Smicromorpha Girault, 1913

Binoy, C., Santhosh, S. & Nasser, M., 2021, Review of Smicromorpha Girault (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) with description of a new species from India, Zootaxa 4991 (1), pp. 131-149 : 133-134

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https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4991.1.6

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scientific name

Smicromorpha Girault, 1913
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Smicromorpha Girault, 1913

Smicromorpha Girault 1913: 89 . Type species: Smicromorpha doddi Girault , by original designation and monotypy. Smicromorphella Girault 1930: 2 . Type species: Smicromorphella minera Girault , by monotypy (synonymy by Naumann

1986).

Description. Body non-metallic yellow to orange with brown or black markings. Head with eyes usually very large, in profile occupying majority of face (e.g. Fig. 1) except in S. banksi ( Fig. 16), S. minera ( Naumann 1986, fig. 38), and S. eudela ( Fig. 32); margin of antennal scrobe deeply impressed and carinate (e.g. Fig. 4) except in S. eudela ( Fig. 33); toruli at level with or above ventral margin of eyes (e.g. Fig. 24). Mandibles asymmetric, right mandible with inner rounded lobe and acute sclerotized tooth, and left mandible with inner, stout, acute tooth and outer weakly sclerotized process. Antenna with scape translucent, pedicel swollen, and flagellum much shorter than length of eye in profile, slender and somewhat fusiform, with 5 (♂)‒6(♀) flagellomeres, and mostly bearing sparse, suberect, hair-like setae; clava (terminal flagellomere) not differentiated, 1-segmented (e.g. Fig. 26) except 2-segmented in S. attenboroughi sp. nov. ( Fig. 2). Mesosoma with pronotum dorsally transverse, with or without transverse carina dorsally; mesoscutum with complete but narrow and weakly impressed notauli; prepectus minute, hardly visible; propodeum rugose-punc- tate, with petiolar foramen at dorsal margin. Hind coxa quite slender, subequal in length to hind femur; hind femur greatly enlarged, most often ventral margin serrulate without an inner tooth (e.g. Fig. 10). Wings densely setose; MV short, at most as long as STV; PMV absent or reduced to a stub; STV divergent from costal margin (e.g. Fig. 11). Metasoma elongate; base of petiole with dorsal condyle providing articulation with propodeum ( Figs 31, 56); body of petiole delimited anteriorly by ventrobasal and dorsobasal laminae; postpetiolar segments unsclerotized.

Hosts. Oecophylla smaragdina (Fabricius) ( Hymenoptera : Formicidae ) ( Girault 1913; Naumann 1986; Darling 2009). African species possibly parasitizing African weaver ant species Oecophylla longinoda (Latreille) ( Naumann 1986) .

Distribution. Afrotropical, Australia, India, Indonesia and Vietnam ( Girault 1913, 1915, 1930; Narendran 1979; Naumann 1986; Bouček 1988, Ubaidillah & Kojima, 2004; Darling 2009; Noyes 2019; R. Copeland, pers. comm.) ( Fig. 62).

Key to world species. Naumann (1986) & Darling (2009).

Key to Species of Smicromorpha Girault of the world (modified from Naumann 1986 & Darling 2009)

1. LOD shorter than OOL ( Figs 18, 35, 40, 42, 48, 55); hind femur with or without basal prominence.................... 2

- LOD much greater than OOL (lateral ocellus adjacent to inner eye margin) ( Figs 5, 27); hind femur with basal prominence fol- lowed by serrulation ( Figs 10, 23)........................................................................ 3

2. Margin of antennal scrobe carinate ( Figs 17, 44, 47, 53); STV at right angle with SMV ( Figs 19, 41, 50); hind femur with dis- tinct, black serrulation ( Figs 20, 39, 41, 46, 52)............................................................. 4

- Male. Margin of antennal scrobe acarinate ( Fig. 33); fore wing with STV punctiform, forming acute angle with SMV; hind femur without black serrulation, with 3 or 4 pale coloured distal teeth [ Australia: Northern Territory]... S. eudela Naumann

3. Flagellum 8-segmented, the clava 2-segmented ( Fig. 2); pronotal collar with transverse carina throughout, including dorsum ( Fig. 6); LOD 1.53× POL ( Fig. 5); head in frontal view 1.40× as long as wide ( Fig. 4); IOD 5.10× maximum length of head; anterior 0.4× of petiole smooth ( Fig. 12) [ India: Kerala]............................ S. attenboroughi Binoy , sp. nov.

