Chrysis aswathiae Rosa, 2021

Rosa, Paolo, Aswathi, Pokkattu Gopi & Bijoy, Chenthamarakshan, 2021, An annotated and illustrated checklist of the Indian cuckoo wasps (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae), Zootaxa 4929 (1), pp. 1-100 : 24-26

Chrysis aswathiae Rosa , sp. nov.

( Figs 18 A–18G)

Material examined. Holotype: ♂; India: Tamil Nadu: Tranquebar [= Tharangambadi], ii.1953, collector unknown, NML_ENT GBIF_ Chr 00022780 ( MNLU).

Diagnosis. Species with densely punctate body, covered by small and contiguous punctures, without polished intervals among punctures ( Figs 18A, 18F ), particularly on metasoma; apical margin of tergum III edentate, without undulations, corners, or teeth. Body colour green with golden stripe on tergum II. Black spots on sternum II elongate, medially close and separated from lateral margins (fig. 18G).

Description. Male. Body length 6.5 mm. Forewing length 3.2 mm. OOL 1.6 × MOD; POL 2.0 × MOD; MS 0.7 × MOD; relative length of P:F1:F2:F3 = 1.0:1.2:1.0:1.0.

Head. Vertex and frons with small (about 0.3 × MOD) and contiguous punctures, on ocellar triangle with pol- ished intervals 0.1–0.3 × PD apart; polished areas laterally to posterior ocelli; punctation smaller and dense from ocelli triangle to occiput; transverse frontal carina weak, vaguely M-shaped, with two weak branches extended around anterior ocellus ( Fig. 18C ); scapal basin fully punctate with small punctures, covered by appressed whitish vestiture; apical margin of clypeus medially incurved; subantennal space 1.5 × MOD; genal carina weak, extended from mid gena to mandible insertion; temples, seen in dorsal view, noticeably expanded, about 2.5 × MOD ( Fig. 18D ).

Mesosoma. Medial pronotal line [= pronotal groove] weak, narrow, and well visible only on anterior margin; pronotum with small and dense punctation; mesoscutum with dense and larger punctures at base of mesoscutal median area; notauli as line of small rounded punctures, basally deeper and larger; parapsidal signum [= parapsidal line] weakly developed; mesoscutellum with dense and double punctation; metascutellum with dense and irregular punctation; metapectal-propodeal disc unmodified; posterior propodeal projections [= propodeal teeth] small, subparallel, and basally concave; mesopleuron with small, even and dense punctures, with defined posterior oblique sulcus [= scrobal sulcus] formed by large and subrectangular foveae. Spurs of metatibia distinctly unequal in length, with longest as long as ½ of tarsomere I; mesotarsomere I longer than following three together, fifth as long as third and fourth together. Forewing with medial vein unusually angled basally; Rs not reaching anterior wing margin.

Metasoma. Punctation with small-sized and contiguous punctures, dorsally without polished intervals, yet with narrow polished intervals laterally on terga I and II; pits of pit row deep and small, with same diameter of punctures on tergum III; medial pits larger and fused together. Apical margin of tergum III edentate, with brownish rim, and with slight concavity on lateral side, in proximity to pit row endings. Metasomal terga without median longitudinal carina. Black spots on sternum II subtrapezoidal, not connected to lateral margins and medially narrowly separated by 0.5 × MOD ( Fig. 18G ).

Colouration. Body entirely metallic green with blackish areas on: ocellar triangle; two lateral spots dorsally on pronotum; median area of mesoscutum; basally on terga II and III; with contrasting golden-red stripe apically on terga I and II. Tegula brown, without metallic reflections; legs metallic green with tarsi 1–3 proximally whitish and apically yellowish, tarsi IV–V brownish. Scapus and pedicel metallic, flagellum black. Wings clear, slightly brownish on radial sector.

Vestiture. Body with whitish, short, and erect setae (about 1.0 × MOD long).

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. India (Oriental part: Tamil Nadu).

Etymology. The specific epithet aswathiae (feminine noun in genitive) is dedicated to Pokkattu Gopi Aswathi for her studies on Indian Chrysididae .

Remarks. Chrysis aswathiae sp. nov. belongs to the Chrysis elegans species group. This is mostly a West Palaearctic group and includes only two Oriental species: Chrysis dissimilis Dahlbom, 1854 ( Fig. 34 ), known from India, and Ch. lapislazulina Rosa, Wei & Xu in Rosa et al. 2017e, known from China ( Rosa et al. 2017e). Chrysis aswathiae sp. nov. can be separated from Ch. dissimilis by dense body punctation, with small and contiguous punctures, without polished intervals among punctures ( Figs 18A, 18F ), particularly on metasoma (vs. mediumsized punctures with polished intervals about 1.0 × PD apart on mesosoma, and 1.0–2.0 × PD apart on metasoma in C. dissimilis ); apical margin of tergum III edentate, without undulations, corners or teeth (vs. medially sinuous and with blunt lateral teeth in Ch. dissimilis ); body colour green with a golden stripe on tergum II (vs. scutellum and metanotum red to golden-red contrasting with rest of body green to blue). It can be distinguished from Chrysis lapislazulina by dense body punctation, small dimensions and shape of the black spots on the second sternum ( Fig. 18G ), medially close and separated from lateral margins (vs. subrectangular, medially broadly separated and fused to lateral margins in Ch. lapislazulina ). There is no evidence that Chrysis aswathiae may be the male of the other two Oriental species, so far known only on females.

Figures

FIGURE 18. Chrysis aswathiae Rosa, sp. nov., holotype, male. A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Habitus, lateral view. C. Head, dorsal view. D. Head, frontal view. E. Genital capsule, dorsal view. F. Metasoma, dorso-lateral view. G. Metasoma, ventral view. Scale bars 1.0 mm.

FIGURE 34. Chrysis dissimilis Dahlbom, 1854, holotype, female. A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Habitus, lateral view. C. Head, frontal view. D. Metasoma, posterior view.