Rhaconotus (Rhaconotus) carinatus Polaszek, 1994

Edmardash, Yusuf A., El-Ghiet, Usama M. Abu, Soliman, Ahmed M., Al-Fifi, Zarrag I. A. & Gadallah, Neveen S., 2020, First contribution to the doryctine fauna (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Doryctinae) of Farasan Archipelago, Saudi Arabia, with new records and the description of a new species, ZooKeys 977, pp. 41-74 : 41

Rhaconotus (Rhaconotus) carinatus Polaszek, 1994 Figures 10 (A-C), 11 (A-E)

Rhaconotus carinatus Polaszek in Polaszek et al., 1994: 79, ♀.

Diagnosis.

Female: Body length: 4.5-4.8 mm; fore wing length: ca. 3.1 mm.

Generally dark reddish brown, with posterior margin of T4 and T5 yellowish in color (Fig. 10A, B ) (in some specimens, head reddish, with black ocellar triangle); antenna with scape dark reddish brown, pedicel and basal half of flagellum reddish, rest of flagellum dark brown. Legs and palpi are pale yellowish (except dark brown telotarsus). Wings (Fig. 11D ) hyaline, with slight, hardly seen fumigation behind pterostigma; pterostigma brownish, with pale basal and apical ends; veins brownish, with basal three-fourths of C+SC+R, basal two-thirds of 1-R1, and basal half of M+CU1 are pale brownish in color; ovipositor reddish, slightly dark at apex, ovipositor sheath black (Fig. 10A, B ).

Head (Figs 10C , 11A, B ) finely sculptured, with few scattered fine whitish, semi-erect setae when seen from dorsal view; face finely punctate, with distances between punctures, smooth medially just beneath antennal bases, and above hypoclypeal area, with denser appressed setae. Temple 0.6 × eye height. Antenna 35-segmented. Mesoscutum (Figs 10C , 11C ) with fine reticulation except nearly smooth posteromedially; propodeum finely reticulate, longitudinal median carina hardly seen just at base, as well as two shorter ones baso-laterally. Metasoma (Fig. 11E ) with T2 and T3 fused, separated by a strong curved suture or groove, after which the longitudinal striations became weakly visible; T5 simple, broadly rounded posteriorly. Ovipositor sheath ca. as long as metasoma (Fig. 10A, B ).

Material examined.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 1♀ & 1♂, Jazan, Farasan Islands, Al-Sajid; 16°51'25.46"N, 41°55'58.78"E; 7 Jan.2017; Abu El-Ghiet & El-Sheikh leg.; sweeping net [KSMA]; 1♀, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Jazan, Farasan Islands, Al-Sajid; 16°51'25.46"N, 41°55'58.78"E; 10 Nov.2017; Abu El-Ghiet & El-Sheikh leg.; LT [KSMA].

General distribution.

Cameroon, Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo ( Polaszek et al. 1994), Saudi Arabia (Farasan Islands) (new record).

Remark.

Based on Polaszek et al. (1994) and van Achterberg and Polaszek (1996), our species differs from the African specimens in having the pterostigma distinctly infuscate medially, with pale basal and apical ends (distinctly infuscate in the African specimens); antenna 35-segmented (26-33 in the African specimens); lateral lobes of mesoscutum moderately setose (largely glabrous in the African specimens); propodeum finely reticulate, with a hardly visible median longitudinal carinae as well as two very short sublateral ones (almost smooth anteromedially in the African specimens, see fig. 30 in Polaszek et al. (1994) and fig. 366 in van Achterberg and Polaszek (1996)).

Figures

Figure 10. Rhaconotus (Rhaconotus) carinatus Polaszek in Polaszek et al. 1994, ♀: A dorsal habitus B lateral habitus C head and mesosoma, lateral view.

Figure 11. Rhaconotus (Rhaconotus) carinatus Polaszek in Polaszek et al. 1994, ♀: A head, dorsal view; B head, frontal view C mesosoma, dorsal view D fore and hind wings E propodeum and metasoma, dorsal view.