Calosota speculifrons, Gary A. P., Gibson, 2010

Gary A. P., Gibson, 2010, Calosota Curtis (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Eupelmidae) - review of the New World and European fauna including revision of species from the West Indies and Central and North America, ZooKeys 55, pp. 1-75 : 49-53

Calosota speculifrons sp. n. Figs 20293950, 5378

Etymology.

From the Latin words speculum, ‘mirror’, and frons, ‘forehead’, in reference to the smooth and shiny scrobal depression that is one of the differentiating features of this species.

Type material.

HOLOTYPE ♀ (UCDC). USA: MS [Mississippi], Washington Co., nr Stoneville Delta Exp. Forest, 33°28'N; 90°54'W, 3-17.V.99, N.M. Schiff; CNC Photo 2009-30; Holotype Calosota speculifrons Gibson. ALLOTYPE♂ (CNC). COSTA RICA: Guanacaste Prov., Guanacaste Nat. Park, 23. III– 13.IV.1986, D. Janzen & I. Gauld; sector Santa Rosa, 10°51'N; 85°37'W, 250-300m; pk. hdqts., H-2-C, young scrubby woodland, shade; CNC Photo 2009-6; Allotype Calosota speculifrons Gibson.

Additional paratypes. COSTA RICA. Same data as allotype except as follows: 2-23.III.86, H-1-O, clearing (1♂ CNC); 13. IV– 4.V.86, SE-6-C, Bosque San Emillio, deciduous forest (1♂ CNC); 31. I– 21.II.87, H-3-O, clearing in scrubby woodland (1♂ CNC). USA. California: San Bernardino Co., Oak Glen, 1500 m. el., 34°2'N; 116°57'W, Malaise trp into ETOH, 27. VI– 5.VII.85, Robert E. Wagner (1♀ CNC, CNC Photo 2009-5, CNC SEM 2009-37). Texas: Brewster Co., Big Bend Nat. Pk, Window Trail, 29.V.83, W. Suter, #83-46, moldy leaf litter stream-side (1♀ CNC, CNC Photo 2009-4). Brnsvlle [Brownsville], bred, Insectary No.4, '04, H.S. Barber (1♀ USNM).

Excluded from type series. BRAZIL. Nova Teutonia, 6.III.41, F. Plaumann (1♀ USNM); Nova Teutonia, 27°11'S; 52°23'W, 300-500 m., VI.72, F. Plaumann (1♂ CNC).

Description.

FEMALE (Fig. 39). HOLOTYPE: length 4.9 mm. Color. Head (Fig. 20) with frontovertex dark except for ventrally tapered greenish-blue spot below anterior ocellus, scrobal depression, interantennal region, lower parascrobal region and smooth area of paraclypeal region along inner and lower orbits distinctly purple, and with narrow greenish band below level of toruli separating purple region from broad dark band along oral margin having slight coppery luster under some angles of light. Maxillary and labial palpi dark. Antenna dark brown with scape, pedicel, and fu1 under some angles of light with bluish-green to purple lusters. Tegula brown. Mesoscutum (Fig. 20) dorsally with somewhat bell-shaped coppery or slightly greenish-brown region, the region extending across width of scutellar-axillar complex posteriorly but narrowed to subparallel longitudinal margins between obscure notauli anteriorly, with surface lateral to region anteriorly more blue to greenish, and dorsally lateral lobe extensively violaceous-purple though more greenish-blue along lateral margin under some angles of light; scutellar-axillar complex similar in color to dorsomedial region. Acropleuron anteriorly greenish with slight coppery luster under some angles of light, but grading to bluish-purple posteriorly. Legs (Fig. 39) with trochantellus, knee, apex of tibia, and tarsus of front leg yellow, femur otherwise dark brown except posterior surface bluish-purple under some angles of light, and tibia otherwise dark dorsally and ventrally with anterior and posterior surfaces lighter brownish-yellow; middle leg extensively brownish-yellow beyond coxa except tibia somewhat darker subbasally, but knee, tibia apically, and tarsus more distinctly yellow; hind leg extensively yellowish to brownish-yellow beyond metacoxa except anterior surface of femur mesally dark with purplish luster, the lighter region of femur broader dorsoapically. Fore wing hyaline; setae uniformly brown. Gaster mostly coppery or reddish-brown dorsally, but extreme base of Gt1, penultimate tergum over about apical half, and syntergum except posteriorly, greenish-blue.

