Aleiodes kingmani, Shimbori, Eduardo Mitio & Shaw, Scott Richard, 2014

Shimbori, Eduardo Mitio & Shaw, Scott Richard, 2014, Twenty-four new species of Aleiodes Wesmael from the eastern Andes of Ecuador with associated biological information (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Rogadinae), ZooKeys 405, pp. 1-81 : 40-42

Aleiodes kingmani sp. n. Figures 52, 53

Description of holotype.

Male. Body length 4.7 mm; antenna length 5.5 mm; fore wing length 4.3 mm.

Color. Mostly black. Head honey yellow, ocellar triangle black; antenna dark brown except apical border of pedicel honey yellow. Mesosoma almost entirely black; propleuron and ventral quarter of pronotum, mesoscutum mid-posteriorly and scutellum medially yellowish to honey yellow; posterior border of propodeum white. Fore and mid legs with whitish coxa, darkening apically to honey yellow apical femur and tibia, and brown tarsi; hind leg coxa, trochanter and trochantellus black, but apical border of trochanter and trochantellus, and a small ventral spot on trochantellus white; femur black on basal 2/5 and dorso-apically, otherwise yellowish; tibia and tarsi brown, subbasal whitish small band on tibia. Metasoma black dorsally except for the white T1; apical borders of T4-T7 whitish; basal T5-T7 brownish. Wings moderately infuscate; veins dark brown.

Head. 40 antennomeres, flagellomeres roughly 2.0 × as long as wide, apical flagellomere with short pointed apex; malar space moderate, length 1.3 × basal width of mandible, and approximately 1/3 eye height; in dorsal view eye 2.6 × temples; occipital carina incomplete dorsally, curving toward lateral ocelli, well defined laterally but not meeting hypostomal carina; oral space small and circular, maximum width equal to basal width of mandible; clypeus slightly swollen; ocellus moderate, ocell–ocular distance short, about half diameter of lateral ocellus; maxillary palp not swollen; head surface sculpturing shining granulate, occiput smooth and shining; frons excavated with short lateral ridges.

Mesosoma. Sculpturing finely granulate; pronotum with some wrinkles laterally; mesopleuron coriaceous on central elevated area and some irregular latero-ventral parts; propodeum with mid-longitudinal carina incomplete, granulate postero-laterally with irregular wrinkles, and triangular rugose area mid-anteriorly with diverging wrinkles; notauli well defined anteriorly, narrow and crenulate, meeting a depressed rugose area posteriorly; posterior margin of mesoscutum bordered by complete carina; scutellar sulcus shallow, with median carina plus two pairs of poorly defined lateral carina.

Wings. Fore wing: stigma 4 × longer than high; vein r 0.8 × vein 2RS, 0.9 × vein RS+Mb, and 0.7 × as long as vein m-cu; vein 3RSa about 0.4 times vein 3RSb, and 0.8 × vein 2M; vein 1CUa 2.7 × vein 1cu-a; vein 1CUb slightly shorter than vein 1CUa; vein 1M moderately curved at basal portion. Hind wing: m-cu absent; vein M+CU 1.3 × vein 1M; vein 1M 1.8 × vein r-m; RS smoothly diverging from margin beyond middle; vein M dark brown, well pigmented; vein 2-1A absent.

Legs. Hind tibia without comb of modified setae; tarsal claw simple, with a comb of thin bristles medially; hind tibial spurs relatively long, hind basitarsus 2.4 × longer than inner apical spur.

Metasoma. T1, T2 and basal 3/4 of T3 rugose costate, longitudinal carina present along this sculpturing; remainder T3 and T4 granular; remainder visible terga weakly shining coriaceous; T1 about as long as its apical width.

Female unknown.

Mummy. Length 9.5 mm, abdomen dark reddish brown, thorax, head and anal prolegs light brown, mummy bent (curled) ventrally, “J-shaped”, thorax inflated, exit hole barely round, located postero-dorsally at apex of mummy, posterior to hind abdominal prolegs.

Type material.

Type-locality: ECUADOR, Napo Province, Yanayacu Biological Station, YY-57074, S00°35.9', W77°53.4', 2163 m, cloud forest, June 20, 2011.

Type-specimen: Holotype male and mummy, point mounted separately. Top label: "ECUADOR: Napo Province / Yanayacu Biological Station / S00°35.9', W77°53.4', 2163m / CAPEA - NSF-BSI-07-17458 / (hand written) May 2011 / YY-57074; back (hand written): "em. 20-June-2011". (UWIM)

Biology.

Reared from mummified Geometridae caterpillar on Chusquea scandens . The host was collected as mummy.

Discussion.

This species belongs to circumscriptus/gastritor species-group. It produces an unusual curled mummy, “J-shaped”, and emerge through a large and almost round exit hole at the posterior end. The white first tergite of Aleiodes kingmani sp. n., contrasting to the mostly black metasoma, is a useful diagnostic character shared only with Aleiodes speciosus and Aleiodes townsendi sp. n. Aleiodes kingmani sp. n. differs from Aleiodes townsendi sp. n. by the mostly black mesosoma (mostly yellowish in Aleiodes townsendi sp. n.), and the entirely black hind coxa (bicolored black and white in Aleiodes townsendi sp. n.). Aleiodes kingmani sp. n. differs from Aleiodes speciosus in having mesopleuron black (mostly yellow in Aleiodes speciosus ) and entirely granulate (mostly smooth in Aleiodes speciosus ); black region on head restricted to ocellar triangle (covering most of vertex and occiput dorsally in Aleiodes speciosus ); hind coxa, trochanter and trochantellus black (yellow in Aleiodes speciosus ); and occipital carina not meeting the hypostomal carina.

Etymology.

This species is named after Eduardo Kingman (Loja, February 23, 1913 - Quito, November 27, 1997), one of the greatest Ecuadorian artists, who dedicated his art to portray the indigenous people of Ecuador.