Perilampus sonora Yoo & Darling, 2024

Yoo, Jeong Jae & Darling, D. Christopher, 2024, Integrative taxonomic revision of the Nearctic Perilampus hyalinus species complex (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Perilampidae) resolves 100 years of confusion about the host associations of P. hyalinus Say, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 97, pp. 1301-1383 : 1301-1383

Perilampus sonora Yoo & Darling sp. nov.

Figs 22 , 23

Type locality.

USA, Arizona, Santa Cruz County, Sonoita.

Type material.

Holotype. “ ARIZONA: Santa Cruz Co. Sonoita, 2 mi S of town center 31°38'N, 110°39'W, 16–22. VI. 2008 Malaise trap in juniper / oak grasslands, EE Grissell ”. The holotype is point-mounted (Female ROME 152670 , USNM). BOLD: AEO 0861 / ITS 2. ROM Online Collection.

Paratypes. Mexico: 1 male. Oaxaca: 1 male. 19 mi S San Miguel Suchixtepec at Puente Jalatengo : (1 male: ROME 182754 - TAMU; BOLD: AEO 0861 ; ITS 2) . USA: 1 female, 1 male. Arizona: 1 female, 1 male. Cochise Co., Coronado National Forest, Chiricahua Mts., 1 mi N Rustler Park , 31°54'53"N, 109°16'07"W: (1 female: ROME 186060 - TAMU; BOLD: AEO 0861 ; ITS 2) . Santa Cruz Co., (1 male: ROME 198215 - USNM; ITS 2) .

Material examined.

Mexico: 15 females, 3 males. USA: 3 females. (Suppl. materials).

Additional material examined.

USA: 1 female. Arizona: 1 female. Cochise Co., Bisbee, 1429 Franklin St. , 31°24'23.8"N, 109°55'57.6"W: (1 female: ROME 152671 - USNM; BOLD: AEO 0861 ; ITS 2) .

Etymology.

The specific epithet is a noun in apposition — a reference to both the Sonoran Desert and to the state of Mexico where most of the specimens were collected.

Description.

Female (Fig. 22 ). Length: 2.1–3.2 mm. Color: head iridescent olive with cupreous tinge, with or without black coloration between lateral ocellus and frontal carina; pronotum and mesonotum cupreous, prepectus, meso- and metapleuron, and metasoma iridescent bluish violet; clypeus ventral margin black (Fig. 22 I ); antenna with scape and pedicel weakly iridescent greenish blue or violet, flagellum brown or black, lighter ventrad and distad.

Head (Fig. 22 G – J ): in dorsal view transverse, width slightly greater than twice length, HW / HL 2.1–2.2. Frontal carina: in anterior view straight to weakly sinuate below midlevel of eye; in dorsal view gradually narrowed V shape around median ocellus, FC / MOD 1.5–1.7; distance from lateral ocellus short to long FCLO / LOD 0.6–1.0. Scrobal cavity (Fig. 22 H ): in anterior view wide, SW / HW about 0.5. Ocelli (Fig. 22 G ): a line between anterior margin of lateral ocelli reaching anterior margin of median ocellus or nearly bisecting median ocellus. POL / OOL 1.8–2.1. Ocellar ratios LOD: POL: OOL: LOL 1, 2.9–3.3, 1.5–1.8, 1.1–1.3. Vertex: with strong to weak transverse striations, without large piliferous punctures. Parascrobal area: in lateral view gradually narrowed towards lower eye margin; width narrow, PSW / EL 0.2–0.3; sculpture strongly to weakly striate, without large piliferous punctures. Gena: entirely striate along outer eye margin, striate posterad. Malar space: MSL / EH about 0.2. Lower face (Fig. 22 H, I ): with setae sparse or dense and narrowly distributed laterad torulus, and sparse or dense below. Clypeus (Fig. 22 I ): CW / CH 1.4–1.5; ventral margin concave; setae evenly distributed, or with small bare area without setae medially.

Mesosoma (Fig. 22 B – F ): Lateral panel of pronotum: about as wide as prepectus, LPP / PPT about 0.9; without flange (Fig. 20 D ) or with small rounded flange below level of mesothoracic spiracle in posterior oblique view. Mesofemoral depression: usually smooth (Fig. 22 L ), rarely weakly rugulose or weakly imbricate ventrad. Mesoscutum: punctures angulate, with narrow and weakly coriarious interspaces (Fig. 22 B ); lateral lobe smooth or weakly coriarious along notaulus (Fig. 22 C ); parascutal carina broadly curved, acuminate. Mesoscutellum: apex with inner margins gradually diverging; Axilla: in lateral view imbricate dorsad and usually carinate (Fig. 22 F ), rarely rugose-areolate ventrad. Axillula: smooth dorsad. Fore wing: stigma small, 2.0–2.5 × as wide as postmarginal vein.