Structure /setation. Head in dorsal view about 2 × as wide as long, with IOD about 0.36 × head width; IOD: MPOD: OOL: POL: LOL = 63: 16: 9: 19: 16; in frontal view about 1.15 × as wide as high, with dorsal margin of torulus slightly above level of lower orbits; malar space about 0.54 × eye height. Head (cf. Figs 9, 10) with frontovertex and upper parascrobal region finely meshlike coriaceous, the sculpture medially tapered ventrally between smooth and shiny scrobes; interantennal region and lower parascrobal region narrowly along scrobal depression coriaceous-alutaceous, but lower parascrobal region broadly smooth and shiny along inner orbit; clypeal region microcoriaceous and paraclypeal region more obliquely granular to reticulate. Head with dark setae except for bare scrobal depression. Antenna (Fig. 20) with flagellum clavate; length of flagellum + pedicel about 1.35 × head width; scape: pedicel: fu1-fu8: clava = 85(16): 30(12): 15(8), 20(9), 20(10), 21(10), 19(10), 18(10), 17(10), 16(11): 68(17). Mesoscutum (Figs 20, 78) with inclined, convex part of lateral lobes coriaceous to slightly coriaceous-alutaceous, the cells similar in size to those of frontovertex, but dorsomedially with large, shallow, flat-bottomed, meshlike reticulations, and with dark setae dorsally and more whitish setae over inclined surface of lateral lobe; notaulus and anteroadmedian line apparently obscure (covered by head), but at least parapsidal line a distinct microsculptured region. Axillae elongate-slender, separated by about 4 × own width (Fig. 78). Scutellum low convex, about 1.2 × as long as wide; elongate strigose-reticulate (Fig. 78); with inconspicuous dark setae. Mesopleuron (Fig. 53) with exposed, setose lower mesepimeron; acropleuron obliquely coriaceous-alutaceous anterior to oblique microsculptured region and longitudinally coriaceous-aciculate over about posterior half. Fore wing with cc: mv: stv: pmv = 44: 35: 10: 20; basal cell entirely setose; cubital area bare except closed by setae along posterior margin for about one-third length; disc setose except for slender, arcuate bare band along basal fold and short region of mediocubital fold, but bare region separated from cubital area by line of setae. Metacoxa (Fig. 53) with outer surface setose except within more distinctly concave apical portion. Propodeum with callus setose to posterior margin (Fig. 53); bare anteriorly between spiracle and foramen. Gaster about 1.7 × as long as mesosoma, with sparse, inconspicuous whitish setae dorsally and much denser and more conspicuous, slightly lanceolate white setae laterally; penultimate tergum with posterior margin extending to level of cerci; syntergum about 1.6 × as long as transcercal width, evenly convex, and very slightly shorter than penultimate tergum.

MALE (Figs 29, 50). ALLOTYPE: length 2.75 mm. Similar to holotype except as follows. Color. Head (Fig. 29) without metallic spot below anterior ocellus and face brownish with reddish-coppery luster; mesoscutum (Fig. 29) with coppery-brown region occupying about medial third of mesoscutum and with more or less subparallel margins over most of length, and lateral lobes more conspicuously bright bluish-green anteriorly and purple posteriorly; middle leg (Figs 29, 50) with femur and subbasal band on tibia darker brown; hind leg (Fig. 50) with femur somewhat more extensively dark with metallic luster and dorsal surface of tibia dark except narrowly basally and apically.

Structure /setation. Head in dorsal view about 1.9 × as wide as long, with IOD: MPOD: OOL: POL: LOL = 46: 12: 5: 14: 8; in frontal view about 1.3 × as wide as high, with ventral margin of torulus about at level of lower orbits; malar space about 0.43 × eye height. Antenna with flagellum clavate (Figs 29, 50) similar to female; length of flagellum + pedicel about 1.2 × head width; scape: pedicel: fu1-fu8: clava = 49(10): 18(8): 9(5), 11(6), 13(7), 14(7), 13(6), 12(9), 12(10): 35(10). Fore wing with cc: mv: stv: pmv = 43: 36: 10: 20. Metacoxa with outer surface more extensively bare mediolongitudinally.

