Scelio gemo Yoder

Yoder, Matthew J., Valerio, Alejandro A., Polaszek, Andrew, Noort, Simon van, Masner, Lubomir & Johnson, Norman F., 2014, Monograph of the Afrotropical species of Scelio Latreille (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae), egg parasitoids of acridid grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Acrididae), ZooKeys 380, pp. 1-188 : 81-83

Scelio gemo Yoder sp. n. Figures 19, 181-186; Morphbank 45

Description.

Female body length: 5.37-5.77 mm (n=5). Male body length: 4.80 mm (n=1). Color of pilosity of dorsal head in female: golden to brown. Occipital carina in female: percurrent. Color of pilosity of the frons below the anterior ocellus in female: predominantly golden to brown. Pilosity of eye in female: absent; present. Medial keel on interantennal process: present. Width of lower gena in lateral view: wide, posterior margin of lower half of gena parallel to posterior orbit. Genal carina: present. Color of genal pilosity: brown. Color of scape in female: yellow in basal half, darkening to light brown in apical half. Surface of the pronotal nucha in female: predominantly sculptured; predominantly smooth. Color of pilosity of pronotal shoulder in female: golden to dark brown, concolorous with that of mesoscutum. Sculpture of medial mesoscutum in female: predominantly angular reticulate to rugulose. Color of pilosity of mesoscutum in female: predominantly light brown to brown. Notaulus in female: indicated by a row of cells. Notaulus in male: delimited by row of cells. Form of axillular carina in female: small, not particularly expanded or projected from the lateral edge of the mesoscutellum. Pilosity of propodeal nucha: absent. Pilosity of netrion: absent. Surface of mesopleural depression in female: sculptured throughout. Form of ventral margin of villus in female: bent ventrally in posterior, obviously not straight throughout. Color of coxae in female: brown. Color of hind femur: yellow throughout. Color of hind tibia: yellow at extreme base, otherwise light brown. Fore wing length in female: apex between anterior margin of T5 and posterior margin of T6. Color of metasoma: entirely black. Sculpture of laterotergites in female: predominantly smooth. Pilosity of laterotergites in female: absent. Sculpture of medial T1 in female: most prominent elements predominantly longitudinal. Sculpture of medial T2 in female: most prominent elements predominantly longitudinal. Pattern of sculpture on T3-T5 in female: T3 predominantly reticulate, T4-T5 predominantly longitudinally striate to strigose. Color of pilosity on lateral T3-T5 in female: predominantly golden to brown. Lateral profile of T6 in female: more or less horizontal. Sculpture of T6 in female: predominantly transversely rugose. Sculpture of lateral metasomal sternal bar in female: minutely reticulate throughout. Distribution of felt fields: 2 pairs present (S2, S3).

Diagnosis.

Similar to other species of the brown subgroup, particularly Scelio cano . Differing from these by the combination of the presence of a medial ridge of interantennal process, the notauli indicated by a row of cells, the yellow hind tibia, the reticulate sculpture of the mesoscutum and the nearly horizontal T6 (as seen in lateral view).

Etymology.

The epithet is used as a noun in apposition derived from the Latin word for to groan, moan, sigh.

Link to distribution map.

http://hol.osu.edu/map-large.html?id=244981

Material examined.

Holotype, female: UGANDA: Kabarole Dist., 20km SE Fort Portal, Makerere University Biological Field Station (MUBFS), 0°33.08'N, 30°21.54'E, 1570m, 9. X– 11.X.2001, yellow pan trap, B. Gill & J. Gill, OSUC 212932 (deposited in CNCI). Paratypes:(4 females, 1 male) CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: 1 male, OSUC 250982 (SAMC). UGANDA: 4 females, OSUC 212345, 212933 (CNCI); OSUC 250749, 250751 (SAMC).

Comments.

See Scelio cano .