Bathyaulax atrox, Kaartinen & Quicke, 2007

Kaartinen, Riikka & Quicke, Donald L. J., 2007, A revision of the parasitic wasp genus Bathyaulax Szépligeti (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Braconinae) from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, Journal of Natural History 41 (1 - 4), pp. 125-212 : 145-146

Bathyaulax atrox sp. nov.

( Figures 1A , 32–34 )

Material examined

Holotype: Female ( BMNH): Uganda, nr. Makerere Biological Field Station, Kibale Forest National Park , 8.8.2003, D. Quicke.

Paratype: Male ( BMNH): Uganda, nr. Makerere Biological Field Station, Kibale Forest National Park , 22.8.2004, D. Quicke .

Description

Female: Length of body 16 mm, of fore wing 15 mm, of ovipositor 20 mm.

Antennae with 115 flagellomeres. Terminal flagellomere 3.5 times longer than wide. Height of clypeus:inter-tentorial distance:tentorio-ocular distance51.0:3.2:2.6. Width of face:width of head:height of eye51.0:1.9:1.0. Height of face:width of face51.0:1.5. Sculpture on face punctate with a smooth line from between toruli down to face, not reaching clypeus. Clypeus rugose. Frons not depressed, smooth, with medial longitudal groove. POL:transverse diameter of posterior ocellus:shortest distance between posterior ocellus and eye51.0:1.0:3.5. Length of eye in dorsal view:distance of occiput and posterior margin of eye51.6:1.0.

Mesosoma approximately 1.8 times longer than maximally deep.

Fore wing: length of veins r:3-SR:SR151.0:2.8:3.2. Length of veins 2-SR:3-SR:rm51.0:2.7:1.3. Length of veins m-cu:2-M51.0:3.3. Length of veins 1-CU1:2- CU151.0:8.0. Shape of vein 1-SR+M straight. Swelling in vein 3-CU1 1.7 times thicker than the other part of the vein.

Legs: Length of fore femur:tibia:tarsus52.2:2.2:1.0. Fore basitarsus 4.3 times longer than deep. Length of hind femur:tibia:tarsus51.6:2.5:1.0. Hind basitarsus 7.0 times longer than deep.

First metasomal tergite 1.7 times longer than wide; raised median smooth with strigation on posterior margin. Second tergite 1.4 times wider than long; medial area raised and strigose. Sublateral areas smooth. Third tergite 1.6 times wider than long; with strigated transverse furrows on anterior and weakly on posterior margin, raised median area strigated, antero-lateral areas smooth and only weakly raised. Tergites four and five with strigated transverse furrows on anterior margin and weakly on posterior margin, with out strigation. Sculpture on raised median area reticulate to rugulose. Tergites six to eight smooth.

Head dorsally black with red spots medially to eyes, head ventrally red. Antennae black with orange-red apex (1:1). Mesosoma, fore and middle legs red. Dorsal and lateral sides of hind coxa, trochanter, trochantellus and base of femur red, otherwise hind legs black. Tergites and ovipositor sheets black, abdomen ventrally white. Fore and hind wings black, with small pale spot on base of pterostigma.

Etymology

Named after the intriguing life style of parasitic wasps.

Biology

This species has been shown to parasitize a wood-boring cerambycid in western Uganda ( Quicke et al. 2005).

Figures

Figure 1. Living males of Bathyaulax species. (A) B. atrox sp. nov., individual that became paratype male. (B) Bathyaulax sp., from South Africa, unidentified to species but probably B. bicolor.

Figures 29–34. Automontageș images of Bathyaulax species. (29) B. artoi, frons. (30)–(31) B. atripennis head, lateral view and wing. (32)–(34) B. atrox, face, head and mesosoma (lateral view) and metasomal tergites 2–3.