Variation.

Females range in length from about 2.5-4.9 mm and males from about 1.25-2.75 mm. Females other than the holotype lack the metallic spot below the anterior ocellus, the purple luster of the face is sometimes less conspicuous though the interantennal region is always purple under some angles of light, and the mesofemur usually is quite dark brown except yellowish basally and apically. Both sexes sometimes have the mesoscutum more extensively coppery-brown (purplish-coppery in one female) with only the inclined surface laterally being partly bluish-purple to entirely greenish-purple. Males sometimes have the palpi light rather than dark brown. The scutellum of larger individuals is more distinctly strigose-reticulate (Fig. 78) than for smaller specimens, which have a more elongate-reticulate sculpture more similar to the mesoscutal sculpture medially, though always with much more elongate and smaller reticulations. Males typically have the metacoxa almost completely bare mediolongitudinally. All females have fu1 and fu8 at least slightly longer than wide, whereas the apical funiculars can be quadrate to slightly transverse in males, and both sexes can have the postmarginal vein shorter relative to the stigmal vein than described for the holotype and allotype.

I exclude from the type series one female and one male from Brazil that are very similar to other specimens I include in Calosota speculifrons except that the posterior, metallic colored part of the lateral lobes is reticulate in the female and the male has the lateral lobes entirely reticulate. The tips of the antennae are missing from the female, but the male has longer flagellomeres than those from Costa Rica such that the length of the flagellum + pedicel is almost 1.65 × as long as the width of the head. Additional specimens from Brazil are necessary to better evaluate species limits. Another female from Nova Teutonia not listed above that bears the same data as the male, except it was collected 2.XII.40 (CNC), more certainly represents an undescribed species. It is about 6.2 mm in length and has about the basal half of the scape, tegula and legs yellow; the mesonotal sculpture and color pattern is similar to Calosota speculifrons but the lateral lobes and part of the mesoscutum dorsally is bright green rather than bluish or purple, as is also the face below about the level of the dorsal limit of the interantennal region. Furthermore, the face above the toruli is entirely, finely coriaceous except for separate smooth and shiny scrobes.

Biology.

Unknown.

Distribution.

Southern USA at least to Costa Rica (Map 5) and possibly Brazil. One of four New World species that may have had a Neotropical origin (see further under distribution for Calosota albipalpus ).

Recognition.

Among the four regional species having a coriaceous frontovertex and extensively smooth and shiny scrobal depression (see under Calosota albipalpus ), Calosota speculifrons is most similar to Calosota panamaensis because they share dark palpi and an exposed, setose lower mesepimeron (Fig. 53). However, the two species are readily differentiated by mesonotal color and, most conspicuously, a different sculpture pattern of the scutellum relative to the mesoscutum. Individuals of Calosota speculifrons have the most darkly colored legs of the four species with a similar head sculpture, the mesofemur at least being extensively brownish-yellow if not dark brown (Figs 20, 29, 39, 50).

My association of males and females of Calosota speculifrons is based largely on individuals of both sexes having dark palpi and an exposed, setose lower mesepimeron, but this association requires confirmation through rearing or collecting both sexes in either North America or Costa Rica. Unlike other North American species with a similar head sculpture, males I assign to Calosota speculifrons have a clavate (Figs 29, 50) rather than an elongate-filiform, setose flagellum ( Calosota albipalpus , Fig. 48 and Calosota setosa , Fig. 47). Furthermore, I saw two males from Dominican Republic (CNC) that I do not assign to any species or describe as new that are similar to males I identify as Calosota speculifrons except they have white palpi and lack an exposed lower mesepimeron, similar to Calosota albipalpus and Calosota setosa .

Similar to Calosota speculifrons and Calosota panamaensis , the nominal European species Calosota agrili Nikol’skaya, Calosota bolivari Askew, and Calosota nitens Askew have a finely coriaceous frontovertex and dark palpi, but among other features differ in having an exposed lower mesepimeron that is bare (cf. Fig. 55, see further under Calosota vernalis ).