Scelio tono Yoder

Yoder, Matthew J., Valerio, Alejandro A., Polaszek, Andrew, Noort, Simon van, Masner, Lubomir & Johnson, Norman F., 2014, Monograph of the Afrotropical species of Scelio Latreille (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae), egg parasitoids of acridid grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Acrididae), ZooKeys 380, pp. 1-188 : 93-95

Scelio tono Yoder sp. n. Figures 211-216; Morphbank 50

Description.

Female body length: 4.72-5.31 mm (n=7). Color of pilosity of dorsal head in female: golden to brown. Occipital carina in female: percurrent. Color of pilosity of the frons below the anterior ocellus in female: predominantly golden to brown. Pilosity of eye in female: absent. Medial keel on interantennal process: absent. Width of lower gena in lateral view: narrowing dorsally, posterior margin of lower half of gena angled with respect to posterior orbit. Genal carina: present. Color of genal pilosity: brown. Color of scape in female: brown to dark brown throughout. Surface of the pronotal nucha in female: predominantly sculptured. Color of pilosity of pronotal shoulder in female: golden to dark brown, concolorous with that of mesoscutum. Sculpture of medial mesoscutum in female: predominantly longitudinally strigose to rugulose. Color of pilosity of mesoscutum in female: predominantly light brown to brown. Notaulus in female: present as more or less uninterrupted channel in posterior 1/2 of mesoscutum. Notaulus in male: present as more or less uninterrupted channel in posterior 1/2 of mesoscutum. Form of axillular carina in female: bladelike or carinate in posterolateral corner but not forming distinct lobe. Pilosity of propodeal nucha: absent. Pilosity of netrion: absent. Surface of mesopleural depression in female: sculptured throughout. Form of ventral margin of villus in female: bent ventrally in posterior, obviously not straight throughout. Color of coxae in female: brown. Color of hind femur: dark brown throughout. Color of hind tibia: yellow at extreme base, otherwise light brown. Fore wing length in female: apex between anterior margin of T5 and posterior margin of T6; apex surpassing posterior margin of T6. Color of metasoma: entirely dark brown. Sculpture of laterotergites in female: predominantly smooth. Pilosity of laterotergites in female: absent. Sculpture of medial T1 in female: most prominent elements predominantly longitudinal. Sculpture of medial T2 in female: most prominent elements predominantly longitudinal. Pattern of sculpture on T3-T5 in female: T3 predominantly reticulate, T4-T5 predominantly longitudinally striate to strigose. Color of pilosity on lateral T3-T5 in female: predominantly golden to brown. Lateral profile of T6 in female: more or less horizontal. Sculpture of T6 in female: predominantly rugulose to reticulate. Sculpture of lateral metasomal sternal bar in female: predominantly smooth to slightly irregularly rugose. Distribution of felt fields: 2 pairs present (S2, S3).

Diagnosis.

Most similar to Scelio cano which shares the brown pilosity of the pronotal shoulder and mesoscutum, the brown scape and similarly colored tibiae (Fig. 212). Differing from Scelio cano by the combination of the presence of notauli (indicated as a clear channel in posterior half vs. more or less obscured) and the well-developed axillular carina that extends above the dorsal surface of the mesoscutellum (not expanded past dorsal surface in Scelio cano ).

Etymology.

The epithet is used as a noun in apposition derived from the Latin word for sound.

Link to distribution map.

http://hol.osu.edu/map-large.html?id=244976

Material examined.

Holotype, female: CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Sangha-Mbaéré Préf. Écon., 38.6km (173°) S Lidjombo, lowland rainforest, CAR01-Y52, Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, 02°21.60'N, 16°03.20'E, 350m, 21. V– 27.V.2001, yellow pan trap, S. van Noort, OSUC 211832 (deposited in SAMC). Paratypes: (6 females) CAMEROON: 5 females, OSUC 211222, 212459, 212461-212462 (CNCI); OSUC 212460 (OSUC). CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: 1 female, OSUC 211833 (SAMC).

Comments.

The occiput is nearly completely smooth and more or less vertical. The gena is relatively narrow (Fig. 214), with a slight indication of a genal carina dorsally. The fore wing in some females appears to just barely extend past the apex of the metasoma.