Baeus melanocephalus Araujo & Vivallo

Araujo, Rodrigo De Oliveira, Vivallo, Felipe & Araujo, Cristina De Oliveira, 2013, Five new species of Baeus Haliday, 1833 (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea: Scelioninae) from Brazil with an updated key to Neotropical species, Zootaxa 3670 (1) : -

Baeus melanocephalus Araujo & Vivallo new species

( Figs. 10–12 )

Diagnosis. This species can be easily recognized because of the distinct coloration: female with brownish head and with yellowish mesosma and metasoma. Baeus menalocephalus new species is the most similar to B. itatiaiaensis new species sharing antennal club> 2 times as long as wide and differing from it by head wider than the metasoma and by A1 smaller than the sum of A2–A6.

Description. Holotype female: Body length: 0.73 mm.

Body yellow with head and distal end of the antennal club brown.

Head 1.40 times as wide as high (frontal view), 1.36 times as wide as mesosoma, 1.02 times as wide as metasoma (dorsal view) and 3.31 times as wide as malar space (lateral view). Distal edge of the clypeus squareshaped. POD 20.45 times as long as OOD. Interorbital distance 1.07 times as long as the width of the compound eye (frontal view). A2 1.56 times as long as wide. Antennal club without traces of sutures marking lines of separation of clavomeres, 2.50 times as long as wide, and 1.74 times as long as the sum of A2–A6. A2–A6 1.44 times as long as A1.

Mesoscutum transverse, 1.43 times as wide as long.

Metasoma 1.34 times as wide as mesosoma. T2 3.22 times as wide as long, largest among metasomal tergites. Distal margin of T7 triangular.

Male: Unknown.

Variation: Body length of paratype: 0.72 mm. Color of the mesosoma and metasoma of paratype: brownish yellow.

Type material. Holotype female: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Parque Nacional de Itatiaia, 18.XII. 2011, 850 m., Araujo C. coll. Pitfall (MNRJ). Paratype: 1 female with the same data of the holotype, collected at 1450 m (MNRJ).

Etymology. The specific name of this new species was formed with the Greek words “ melan ” meaning black and “ cephalus ” meaning head, referring to the darkish head of this species.

Figures

FIGURES 10 – 12. Baeus melanocephalus new species (Holotype female). 10: Frontal view. 11: Dorsal View. 12: Lateral view. Scale bar: 0.500 mm.