Apanteles sparsus Liu & Chen

Liu, Zhen, He, Jun-Hua & Chen, Xue-Xin, 2015, The lacteus-, laspeyresiella - and mycetophilus - groups of Apanteles Foerster, 1862 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) in China, with descriptions of eight new species, Zootaxa 3949 (3), pp. 370-392 : 387

Apanteles sparsus Liu & Chen , sp. n.

Figure 9

Description. Female. Body length ca. 2.0 mm, fore wing length ca. 2.4 mm.

Head. Rather transverse in dorsal view, 2.0 as wide as long (25.0:12.5) and as wide as mesosoma. Temple rather constricted ( Fig. 9 c), shiny with indistinct shallow punctures. Face less transverse, 0.8 as high as wide, relatively dull, a narrow indistinct sulcus anterio-medially, large punctures, sparsely pubescent ( Fig. 9 g), inner margin of eyes subparallel. Ocelli of normal size, distance between fore and a hind ocellus not shorter than diameter of hind ocelli, posterior tangent to the anterior ocellus touching the posterior pair, POL:OD:OOL=4.0:2.0:3.8. Antenna almost as long as body length, penultimate antennomere transverse.

Mesosoma. Length to breadth and height 25.0:33.0:25.0. Disc of mesonotum relatively dull, densely heavily punctate, interspaces not bigger than diameter of punctures, however punctures become sparser posteriorly. Scutellar sulcus almost straight, narrow with some weak carinae in between. Scutellum polished with a few indistinct punctures. Propodeum punctate anteriorly, remainder polished, shiny, except a little rugose around the nucha and postero-lateral field. Mesopleuron highly polished, its anterior half with shallow punctation of even size.

Legs. Spines on outer side of hind tibia sparse. Spurs of tibiae equal size, almost half length of basitarsus. Hind basitarsus almost as long as tarsal segments 2–4 combined.

Wings. Pterostigma 2.6× as long as its widest part. Vein 1-R1 (metacarp) 1.3× longer than pterostigma, it is 4.8× as long as its distance from the apex of the marginal cell. Vein r arising from middle of pterostigma, as long as width of pterostigma, vein r slightly longer than vein 2-SR, both veins distinctly angled at their meeting, vein 2-M 2/3 length of vein 2-SR. 1st discal cell slightly wider than high. Vein cu-a relatively more or less straight. Vannal lobe beyond its widest part slightly convex and here with minute projecting setae that are well separated.

Metasoma. Slightly longer than thorax (37.5:33.0). T1 strongly narrowed towards apex, basal width 2.7× hind width, and 1.7× longer than basal width. Concave at basal 2/5, highly shiny and polished medially, slightly dull with scattered punctures along sides. T2 triangular, straight apically, 4× wider than long in the middle. T3 2.3× as long as T2 (7.0:3.0). Tergites after T1 relatively shiny, smooth. Hypopygium as long as apex of abdomen. Ovipositor sheath 1.3× as long as hind tibia (30.0:23.0), relatively thin.

Colour. Body black, except tergites posterior to T2 brown. Flagellum, labrum, mandible and tegulae brown. Palpi and spurs of tibiae pale yellow. Legs dark brown, except tarsi, fore and mid tibiae, anterior half of tibia 3, apical fore and mid femur yellow. Fore wing membrane hyaline, faintly brown, vein 1-R1, C+SC+R and pterostigma brownish, veins r, 2-SR, 2-M and others light brown.

Male. Unknown.

Host. Unknown.

Material examined. Holotype: ♀, Chebaling, Shixing, Guangdong, 2002. V.25, Xu Zaifu, No. 20051368. Paratype: 1♀, Jiangfengling, Hainan, 2002. V.25, Xu Zaifu, No. 20051368.

Distribution. China (Province: Guangdong).

Etymology. The specific name “ sparsus ” refers to indistinct sparse setae beyond vannal lobe’s widest part of wing.

Remarks. This species is very similar to A. statius Nixon , but can be separated by the following features: T1 strongly narrow towards apex (in the latter species not strongly narrow); face less transverse (in the latter species more transverse); and propodeum smoother with large, polished areas (in the latter species mostly weakly rugose).

Figures

FIGURE 9. Apanteles sparsus Liu & Chen, sp. n. a mesosoma, dorsal view; b habitus, lateral view; c head, dorsal view; d fore wing; e propodeum and T 1 – 3, dorsal view; f hind wing; g head, frontal view. Scale line = 0.5 mm.