Meteorus cecavorum Aguirre & Shaw 2011

Aguirre, Helmuth & Shaw, Scott R., 2014, Neotropical species of Meteorus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Meteorinae) parasitizing Arctiinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Erebidae), Zootaxa 3779 (3), pp. 353-367 : 356-358

Meteorus cecavorum Aguirre & Shaw 2011

( Figs. 5–8 )

Diagnosis. Mandible strongly twisted; occipital carina complete; wings hyaline; propodeum carinate-rugose; hind coxa strigate; tarsal claw simple; dorsopes and lateropes absent; ventral borders of first tergite joined completely along basal 1⁄2 of segment; short ovipositor; body mostly black-dark brown.

Cocoon ( Figs. 11–12 ). Length 4.5 mm; width 2 mm; brown with cap’s apex silver; oval-shape, densely wrapped by silk, anterior end rounded, posterior end nipple-shaped, emergence hole border neat; 23 cocoons attached by their individual threads to an axial and thicker rope-like thread.

Description of the male. Body length 4.2–4.5 mm; antenna with 29–31 flagellomeres; ocelli ocular distance 1.2–1.6 x ocellar diameter; head height 1.5–1.6 x eye height; temples length 0.6–0.7 x eyes length in dorsal view; frons rugulose or smooth and polished; minimum face width 1.2–1.5 x clypeus width; malar space length 0.8–1.2 x mandible width basally; central lobe of mesoscutum densely punctate or coarsely rugulose; scutellar furrow with three or four carinae; median depression weakly present or absent; length of vein r 0.5–0.6 x length of 3Rsa; length of vein 3RSa 0.8–0.9 x length of rm; vein m-cu antefurcal, postfurcal or intersticial; length of vein 1M 1.2–1.4 x length of cu-a; length of vein 1M 1.1–1.3 x length of 1r-m; first tergite with costae parallel or with costae convergent. The original description was based just on females. Except for the obvious lacks of an ovipositor, there is no significant difference between males and females.

Comments. M. cecavorum is morphologically close to M. coffeatus Zitani 1998 , but differs in having mandibles twisted (mandibles moderately twisted in M. coffeatus ), notauli not distinct and rugose (notauli distinct and linear in M. coffeatus ), hind coxa strigate (punctate and polished in M. coffeatus ), ventral borders of first tergite joined completely along basal 1⁄2 of segment (ventral borders of first tergite separated basally, joined apically in M. coffeatus ).

Distribution. M. cecavorum was previously recorded from Colombia, Magdalena Department, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Natural Park, at subandean and andean wet forests, 1700–2200 m altitude. The new record from Yanayacu, at the Napo province of Ecuador, seems to indicate a distribution across to Andean cloud forests.

Biology ( Figs. 9–10 ). Reared from an Arctiinae third instar larva feeding on Passiflora sp. (Passifloraceae) .

Material examined. 1 female, 2 males, ECUADOR, Napo Province, Yanayacu Biological Station, S 00°35.9' W 77°53.4', 2163 m, Camino a Sierra Azul, collected 23 April 2009 as 3 th instar larva parasitoid of Arctiinae on Passiflora sp. (Passifloraceae) , parasitoid pupated 22 May 2009, parasitoid emerged 12 June 2009, YY 38424 (rearing code). 18 females, 5 males, ECUADOR, Napo Province, Yanayacu Biological Station, S 00°35.9' W 77°53.4', 2163 m, collected 22 August 2009 as cocoon on Piper baezanum (Piperaceae) , parasitoid emerged 12 September 2009, YY 41887 (rearing code). Deposited at UWIM.

Figures

FIGURES 5–8. M. cecavorum. 5) Female, habitus lateral view, 6) male, habitus lateral view, 7) female, mesonotum and head dorsal view, 8) female, head frontal view.

FIGURES 9–12. 9 and 10) Arctiinae 3th instar larva, 11) cocoons, 12) cocoon close up.