Glyptapanteles kittelae Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin, 2022

Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P., McCLELLAND, Alana R., Bird, Andrew J., Giannotta, Madalene M., Bradford, Tessa M. & Austin, Andrew D., 2022, Systematic revision of the parasitoid wasp genus Glyptapanteles Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) for Australia results in a ten-fold increase in species, European Journal of Taxonomy 792 (1), pp. 1-116 : 77-79

Glyptapanteles kittelae Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:97C25961-9321-4C68-83FD-3563AADE8B60

Figs 5C , 7B , 8B , 9B , 40

Diagnosis

Glyptapanteles kittelae sp. nov. is in the G. albigena species group and can be separated from most of the other members of the species group by the pale spot on the gena being small but clearly visible, T2 dark, the media carina completely absent, and the hind femur light brown to pale.

With the limited specimens available, there was not a morphological character found that easily differentiates G. kittelae sp. nov. from G. austrinus sp. nov. or G. aspersus sp. nov. The COI divergence between G. kittelae sp. nov. and G. austrinus sp. nov. is> 6%, whilst the divergence between G. kittelae sp. nov. and G. aspersus sp. nov. is> 7%. The wingless sequences of G. kittelae sp. nov. and G. aspersus sp. nov. are very distinct, differing by 7 bp; however, there are no wingless sequences available for G. austrinus sp. nov.

Etymology

This species is named for Dr Rebecca Kittel, who collected the holotype and many other important and useful Hymenoptera , including many specimens of microgastrines, during her time studying Australian Cheloninae.

Material examined

Holotype AUSTRALIA • ♀; South Australia, Witchelina Stn ; -30.0186, 137.901; 23 Oct. 2010; R. Kittel leg.; Bush Blitz Svy RK091 sweeping Acacia victoriae ; Extraction557, BOLD: AUMIC348-18; SAMA 32-46156 .

Paratype AUSTRALIA • 1 ♀; New South Wales, track off Oxley Highway, 15 km from Gingers Creek, roadside; -31.3655, 152.045278; 1116 m a.s.l.; 15 Dec. 2008; K. Harvey and K. Umbers; reared from flowers of Senecio minimus 1 Apr. 2009; Extraction1313, BOLD: AUGLY152-21; AM K379892 .

Description

Female

COLOURATION. Gena with a pale spot; labrum reddish-brown; scape colour in ventral half the same colour or darker than flagellomeres; flagellomeres all black/dark brown; tegula pale; wing veins uniformly black or brown, or with small lighter area proximally or uniformly pale; anteromesoscutum all dark; scutellar disk and metanotum dark; propodeum dark; fore coxa dark; mid coxa light brown; hind coxa dark; fore femur orange to light brown; mid femur orange to light brown; hind femur orange to light brown; fore tibia orange to light brown; mid tibia orange to light brown; hind tibia darkening posteriorly; hind basitarsus dark reddish-brown; T1 dark; T2 sclerotised area dark; T2 lateral area same colour as sclerotised area, or only slightly paler; T3 uniformly brown; T4+ reddish-brown.

HOLOTYPE BODY MEASUREMENTS. Body length 2.2 mm; fore wing length 2.1 mm; antennal length slightly shorter than body length.

HEAD. Antennal flagellomere 14 length/width 1.12–1.40; antennal flagellomere 2 length/width 2.42– 3.00; OOD/POD 1.71; IOD/POD 1.71.

MESOSOMA. Anteromesoscutum sculpturing with shallow punctures, space between punctures generally smaller than diameter of punctures; scutellar disk sculpturing with only very shallow punctures; eight pits in scutellar sulcus; propodeum with median carina absent, very smooth and shiny, only very shallow punctures associated with setae.

WINGS. Pterostigma length 0.51 mm; pterostigma width 0.22 mm; r 0.13 mm; 2RS 0.14 mm; 2m 0.1 mm; (RS+M)b 0.07 mm.

METASOMA. T1 wedge-shaped, narrowing posteriorly for entirety of length, lateral edges straight (but not parallel); T1 smooth and shiny; T1 length 0.31 mm; T1 width at posterior edge 0.06 mm; T2 an isosceles trapezoid, lateral edges straight; T2 smooth and shiny; T2 length 0.14 mm; T2 width at posterior edge 0.31 mm; ovipositor slightly protruding from end of metasoma.

Male

Unknown.

Remarks

Glyptapanteles kittelae sp. nov. constitutes BIN: BOLD:ADL3407 and is 5.13% (p-dist.) divergent from the closet BIN in the database (BOLD:ADL4089; Glyptapanteles ferrugineus sp. nov.).

Using the BOLD Batch ID engine, the COI barcode of the holotype is 5.3% different from the most similar COI sequence from an Australian specimen (AUMIC042-18; Glyptapanteles ferrugineus sp. nov.). The holotype was able to be sequenced for the wingless gene and has a unique barcode, which differs by a minimum of 5 bp from all other species with available sequence data.

Distribution

Glyptapanteles kittelae sp. nov. is known from central SA and eastern NSW.

Figures

Fig. 5. A. Glyptapanteles albigena Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (ANIC 32 130334), arrow indicating a large pale gena spot. B. G. sanniopolus Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (ANIC 32 130370), arrow indicating a large pale gena spot. C. G. kittelae Fagan- Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (SAMA 32-46156) arrow indicating small (clearly visible) pale gena spot. D. G. harveyi Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., paratype, ♀ (WAM E109889), arrow indicating small (faint, barely visible) pale gena spot. E. G. baylessi Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov. paratype, ♀ (AM K.517936), gena without a pale spot.

Fig. 7. A. Glyptapanteles harveyi Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., paratype, ♀ (WAM E109889), arrow indicating faint median carina at the posterior end of the propodeum. B. G. kittelae Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (SAMA 32-46156), propodeum with median carina completely absent.

Fig. 8. A. Glyptapanteles andamookaensis Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (SAMA 32-035451), hind femur mostly dark. B. G. kittelae Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (SAMA 32-46156), hind femur mostly light brown.

Fig. 9. A. Glyptapanteles ferrugineus Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (ANIC 32 130189), mesosoma with strong red tinge. B. G. kittelae Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (SAMA 32-46156), mesosoma dark, no strong red tinge.

Fig. 40. Glyptapanteles kittelae Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (SAMA 32- 46156). A. Lateral habitus. B. Fore wing. C. Dorsal metasoma. D. Lateral metasoma. E. Dorsal mesosoma. F. Lateral mesosoma. G. Anterior head. H. Dorsal head.