Parapanteles complexus Valerio and Janzen

Valerio, A. A., Whitfield, J. B. & Janzen, D. H., 2009, Review of world Parapanteles Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae), with description of fourteen new Neotropical species and the first description of the final instar larvae, Zootaxa 2084 (1), pp. 1-49 : 15-16

Parapanteles complexus Valerio and Janzen , n. sp.

Figure 14 .

Male. Body length = 3.65 mm.

Body color: Palpi light yellow; fore leg light brownish yellow (except coxae) and mid and hind leg trochanter and trochanters, posterior tip of mid leg, anterior 1/5 of hind femur; anterior tip of hind basitarsus whitish and tibial spurs; ocelli yellow; compound eyes black with few silver lines (at least in the dead specimen); metasomal pleurites below first tergum brownish yellow; remainder of body dark brown. Wings hyaline, forewing veins light brown, hind wing with vein C+CS+R slightly more yellowish than remainder of veins.

Head. Head height/width =1.34; compound eye height/width = 1.57; intertentorial pit distance = 0.19 mm; tentorial pit distance/distance tentorial pit to compound eye = 3.00; width of face at dorsal clypeal edge = 0.35 mm; clypeus width/height = 2.57; vertex width/distance between anterior ocelli and edge of torulus = 2.57; length of first flagellomere = 0.26 mm; first flagellomere length/width = 2.33; length of first flagellomere/ length of second flagellomere = 1.00; length of first flagellomere/length of third flagellomere = 0.95; terminal flagellomere length = 0.15 mm; terminal flagellomere length/penultimate flagellomere length = 1.20; terminal flagellomere length/width = 3.00; malar space height/basal width of mandible =?; ocell-ocular distance/ lateral ocelli distance = 1.00. Clypeus with dense and confused fine punctate sculpture; face with areas around compound eyes with confused punctate sculpture, but mid area with bigger and more defined punctate, face keel well defined and nitid extending itself for 2/3 of face; frons with scrobal areas nitid, remainder with fine and shallow punctate sculpture and anterior vertex; temple and remainder of vertex and gena and genapostgena junction area with fine and well impressed punctate sculpture; remainder of postgena nitid; ocular ring nitid.

Mesosoma. Mesosoma length = 1.22 mm; mesosoma length/width = 1.34; mesosoma height = 0.80 mm. Propleuron with fine punctate sculpture throughout; pronotum lateral area with anterior 1/3 nitid and dorsal edge, ventral edge and area between scrobal lateral groove, upper and lower lateral groove with few smooth and transversal ridges, distal edge upper 1/2 and posterior 1/5 of dorsal edge punctate, dorsal edge 1/5 and ventral edge 1/3 of posterior edge height; mesonotum with dense and small punctate sculpture which becomes bigger and less dense towards scutellar groove, area in front of scutellar groove nitid; scutellar groove with 12 small but well defined costulae; scutellum with nitid except for very few punctulate sculpture at midlongitudinal area; axilla through mesonotum with few thick and smooth transversal ridges throughout its width, lunulae edge well defined; metanotum very thin and rectangular in shape, with smooth rugulose sculpture, mid distal costulae without sculpture except for two posterior lateral small pits on it; axilla through metanotum with four transversal ridges; remainder nitid; propodeum without transversal and costula carinae, areola with anterior 1/2 less well defined than posterior 1/2 by presence of small and confused rugulose sculpture on its carinae, anterior lateral areas with punctate sculpture, posterior lateral areas with rugulose sculpture and the areola internal area; mesopleuron anterior 1/3 punctate, dorsal edge with well defined and dense scrobiculate sculpture, epistomal furrow with few smooth and thick transversal ridges, remainder of mesopleuron nitid; metapleuron with mid pit present, dorsal edge with few small transversal ridges, posterior edge with three transversal ridges at mid length, area around dorsal edge with punctate sculpture, remainder of metanotum nitid.

Legs. Hind femur length = 0.65 mm; hind femur length/width = 2.60; hind tibia length/hind femur length = 1.42. Fore telotarsus shorter than fore basitarsus, fore telotarsus with two four long setae at ventrodistal edge.

Wings. Forewing length = 2.95 mm; 1RS length = 0.09 mm; 1CUa length/1CUb length = 1.00; length RS+Ma = 0.46 mm; length M+CU = 1.03 mm; 1M length/ m-cu length = 2.18; pterostigma length/height = 1.93. Hind wing: 1M length = 0.44 mm; 1M length/2M length = 2.44; 1M length/M+CU length = 1.07; length r-m/length cu-a =0.79; 1RSa length/2r-m = 1.00; 1A length = 0.30 mm.

Metasoma. First tergum basal width = 0.22 mm; first tergum length/distal width = 2.33; second tergum length/distal width = 0.45; third tergum length/distal width = 0.35. First metasomal tergum with anterior 1/2 with few longitudinal lineate sculpture at lateral areas and with a dense and fine rugulose sculpture, remainder of tergum with a bigger and more evident rugose sculpture, tergum posterior 1/2 with a depressed midlongitudinal area with few rugose sculpture on it, posterior edge with an circular shape depression at each corner of it, mid area of tergum slightly constraint; second metasomal tergum with confused and smooth rugulose sculpture; third metasomal tergum nitid as remainder of terga.

Material examined. Holotype, male, “ Costa Rica, Guanacaste Province, Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, Sector Cacao, Sendero Circular, 1185 m, Lat 10.92714, Long -85.46683, 02-SRNP-8383, 01/iv/ 2002.” Holotype deposited at INBio .

Comments. This species is described from one known male; this is the only known species that exhibits the “I” shaped first metasomal tergum. See note under P. lincolnii n. sp. for placement of specimen under the genus Parapanteles

Rearing records. Voucher number 02-SRNP-8383 reared from "elachJanzen01 Janzen182" in the family Elachistidae , which was feeding on Erythroxylum macrophyllum (Erythroxylaceae) .

Etymology. Gender, masculine. This species is named after the complex pattern of sculpture observed on the first tergum.

Figures

FIGURE 14. Parapanteles complexus n. sp. first metasomal tergum sculpture (A), mesonotum (B), and wing venation (C).