Choeras bushblitz Fagan-Jeffries & Austin, 2019

Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P., Cooper, Steven J. B. & Austin, Andrew D., 2019, New species of Australian microgastrine parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) documented through the ‘ Bush Blitz’ surveys of national reserves, Zootaxa 4560 (3), pp. 401-440 : 403-406

Choeras bushblitz Fagan-Jeffries & Austin sp. nov.

( Fig. 3 )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:4AEF09D9-5DEC-4F7F-AB75-7BB36F7C3A5A

Material examined (including Genbank numbers of DNA barcodes). Holotype: Tasmania: ♀ Southwest National Park Bush Blitz, SSS1, -43.199° 146.78481°, 01–09/ii/2016, K. Moore, pitfall trap (TMAG: F59023 ; Genbank COI: MH138610 WG: MH139104 ). Paratypes: Tasmania: ♀ Southwest National Park Bush Blitz ,

SSS1, -43.199° 146.78481°, 01–09/ii/2016, K. Moore, Malaise trap (TMAG: F59022 ; Genbank COI: MH138609 ). ♀ Southwest National Park Bush Blitz , SSS1, -43.199° 146.78481°, 01–09/ii/2016, K. Moore, yellow pan traps ( TMAG: F59029 ; Genbank COI: MH 138613 ; stored in ethanol) . ♂ Southwest National Park Bush Blitz , SSS1, - 43.199° 146.78481°, 01–09/ii/2016, K. Moore, pitfall trap ( TMAG: F94025 ; Genbank COI: MK 073919 ) .

Diagnosis. This species can be separated from the other Australian species of Choeras with large fore wing areolets by the following combination of characters: presence of a medial longitudinal carina on the propodeum (as opposed to C. tegularis and C. ceto which do not possess a medial longitudinal carina), T1 narrowing posteriorly (as opposed to C. epaphus and C. koalascatocola , which have T1 parallel sided or broadening posteriorly) and by the distinctive colouration of the anteromesoscutum and the strong rugose carinae of the propodeum, which differs from the colouration and sculpturing of all described Australian species.

Description. FEMALE. Colour: head dark, antenna light brown with scape and pedicel paler, anteromesoscutum dark with light brown to orange area in centre covering approximately half dorsal width, scutellum and mesoscutum light brown to orange, propodeum light brown or orange at centre with darker outer edges, tergites dark, T1 with pale posterior section at boundary to T2, non-sclerotised area around T1 pale, nonsclerotised area around T2 light brown, sternites and hypopygium dark; coxae (pro-, meso-, metacoxa) pale, pale, pale; femora (pro-, meso-, metafemur) pale, pale, pale with darker blotch posteriorly; tibiae (pro-, meso-, metatibia) pale, pale, pale transitioning to light brown posteriorly; tegula and humeral complex pale; pterostigma dark; fore wing veins dark. Head: antenna similar length to body length; body length (head to apex of metasoma) 2.5–3.0 mm; ocular–ocellar line/posterior ocellus diameter 2.5–2.8; interocellar distance/posterior ocellus diameter 1.5–1.6. Mesosoma : anteromesoscutum mostly smooth, with shallow punctures associated with setae, more visible in anterior and lateral thirds; mesoscutellar disc completely smooth; number of pits in scutoscutellar sulcus 10; maximum height of mesoscutellum lunules/maximum height of lateral face of mesoscutellum 0.3–0.4. Wings: fore wing length 2.7 mm; length of veins r/2RS 0.6–0.8; length of veins 2RS/2M 0.8–0.9; length of veins 2M/(RS+M)b 1.7–2.0; pterostigma length/width 2.8–3.0; fore wing areolet large, enclosed. Legs: Metatibia inner spur length/ metabasitarsus length 0.4. Propodeum: percurrent median longitudinal carina and strong rugose sculpturing, carinae often appearing to form pentagonal areola bisected by longitudinal carina. Metasoma: T1 length/width at posterior margin 3; T1 shape clearly narrowing posteriorly with rugulose sculpturing on lateral edges, smoother in centre; T2 width at posterior margin/length 3.6; T2 trapezoid shaped, broadening posteriorly, sculpture smooth and shiny; T3 sculpture smooth and shiny; hypopygium large with some lateral creases and membranous area along ventral margin; ovipositor sheath length/metatibial length 1.1–1.2.

MALE. Very similar to female, however the antenna is longer than body length.

Etymology. This species is named for the Bush Blitz expeditions on which it was collected. These expeditions are a significant contribution to documenting Australia’s biodiversity. The species name is a noun in apposition.

Distribution. This species has currently only been collected from the south-west of Tasmania.

Remarks. The molecular data for C. bushblitz places it in the clade of Australian species that possess a large fore wing areolet, along with taxa that morphologically can be identified as Choeras and Sathon (i.e. a clade of species with both membranous and solid hypopygia) ( Fig. 1 ). This species clearly has a membranous area on the hypopygium, and we therefore place it in Choeras . It represents the first member of Choeras , at least in the Australian fauna, Australian fauna, to possess a propodeum where the rugose surface give the false impression of an areola bisected by a longitudinal carina. There is no information about possible host species. The COI divergence within this species is slightly higher than the commonly used 2% delimitation threshold (2.3%) and there are no species with available sequence data within 10% divergence. The Barcode of Life Database (BOLD) Barcode Index Number Registries (BINs) for C. bushblitz are: BOLD:ADL3153 and BOLD:ADL5128.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A) The clade of specimens morphologically identified as either Choeras or Sathon (i.e. possessing either a solid hypopygium or a flexible hypopygium, respectively) with a large fore wing areolet, and B) the clade of Choeras specimens with a small fore wing areolet. Clades are isolated from a larger concatenated COI and WG Bayesian tree of Microgastrinae. * indicates nodes with ± 95% posterior probability support. The consensus species delimitation hypothesis as determined in Fagan-Jeffries et al. (2018b) is indicated with bars to the right of the tree. ^ indicates the specimen was newly sequenced since Fagan-Jeffries et al. (2018b). These clades (A and B) are not closely related in the larger phylogeny, but there is limited support in the connecting nodes. Refer to Fagan-Jeffries et al. (2018b, figure 4b) for a simplified version of the complete phylogeny depicting the relationships among genera, including between these two Choeras clades.

FIGURE 3. Choeras bushblitz holotype A. anterior view of head; B. dorsal habitus; C. fore wing; D. lateral view of metasoma; E. dorsal mesosoma and T1–2.