0.45 × as long as wide in dorsal view; horizontal face barely depressed on disc; posterior margin thin with a short hyaline lamellar margin. T2 0.8 × as long as wide in dorsal view, apical margin shortly lamellate and yellow-hyaline, transition between tergite and lamella marked by a raised lamellar ridge completely covering the real apical margin in the middle and partially on sides. T3–4 with lamellar apical margin. S2 evenly convex in lateral view.

SCULPTURE AND VESTITURE. Clypeus matte, finely shagreened with very fine sparse micropunctures and shallow rounded punctures, latter smaller basally and larger apically with interspaces always wider than one puncture diameter. Frons with shallow flat-bottomed polygonal cells, touching and separated by irregular interspaces reduced to narrow ridges, cells with shiny micropunctate bottom and interspaces matte; vertex shiny with barely visible shagreen and deep punctures, gena densely micropunctate and very shiny with punctures mostly restricted to anterior margin. Scape matte, shagreened with dense fine punctures. Pronotum, mesoscutum and scutellum with dense deep punctures; interspaces mostly reduced to narrow ridges, partly flattened but narrower than puncture diameter on scutellum; lateral faces of pronotum micropunctate and shiny with sparse shallow punctures and some fine striae. Metanotum with coarse oblique punctures in median area, more finely punctate laterally. Mesepisternum with rounded punctures, deeper on upper plate and shallow with flat bottom on lower plate, denser along epicnemial carina and becoming sparser posteriorly, leaving a narrow impunctate area on posterior sloping part; epicnemium and mesosternum finely shagreened and shiny, with sparse fine punctures on mesosternum. Dorsal faces of propodeum with very large and coarse punctures, interspaces mostly reduced to very narrow and sharp raised ridges, anterior third with some shiny and micropunctate flattened interspaces; posterior face very finely micropunctate and shiny, with very fine oblique striae on lower fourth, some shallow punctures along dorsal margin; metaepisternum finely shagreened and impunctate, lateral faces of propodeum striate, gradually replaced by elongate flat-bottomed punctures along posterodorsal margin of propodeum. T1 finely shagreened and micropunctate, silky shiny, with sparse barely visible punctures; T2 similar to T1 but micropunctures denser and more evident, macropunctures barely deeper but more evident; T3–4 shagreened with coarse and dense oblique punctures; T5–6 shagreened and micropunctate, with very sparse fine punctures; S1 matte and irregularly sculpted; S2 similar to T2 but punctures well marked and deep; S3–6 similar to respective tergites. Head and mesosoma with pale brassy suberect setae; clypeus, lower third of frons, gena and sides of mesosoma with dense whitish pubescence; dorsal and posterior faces of propodeum covered in short white setae, longer on lateral corners; metasoma with dense appressed brownish pubescence, T2–6 and S2–5 with preapical series of suberect longer setae.

COLORATION. Black; following parts red: apical margin of clypeus, mandible, scape, spots at bottom of ocular sinus, small interantennal spot, part of posterior margin of pronotum, pronotal lobe, tegula, area around yellow spots on propodeum, base and sides of T1, apical margin of T3–6, whole S1, margins of S2–6, outer margin of mid and hind coxae, all legs; following parts yellow: basal margin of clypeus, line behind dorsal lobe of eye, anterior and posterior margin of pronotum, parategula, anterior half of metanotum, large spots on posterolateral corners of propodeum, sinuate preapical bands on T1–4, narrower on T1, subtriangular spots on posterior corners of S2. Wings fusco-hyaline with weak brassy reflections.

Male

MEASUREMENTS. Body length 7.2 mm; fore wing length 7.0 mm.

Differing from female as follows: clypeus 1.3 × as wide as long, more convex in lateral view, microsculpture less evident and punctures deeper; vertex 1.45 × as long as distance from posterior ocellus to inner eye margin, gena 0.4 × as wide as eye at bottom of ocular sinus and strongly crenate along occipital carina; F11 finger-shaped and reaching base of F8, parallel sided with rounded apex in dorsal view, curved and weakly depressed in lateral view; punctures on pronotum, mesoscutum and scutellum slightly sparser, punctures on T1–2 deeper and more evident; following parts yellow: clypeus, spots at bottom of ocular sinus and on interantennal space.

Distribution

South Africa.

Figures

Fig. 21. Diagnostic characters of Afrepsilon gen. nov. A–C, F. A. hybridum gen. et sp. nov., ♀, holotype from Umtali (MSNVE). D, H. A. aterrimum gen. et sp. nov., ♀, holotype from Uganda (SNVE). E, G. A. ferrugineoaureum gen. et sp. nov., ♂, paratype from Berea (MSVI). A. Head, frontal view. B. Mandible, frontal view. C. Head, dorsal view. D. Palpi, lateral view. E. Head, lateral view. F. Metanotum and propodeum, posterior view. G. Apex of wing, dorsal view. H. T1–2, dorsolateral view. Scale bars: A–C, E–H = 1 mm; D = 0.5 mm.

Fig. 23. Afrepsilon ferrugineoaureum gen. et sp. nov. A–B, D. ♂, paratype from Berea (MSVI). C, E–F. ♀, holotype from Port St. John (MSNVE). A. Habitus, dorsal view. B–C. Head, frontal view. D. Flagellum, lateral view. E. Head, dorsal view. F. T2–3, dorsal view. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Fig. 27. Male genitalia: aedeagus in ventral view, aedeagus in lateral view, digitus. A. Afrepipona angusta (de Saussure, 1863) from Adi Keyh (MSVI). B. Afrepipona cellularis sp. nov., holotype from Nyamandhlovu (MSNVE). C. Afrepipona clonata sp. nov., holotype from Nairobi (MSNVE). D. Afrepipona cuprea sp. nov., paratype from Malindi (MSVI). E. Afrepipona lamptoensis Giordani Soika, 1965 from Lamto (AMNH).F. Afrepipona lobulata sp. nov.,holotype from Lubumbashi (AMNH). G. Afrepipona macrocephala (Gribodo, 1894) from Delagoa (MSNVE). H. Afrepipona meridionalis sp. nov., holotype from Durban (MSNVE). I. Afrepipona occidentalis sp. nov., paratype from Lamto (MSNVE).J. Afrepipona punctatissima sp. nov.,holotype from Maralal (MSNVE).K. Afrepipona scabra sp. nov., paratype from Kabongo (MSNVE). L. Afrepipona segregata sp. nov., holotype from Tulear (NHMW). M. Afrepipona tertia Gusenleitner, 2011, holotype from Bangui (OLML). N. Afrepipona ulterior sp. nov., paratype from Pretoria (MSVI). O. Afrepipona vulcanica sp. nov., paratype from Mount Kilimanjaro (MSVI). P. Afrepsilon ferrugineoaureum gen. et sp. nov., paratype from Berea (MSVI). Q. Afrepsilon minor gen. et gen. et sp. nov., holotype from Mount Kilimanjaro (OLML).