Aulacus uchidai Turrisi & Konishi

Turrisi, Giuseppe Fabrizio & Konishi, Kazuhiko, 2011, Description of two new Aulacidae (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea) from Japan, Zootaxa 2872, pp. 35-48 : 36-41

Aulacus uchidai Turrisi & Konishi , sp. n.

( Figs 1–11 )

Type material. JAPAN: holotype Ƥ labelled “ 43°00’28’’N 141°24’53’’E Hitsujigaoka, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, 5.VIII.2009, K. Konishi/ Aulacus uchidai Turrisi & Konishi sp. n. Ƥ 2010 Holotypus ” ( ITLJ); 2 paratypes Ƥ labelled “( Japan) Hokkaido Pref., Sapporo-shi, Hitsujigaoka N 43–00/E 141–24, 23 July 2009 (60–100 m alt.) Kyohei Watanabe leg./ Aulacus uchidai Turrisi & Konishi sp. n. Ƥ 2010 Paratypus ” ( TUAE, UCCT).

Etymology. Named in honour of the Japanese entomologist Togea Uchida for his contribution to the taxonomy of Aulacidae .

Description (holotype, Ƥ). Length: 7.7 mm; antenna length: 5.6 mm; fore wing length: 6.8 mm; ovipositor length: 4.2 mm.

Colour black; mandible extensively dark reddish; maxillo-labial complex blackish palpi brownish; antenna dark reddish brown; legs extensively blackish brown with fore and mid tarsi reddish orange and hind tarsus brownish orange; wings hyaline with veins and stigma dark brown. Setae: whitish, partly goldish on mandible.

Head, from above 1.2× wider than long, shiny; occipital margin weakly concave; temple, from above, moderately developed, rounded, about 0.6× eye length; POL:OOL= 0.6; vertex and most temple with fine to moderately coarse, superficial and scattered punctures (distance between punctures 3.0–5.0× puncture diameters); lower temple, behind eye, with moderately coarse, moderately deep and dense punctures (distance between punctures 0.5× puncture diameters); upper half of frons weakly rugulose-foveolate, except area anterior to front ocellus, polished with a few punctures; lower half of frons mostly with moderately coarse, superficial and dense punctures (distance between punctures 1.0–2.0× puncture diameters), except subantennal groove, impunctate; clypeus with fine, deep and moderately dense punctures; anterior half of malar area with moderately coarse, superficial and dense punctures, posterior half mostly impunctate; occipital area striolate-punctate with fine to moderately coarse, deep and dense punctures; antenna 0.8× fore wing length; A3 3.8× longer than wide; A4 5.5× longer than wide, and 1.8× longer than A3; A5 5.0× longer than wide, and 1.7× longer than A3. Setae: semi erect, very short and scattered on vertex; semi erect, very short and very scattered on temple (length of setae 0.2× diameter of an ocellus); erect, short and moderately dense on upper frons; recumbent, short to moderately long and moderately dense on lower frons and clypeus; recumbent, short and moderately dense on dorsal half of malar area, remaining surface glabrous.

Mesosoma weakly sculptured; pronotum confused-carinulate to rugulose-foveolate, with lateroventral margin rounded; propleuron weakly sculptured, with dorsal surface confused-rugose and ventral surface with coarse, moderately deep and very dense punctures (distance between punctures about 0.2–0.3× puncture diameters); mesoscutum mostly areolate-rugose with a few transverse carinulae, rugulose-punctate anteriorly; anterior margin rounded (lateral view); notauli moderately deep and narrow; scutellum mostly confused-rugose, transverse-carinulate in middle; mesopleuron confused-rugose; metanotum mostly polished, weakly scrobiculate on sides; propodeum areolate-rugose, anterior margin longitudinally carinate; venter of mesosoma rugulose-punctate to foveolate, scrobiculate in middle; fore wing with vein 2-rs+m very long; coxa I rugulose-punctate on ventral surface, with moderately coarse, moderately deep and dense punctures; coxa II rugulose on dorsal surface, rugulose-punctate on ventral surface, with coarse, moderately deep and very dense punctures; coxa III rugulose-punctate (basal half) to polishedpunctate (distal half) on dorsal surface, with fine to coarse, deep and moderately dense to dense punctures, weakly rugulose-punctate on ventral surface, with moderately coarse, moderately deep and dense to very dense punctures (distance between punctures 0.5–1.0× puncture diameters); outer spur of mid and hind tibiae longer than inner spur; hind basitarsus 10.5× longer than wide, and 1.2× as tarsomeres 2–5; tarsal claw strongly curved, without tooth-like process. Setae: erect, very short and scattered to moderately dense on dorsal surface; recumbent, moderately long and dense on sides and venter of mesosoma; erect, short and scattered on hind surface of propodeum; erect, moderately long and dense on propleuron (setae length about 0.5× pretarsus length).

