Ophion picocuba, Fernández-Triana Table Of Contents, 2005

FERNÁNDEZ-TRIANA, JOSÉ L., 2005, The taxonomy and biogeography of Cuban Ophioninae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), Zootaxa 1007 (1), pp. 1-60 : 14-15

3. Ophion picocuba sp. nov. ( Figures 6a & 7 ).

Ophion picocuba possesses a modified epicnemial carina and apically acute aedeagus ( Fig. 7 ), both of which are shared with O. cacaoi Gauld and O. uraniae Gauld , a putative sister­species pair ( Gauld, 1988). O. picocuba has, however, a unique combination of features. It has a very short ramellus (almost absent), antenna with more than 58 flagellar segments and SDI under 1.05—like O. cacaoi — but it also has an elongated area superomedia, ICI under 0.7 and a proximally narrowly glabrous marginal cell in the hind wing—like O. uraniae . Almost undoubtedly these three species are closely inter­related and form a natural species­group defined by the rather short, low epicnemial carina and strongly sclerotized, hooked aedeagus, both of which are autapomorphies (Gauld, pers. comm.).

The disjunct distribution of this group, with one species ( cacaoi ) restricted to land above 1000 m on the Cordillera de Guanacaste in northwestern Costa Rica, one ( uraniae ) only occurring above 2000 m on the Cordillera de Talamancas on the Panama / Costa Rica border, and the third ( picocuba ) above 1800 m in eastern Cuba, suggests the ancestor of these species may have been widespread in the Caribbean Basin during cooler periods in the Pleistocene, and with subsequent climatic warming become restricted to isolated populations on cooler mountains. A similar situation has been observed in Southeast Asia where several closely related species of Ophion are found on isolated mountaintops in Indonesia ( Gauld & Mitchell, 1981).

DESCRIPTION. HEAD: Mandibles stout, weakly narrowed apically, with upper tooth slightly longer and stouter than the lower tooth; outer mandibular surface punctate, polished and with basal part of mandible broadly concave; malar space 0.3 as long as basal mandibular width. Head in front view with greatest width across eyes 1.4 times length of head from vertex to clypeal margin; orbits ventrally almost parallel; clypeus in profile sllightly convex, polished, sparcely punctate and with margin strongly impressed. Lower face centrally convex, polished and closely punctate. Head in dorsal view with genae rounded behind eye; posterior ocellus close but not touching eye; occipital carina mediodorsally convex, at centre slightly produced upwards, ventrally curved to join hypostomal carina well above base of mandible. Antenna quite long slender, with 63 flagellar segments; 20th segment 1.8 times as long as broad. MESOSOMA: Mesoscutum in profile evenly rounded and weakly polished with fine weak close punctures; notauli moderately but clearly impressed. Mesopleuron polished and evenly punctate; lower corner of epicnemial carina slightly acutely angled after concavity, and with upper end abruptly turned towards anterior margin of pleuron, reaching pleural margin just above level of lower corner of pronotum. Scutellum polished and puntured, in profile convex, without lateral carinae. Metapleuron strongly convex, finely punctate. Propodeum in profile rather evenly declivous, weakly polished; anterior transverse carina more or less complete, posterior transverse carina more or less complete, lateral longitudinal carina complete and joined to spiracular margin by a ridge. Fore wing length 15 mm; CI = 0.50; ICI = 0.69; SDI = 1.02; cu­a slightly proximal to the base of Rs & M; discosubmarginal cell very sparsely hirsute, with a moderately large glabrous area anteriorly and along Rs&M; Rs + 2r joining pterostigma proximal to its centre; 1st subdiscal cell sparsely but fairly uniformly hirsute; 1 m­cu centrally rounded, weakly rounded, ramellus extremely short, almost absent and only marked as a weak thickening. Hind wing with 9 hamuli on R 1, the distal ones slightly more tightly curved than the proximal ones; marginal cell proximally short, with junction between Rs and M far proximal to centre, and with distal abscissa of Rs long; proximal 0.25 of marginal cell centrally hirsute, peripherally glabrous; distal abscissa of Cu 1 joining cu­a more or less equidistantly between M and 1 A. Fore leg with tibia slightly flattened and with isolated spines on outer surface. Middle leg with longer tibial spur 1.4 times length of the shorter. Hind leg with coxa in profile 1.9 times as long as deep; trochantellus dorsally 0.5 times as long as broad; hind tarsus very slender, the 4 th segment 3.8 times as long as broad. METASOMA: Metasoma moderately slender; tergite 2 in profile 2.8 times as long as posteriorly deep; thyridia elliptical and separated from anterior margin of tergite by 0.5 its own length. Male with subgenital plate transverse, unspecialized; aedeagus apically curved, culminating in a short acute process ( Fig. 8 ).

COLOUR: Mostly an orange species; with head, scutellum and some marks on meso and metapleuron yellowish; metasoma with sternites 3+ and tergites 5+ dark brown; antenna orange­brown; pterostigma orange, wings sligtly yellowish.

ETYMOLOGY: The name refers to both the country and type locality where species has been collected.

MATERIAL EXAMINED: Holotype ♂, Cuba: Pico Cuba, Turquino, Ote., [Guamá, Santiago de Cuba], EC, VI­1964, Zayas­García ( IES, CN: 7.001.304).

Figures

FIGURE 6: Wings of Cuban Ophion. A: O. picocuba sp. nov. B: O. flavidus Brullé.

FIGURE 7: Tip of abdomen showing details, O. picocuba sp. nov.

FIGURE 8: Thyreodon heads showing large (A) and small (B) ocelli.