Glyptapanteles erucadesolator 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 : 59-62

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

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Fig. 33

Diagnosis

Glyptapanteles erucadesolator sp. nov. is in the G. arcanus species group and can be separated from other members of the species group, other than from G. lambkinae sp. nov., by having the propodeum with very coarse and strong rugose sculpting and T1 with strong sculpturing. Glyptapanteles arcanus sp. nov., G. vergrandiacus sp. nov. and G. goodwinnoakes sp. nov. also have coarse sculpturing on the propodeum (although to a lesser degree), but T1 is either smooth or with clear punctures (but not rugose sculpturing). It is noted, however, that all these species are morphologically very similar and

identifications should be made with DNA barcodes. There was not a morphological character found to easily differentiate Glyptapanteles erucadesolator sp. nov. from G. lambkinae sp. nov., which are sister lineages in the current phylogeny ( Fig. 2 ); however, as the species differ by 2 bp in the wingless sequence and there is>6% divergence in the COI barcode, we feel confident that these are different species.

Etymology

The species epithet ‘ erucadesolator ’ is derived from the Latin words ‘eruca’ (‘caterpillar’) and ‘desolator’ (‘destroyer’) and refers to the lepidopteran parasitoid habit of this subfamily. It is a noun in apposition.

Material examined

Holotype AUSTRALIA • ♀; Queensland, Hermit Park ; -19.2828, 146.801; 10 m a.s.l.; 7 Jul. 2008; G. Cocks leg.; Malaise trap; gvc9348-1L, BOLD: HYQT050-08; QM T250954 .

Paratypes AUSTRALIA – Northern Territory • 1 ♀; Gregory National Park, Station Creek , 0.2 km NNW of Bullita Camp Ground; -16.1117, 130.423; 12 Jan. 2001; M.E. Irwin, F.D. Parker and C. Lambkin leg.; Extraction160, BOLD:AUMIC054-18; ANIC 32 130199 . – Queensland • 1 ♂; Hervey Range ; -19.3812, 146.449; 380 m a.s.l.; 22 Aug. 2017; G. Cocks leg.; Malaise trap; gvcT10741, BOLD: GCQT2624-18; QM T250955 .

Description

Female

COLOURATION. Gena without a pale spot; labrum mostly dark; scape colour in ventral half uniformly paler than flagellomeres or the same colour or darker than flagellomeres; flagellomeres darkening distally; tegula pale; wing veins uniformly black or brown, or with small lighter area proximally; anteromesoscutum all dark or dark with very slight orange patches on posterolateral corners; scutellar disk and metanotum dark; propodeum dark; fore coxa dark; mid coxa dark; 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 light brown; T1 dark; T2 sclerotised area dark or dark reddish-brown; T2 lateral area dark extends past indentation, but then pale; T3 mostly dark with paler lateral areas or uniformly brown; T4+ dark or reddish-brown.

HOLOTYPE BODY MEASUREMENTS. Body length 2.4 mm; fore wing length 2.5 mm.

HEAD. Antennal flagellomere 14 length/width 2.66; antennal flagellomere 2 length/width 2.85; OOD/ POD 2.50–2.57; IOD/POD 1.57–2.17.

MESOSOMA. Anteromesoscutum sculpturing with densely scattered deep and shallow punctures of irregular size; scutellar disk sculpturing with deep irregularly spaced punctures; 8–12 pits in scutellar sulcus; propodeum with median carina absent, propodeum strongly sculptured, punctate reticulate to rugose, with smooth shining areas in posterior third.

WINGS. Pterostigma length 0.54 mm; pterostigma width 0.2 mm; r 0.17 mm; 2RS 0.16 mm; 2m 0.09 mm; (RS+M)b 0.12 mm.

METASOMA. T1 lateral edges parallel for anterior ½ to ⅔ of length, then narrowing posteriorly, or lateral edges parallel for anterior ¾ of length, then narrowing posteriorly; T1 mostly smooth, some shallow rugose sculpturing in posterior half; T1 length 0.37 mm; T1 width at posterior edge 0.08 mm; T2 an isosceles trapezoid, lateral edges straight; T2 smooth and shiny, some shallow punctures along posterior edge; T2 length 0.16 mm; T2 width at posterior edge 0.27 mm; ovipositor slightly protruding from end of metasoma.

Male

As female, antennal flagellomeres slightly longer.

Remarks

Glyptapanteles erucadesolator sp. nov. constitutes BIN BOLD:AAG2095 and is 5.13% (p-dist.) divergent from the closet BIN in the database (BOLD:AEI7392; an undescribed lineage, from Australia).

Using the BOLD Batch ID engine, the COI barcode of the holotype is 5.9% different from the most similar COI sequence from an Australian specimen (AUGLY160-21; an undescribed lineage, with one specimen). One of the paratype specimens (AUMIC054-18) was sequenced for the wingless gene, which differs by a minimum of 2 bp from all other species with available sequence data.

Distribution

This species is currently known from northern Australia: from Gregory National Park in the NT and northern QLD.

Figures

Fig. 33. Glyptapanteles erucadesolator Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov. A, C, F. Paratype, ♀ (ANIC 32 130199). B, D–E, G. Holotype, ♀ (QM T250954). A. Lateral habitus. B. Dorsal mesosoma. C. Dorsal head. D. Fore wing. E. Dorsal propodeum and metasoma. F. Anterior head. G. Ovipositor sheaths.

Fig. 2. Maximum likelihood phylogeny constructed using IQ-TREE ver. 1.6.12 of a concatenated COI and wingless alignment including Glyptapanteles Ashmead, 1904 from Australia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, with specimens of Cotesia Cameron, 1891 from Australia included for contextual placement of the genus. Branch support values are given as SH-aLRT support (%) / ultrafast bootstrap support (%), with symbols representing value ranges as follows: * = 96–100; • = 91–95; ^ = 85–90; - = <85.