Metasoma subovoidal (lateral view), slightly compressed laterally; petiole very short, stocky, 0.8× longer than wide; segments 1 and 2 mostly polished and very shiny, with fine, superficial and scattered punctures; base of T1 widely rugose-punctate; following segments very weakly microsculptured; T3–4 with fine, moderately deep and scattered punctures; T5–6 and S3–6 with fine, deep and dense punctures; T8 polished-punctate with fine, superficial to deep and scattered to very dense punctures; ovipositor 0.6× fore wing length. Setae: segment 1 and most part of T2–4 glabrous; recumbent, short and scattered on posterior half of T2–4; recumbent, short and dense on remaining tergites and sternites.

3 unknown.

Variation. Length: 6.0– 7.7 mm (Ƥ); fore wing length: 5.5–6.8 mm (Ƥ); ovipositor length: 0.6–0.9× fore wing length. Colour slightly variable: the two paratypes have legs extensively brownish yellow, including fore and mid tibiae.

Remarks. Sun & Sheng (2007) provided a key to species for Palaearctic Aulacus . The new species belongs to the group having the metasoma entirely blackish to black. This group includes two known species, A. japonicus Konishi 1990 , described from Japan ( Konishi 1990), and A. schoenitzeri Turrisi 2005 , described from China: Shaanxi ( Turrisi 2005). Aulacus uchidai is distinguished from A. japonicus by the less extensively sculptured upper frons (vs. extensively sculptured in A. japonicus ), the shape of the basal antennomeres, with A3 3.8× longer than wide; A4 5.5× longer than wide, and 1.8× longer than A3; A5 5.0× longer than wide, and 1.7× longer than A3 (vs. A3 3.5× longer than wide; A4 4.0× longer than wide, and 1.6× longer than A3; A5 3.7× longer than wide, and 1.5× longer than A 3 in A. japonicus ), the shape of the mesosoma (lateral view) having the propodeum declivous (vs. very weakly declivous in A. japonicus ), the longer apical lobe of hind coxa, 0.4× length of coxa (vs. 0.1× length of coxa in A. japonicus ), and the longer ovipositor, 0.6–0.9× fore wing length (vs. 0.4× fore wing length in A. japonicus ). The new species resembles A. schoenitzeri in ovipositor length and by the relatively long apical lobe of the hind coxa. It differs from it in having less extensively sculpture on upper frons, weakly rugulose-foveolate (vs. extensively sculptured, irregularly areolate-rugose in A. schoenitzeri ), the vertex shiny (vs. dull in A. schoenitzeri ), the dark reddish brown antenna (vs. extensively reddish orange with A1–4 and A11–14 darker in A. schoenitzeri ), the shape of the basal antennomeres, with A3 3.8× longer than wide; A4 5.5× longer than wide, and 1.8× longer than A3; A5 5.0× longer than wide, and 1.7× longer than A3 (vs. A3 4.5× longer than wide; A4 6.4× longer than wide, and 1.8× longer than A3; A5 5.6× longer than wide, and 1.7× longer than A 3 in A. schoenitzeri ), the apical lobe of the hind coxa rounded and moderately slender (vs. acute and more slender in A. schoenitzeri ), and the basitarsus 1.2× longer than tarsomeres 2–5 (vs. 1.0× in A. schoenitzeri ).

Distribution. Japan (Hokkaido), known only from type locality.

Biology. Unknown. The new species apparently belongs to the group of Aulacus that parasitizes Xiphydriidae , and there are several species of this family in Hokkaido that could serve as hosts (see Taeger & Blank 2010).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Aulacus uchidai Turrisi & Konishi, sp. n. (holotype Ƥ): 1, habitus.

FIGURES 2 – 5. Aulacus uchidai Turrisi & Konishi, sp. n. (holotype Ƥ): 2, head, dorsal view; 3, head frontal view; 4, head lateral view; 5, antenna, dorsal view.

FIGURES 6 – 7. Aulacus uchidai Turrisi & Konishi, sp. n. (holotype Ƥ, except 6 paratype Ƥ): 6, mesosoma, dorsal view; 7, mesosoma lateral view.

FIGURES 8 – 11. Aulacus uchidai Turrisi & Konishi, sp. n. (holotype Ƥ, except 11 paratype Ƥ): 8, hind coxae, lateral view; 9, hind tarsus, lateral view; 10, wings; 11, metasoma, lateral view.