Male (Fig. 23 ). Length: usually smaller, 2.5–2.8 mm. As in female, except: Frontal carina: distance from lateral ocellus as wide or shorter, FCLO / LOD 0.5–0.6. Scape (Fig. 23 G, H ): pits sparse, covering about 0.3 × scape length.

Diagnosis.

This species is distinguished by the strong cupreous iridescence on the mesonotum of both females and males (Figs 22 B , 23 A cf. Figs 4 B , 5 A ), in combination with the lateral panel of pronotum without a flange or with a small and rounded flange below the level of mesothoracic spiracle (Figs 22 D , 23 B cf. Figs 16 D , 17 B ). Perilampus pilosus can also have a strong cupreous iridescence on the mesonotum (Fig. 15 A ), but P. sonora has sparser setae laterad of the torulus (Figs 22 I , 23 E cf. Figs 14 I , 15 E ). Also, the female metasoma of P. sonora is always violaceous but usually mostly greenish in the strongly cupreous P. pilosus specimens (Fig. 22 A cf. Fig. 15 B ). Perilampus seneca males also often have a strongly iridescent mesonotum (Fig. 17 E ), but P. sonora males differ in having sparser pits on scapes (Fig. 23 G, H cf. Fig. 17 G, H ). And the Nearctic distribution of P. sonora is limited to southwestern USA and western Mexico, and the range of P. seneca extends to southeastern Canada and eastern USA,

Distribution

(Fig. 25 ). Southwestern USA, and western and southern Mexico: USA (Arizona), Mexico (Chiapas, Guerrero, Morelos, Oaxaca, Sonora).

Host association.

Perilampus sonora is a hyperparasitoid, parasitizing dipteran and hymenopteran parasitoids of Lepidoptera . Hosts: Probably Tachinidae ( Diptera ) and / or Ichneumonoidea ( Hymenoptera ) from Utetheisa ornatrix (Linnaeus) ( Erebidae ). The potential hosts are: Gymnosoma sp. ( Tachinidae ), Lespesia sp. ( Tachinidae ), and Cotesia sp. ( Braconidae ) (G. R. Buckingham, personal communication).

Variation.

A female from Arizona ( ROME 152671) has an iridescent green head and weakly iridescent green midlobe of mesoscutum and scutellum. COI and ITS 2 suggest that this specimen is a morphological variant of P. sonora . A female from Sonora, Mexico ( ROME 189103), has a strongly transverse clypeus with CW / CH about 1.7.

Remarks.

The distribution ranges of P. sonora and its undescribed Neotropical sister species, P. hyalinus 17 (Fig. 1 ), appear to be divided by the Central Mexican Plateau. Perilampus sonora occurs along the western side of the plateau from Chiapas to Arizona (Fig. 25 ) and the Central American population of P. hyalinus 17 is distributed along the eastern side of the plateau from Panama to Tamaulipas, which may indicate allopatric or parapatric speciation. Perilampus sonora is supported by both genes (Fig. 1 , Suppl. material 5), and there are four BINed specimens on BOLD ( AEO 0861) from Arizona and Oaxaca, Mexico.

Figures

Figure 1. Maximum likelihood tree of Perilampus hyalinus species group retrieved from the combined analysis of COI and ITS 2 (modified from Yoo 2023). Bootstrap support values are shown on the left side of the nodes. The roman numerals and black dots adjacent to the nodes indicate the major morphological clades recovered as monophyletic (I = P. hyalinus species group; II = P. carolinensis species complex; IIa = “ pseudocarolinensis ” clade; IIb = P. carolinensis clade; III = P. hyalinus species complex; IIIa = P. hyalinus clade 1; IIIb = P. hyalinus clade 2; IIIc = P. hyalinus clade 3; IIId = “ regalishyalinus ” clade. The morphospecies designation for the sequences is marked by vertical bars, colored according to their placements within their respective morphological subgroups. The names of the species described herein are indicated in white boxes.

Figure 4. Perilampus hyalinus Female A habitus, lateral view B habitus dorsal view C lateral lobe of mesoscutum along notaulus D lateral panel of pronotum, posterior oblique view E axillula F axilla G head, dorsal view H head, anterior view I lower face J parascutal carina K mesoscutellum apex L, M mesofemoral depression. [A ROME 185913; B, K ROME 189058; C, M ROME 185947; D, F ROME 189056; E, G ROME 162229; H ROME 167636; I ROME 189060; L ROME 162246]. Scale bar: 1 mm (A).