- Flagellum 7-segmented, the clava (terminal flagellomere) 1-segmented ( Fig. 26); pronotal collar carinate only laterally ( Fig. 29); LOD 1.40× POL ( Fig. 27); head in frontal view 1.12× as long as wide; IOD 1.63× maximum length of head; petiole mi- nutely reticulate-punctate to rugose dorsally ( Fig. 30) [ Australia: North Territory, PNG and Queensland]... S. doddi Girault

4. Hind femur with blunt process proximally ( Figs 39, 41) or terminal flagellomere wider than long; hind femur with short, dense and adpressed setation................................................................................. 5

- Hind femur without any basal prominence proximal to serrulation, and terminal flagellomere longer than wide; hind femur with long, sparse, suberect setae and with short, dense and adpressed setae ( Naumann 1986, fig. 37) [ Australia: Queensland]......................................................................................... S. minera Girault

5. Sternaulus absent ( Naumann 1986, fig. 47); OS greater than LOD ( Figs 17, 47, 53); frons with distinct longitudinal grove be- tween median ocellus and antennal scrobe ( Figs 47, 53)...................................................... 6

- Sternaulus present ( Naumann 1986, fig. 49; Fig. 43); OS equal to LOD ( Fig. 42); frons without distinct longitudinal grove between median ocellus and antennal scrobe [ India: Kerala, Tamil Nadu]..................... S. keralensis Narendran

6. Female. Petiole distinctly swollen ventrally, less than 3.7× as long as high, and with transverse lamina indistinct ( Figs 46, 56); terminal flagellomere longer than wide; fl1 less than 0.7× as long as fl2........................................... 7

- Female. Petiole not distinctly swollen ventrally, more than 4.0× as long as high, and with transverse lamina distinct ( Fig. 21); terminal flagellomere wider than long; fl1 0.8× as long as fl2 [ Australia: Queensland; Papua New Guinea: Karkar Island]........................................................................................ S. banksi Naumann

7. Petiole with strong basal dorsolateral carinae ( Darling 2009, fig. 10); tentorial pits absent [ Australia: Queensland]........................................................................................... S. lagynos Naumann

- Petiole without dorsolateral carinae ( Fig. 55); tentorial pits distinct [ Vietnam: Thua Thien-Hue Province].................................................................................................... S. masneri Darling

Boucek, Z. (1988) Australasian Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera) - A biosystematic revision of genera of fourteen families, with a reclassification of species. CAB International, Wallingford, 832 pp.

Darling, D. C. (2009) A new species of Smicromorpha (Hymenoptera, Chalcididae) from Vietnam, with notes on the host association of the genus. ZooKeys, 20, 155 - 163. https: // doi. org / 10.3897 / zookeys. 20.195

Girault, A. A. (1913) Some chalcidoid Hymenoptera from Northern Queensland. Archiv fur Naturgeschichte, 79, 70 - 90.

Girault, A. A. (1915) Australian Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea XIV. The family Chalcididae with descriptions of new genera and species. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 4, 314 - 365.

Girault, A. A. (1930) New pests from Australia VIII. Private publication, Brisbane, 5 pp.

Narendran, T. C. (1979) A new species and a new record of the interesting genus Smicromorpha Girault (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) from Oriental region. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 75, 908 - 911.

Naumann, I. D. (1986) A revision of the Indo-Australian Smicromorphinae (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 22, 169 - 187.

Noyes, J. S. (2019) Universal Chalcidoidea Database. World Wide Web electronic publication. Last updated April 2019. Available from: http: // www. nhm. ac. uk / chalcidoids (accessed 30 October 2020)

Ubaidillah, R. & Kojima, J. - I. (2004) Record of Smicromorpha, (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae: Smicromorphinae) possible parasitoids of weaver ants, from Halmahera, The North Moluccas. Treubia, 33 (2), 199 - 201.

OS

Oregon State University

LOD

Lódz University

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hymenoptera

Family

Chalcididae