Figure 5. Perilampus hyalinus Male A habitus, lateral view B lateral panel of pronotum and parascutal carina, posterior oblique view C head, anterior view D head, dorsal view E lower face F lateral lobe of mesoscutum along notaulus G, H scape. [A Neotype, ROME 204130; B – D, F, G ROME 182798; E ROME 167638; H ROME 189059]. Scale bars: 1 mm (A); 100 μm (G, H).

Figure 14. Perilampus pilosus Female A habitus, lateral view B habitus, dorsal view C lateral lobe of mesoscutum along notaulus D lateral panel of pronotum, posterior oblique view E parascutal carina F axilla G head, dorsal view H head, anterior view I lower face J head, lateral view K mesoscutellum apex L mesofemoral depression. [A, H Holotype, ROME 182765; B, C, E – G, L Paratype, ROME 182819; I, J Paratype, ROME 189067; K ROME 189129; L Paratype, ROME 152679]. Scale bar: 1 mm (A).

Figure 15. Perilampus pilosus Female A habitus, dorsal view. Male B habitus, lateral view C head, anterior view D head, dorsal view E lower face F, G scape. [A Paratype, ROME 189067; B Paratype, ROME 152727; C, D, F Paratype, ROME 182757; E Paratype, ROME 152714; G Paratype, ROME 152725]. Scale bars: 1 mm (B); 100 μm (F, G).

Figure 16. Perilampus seneca Female A habitus, lateral view B habitus, dorsal view C lateral lobe of mesoscutum along notaulus D lateral panel of pronotum, posterior oblique view E parascutal carina F axilla G head, dorsal view H head, anterior view I lower face J head, lateral view K mesoscutellum apex L mesofemoral depression. [A, H, I, J, L Paratype, ROME 199563; B, F, G Paratype, ROME 182769; C Paratype, ROME 158541; D Paratype, ROME 199544; E Holotype, ROME 183977; K Paratype, ROME 198142]. Scale bar: 1 mm (A).

Figure 17. Perilampus seneca Male A habitus, lateral view B lateral panel of pronotum, parascutal carina, and axilla, posterior oblique view C head, anterior view D head, dorsal view E habitus, dorsal view F lateral lobe of mesoscutum along notaulus G, H scape. [A – C, F, G Paratype, ROME 183976; D Paratype, ROME 199551; E Paratype, ROME 162263; H Paratype, ROME 199552]. Scale bars: 1 mm (A); 100 μm (G, H).

Figure 20. Perilampus arcus Female A habitus, lateral view B habitus, dorsal view C lateral lobe of mesoscutum along notaulus D lateral panel of pronotum, posterior oblique view E parascutal carina F axilla G head, dorsal view H head, anterior view I lower face J head, lateral view K mesoscutellum apex L mesofemoral depression. [A, D, E Holotype, ROME 189051; B, C, H, J, L Paratype, ROME 185944; F Paratype, ROME 189050; G Paratype, ROME 158551; I, K Paratype, ROME 189131]. Scale bar: 1 mm (A).

Figure 22. Perilampus sonora Female A habitus, lateral view B habitus, dorsal view C lateral lobe of mesoscutum along notaulus D lateral panel of pronotum, posterior oblique view E parascutal carina F axilla G head, dorsal view H head, anterior view I lower face J head, lateral view K mesoscutellum apex L mesofemoral depression. [A, B, D, G, H, J, K Holotype, ROME 152670; C, E, I Paratype, ROME 186060; L Paratype, ROME 189110]. Scale bar: 1 mm (A).

Figure 23. Perilampus sonora Male A habitus, lateral view B lateral panel of pronotum, parascutal carina, and axilla, posterior oblique view C head, anterior view D head, dorsal view E lower face F lateral lobe of mesoscutum along notaulus G, H scape. [A – F, G Paratype, ROME 182754; H Paratype, ROME 198215]. Scale bars: 1 mm (A); 100 μm (G, H).

Figure 25. Distribution of the Nearctic species of the Perilampus hyalinus species complex A P. hyalinus (green circles) and P. crassus (red squares) B P. neodiprioni (cyan circles) P. monocteni (red stars) C P. sirsiris D P. seneca E P. arcus F P. pilosus (yellow stars) P. ute (blue triangles) P. sonora (red circles).