Platygaster azarbaijanica Buhl & Asadi, 2021

Asadi-Farfar, Maryam, Karimpour, Younes, Lotfalizadeh, Hossein & Buhl, Peter Neerup, 2021, Four new species and new records of Platygastrinae (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) from Iran, European Journal of Taxonomy 750, pp. 29-51 : 31-33

Platygaster azarbaijanica Buhl & Asadi sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:4182ECAC-DE6A-447C-A266-71082E32D380

Fig. 1

Diagnosis (female)

A9 about 1.7 times as long as wide; head 2.1 times as wide as long, mostly reticulate-coriaceous behind, with only a few short carinae; notauli indicated in about posterior half, meeting in a fine point; female metasoma about as long as rest of body, T2 striate to 0.5 of length, shorter medially.

Etymology

The name of the new species is derived from the name of the province where it was first found, East Azarbaijan.

Material examined

Holotype IRAN • ♀; East Azarbaijan Province, Khosroshah ; 37°58′ N, 46°02′ E; 1357 m a.s.l.; Aug. 2008; H. Lotfalizadeh leg.; Malaise trap; HMIM.

Paratype IRAN • 1 ♀; East Azarbaijan Province, Payam, Misho Mountain ; 38°21′ N, 45°46′ E; 1750 m a.s.l.; 4 Aug. 2017; M. Asadi-Farfar leg.; sweeping net; HMIM .

Description (female)

BODY LENGTH. 1.2–1.3 mm.

COLOR. Black; antennae, mandibles, tegulae and legs including coxae medium brown; base and apex of fore tibiae, base of mid and hind tibiae, and segments 1–4 of all tarsi light brown.

HEAD. From above 2.1 times as wide as long, 1.2 times as wide as mesosoma; occiput rounded, finely reticulate-coriaceous, medially with weak transverse elements, anteromedially with a few weak transverse carinae not wider than ocellar area; vertex finely reticulate-coriaceous (not transversely so); frons smoothly fan-like reticulate out from a weak longitudinal midline. Eyes bare. OOL:POL:LOL = 3.5:6.5:3.0. Head in frontal view one and a third times as wide as high. Malar space slightly more than half as long as eye height (5.0:9.5). Antenna with A1 shorter than height of head (15:16), longer than distance between inner orbits (15:14). Length:width of A1–A10 = 15.0:2.5; 4.0:1.9; 2.0:1.2; 2.5:1.7; 2.8:1.5; 3.5:1.9; 3.5:1.8; 3.4:2.0; 3.4:2.0; 4.5:1.9. Flagellar pubescence short.

MESOSOMA. 1.45 times as long as wide, higher than wide (19:18). Sides of pronotum weakly reticulate, in lower half longitudinally so, smoother along narrow upper and hind margins. Mesoscutum with a few setae, most of them anterolaterally and along hind margin, weakly reticulate, smoother medially on lateral lobes and posterior 0.25; notauli distinct in about posterior half, then fade out, meeting in a fine point just touching base of scutellum; scuto-scutellar grooves narrowly triangular, each covered by about seven setae. Mesopleuron smooth. Scutellum evenly convex, smooth, anterolaterally slightly leathery, medially bare, towards margins dense setose. Metapleuron with pilosity all over, though not dense. Propodeal carinae short, parallel; area between them distinctly wider than long, smooth.

WINGS. Fore wing 0.85 as long as entire body, 2.7 times as long as wide, surpassing tip of metasoma by a distance equal to 1.25 times combined length of T3–T6, clear, with fine and dense microtrichia; marginal cilia 0.08 width of wing. Hind wing 5.6 times as long as wide, with two hamuli; marginal cilia 0.3 width of wing.

METASOMA. As long as rest of body to very slightly longer (37:35), about 1.9 times as long as wide, 1.1 times as wide as mesosoma. Length:width of T1–T6 = 5.0:9.0; 20.0:19.7; 3.0:19.0; 3.5:17.0; 3.5:13.5; 4.0:8.5. T1 with about ten rather uniform, fine longitudinal carinae, with a transverse depression around midlength. T2 striate to half of its length, medially slightly shorter, rest of T2 as well as following tergites smooth, T6 with faint traces of reticulation. Apical tergites with setae in fine punctures: about four on T3, ten on each of T4 and T6, and 12 on T5.

Remarks

Similar to the species complex around P. splendidula Thomson, 1859 , but with more slender antennae (A5 hardly transverse and A7–A9 each as wide as long in P. splendidula ). As with P. karimpouri Asadi & Buhl sp. nov., P. azarbaijanica sp. nov. has slightly slender antennae than P. pedasus Walker, 1835 , which, however, has head less transverse than P. azarbaijanica sp. nov. (about 1.7 × as broad as long in P. pedasus vs about 2.1 × as broad as long in P. azarbaijanica sp. nov.); T2 smooth medially (vs densely strigose in P. pedasus ); and mid lobe between notauli not quite reaching scutellum (vs nearly complete in P. pedasus ). Platygaster azarbaijanica sp. nov. has antennae slightly less slender than P. ennius Walker, 1835 (all funicular segments distinctly longer than wide in both species except relatively shorter A 3 in P. azarbaijanica sp. nov.) which also has occiput transversely striate, nearly complete notauli, and T2 striate only in the basal third. Platygaster azarbaijanica sp. nov. also has the head slightly more transverse and mesoscutum slightly more sculptured than in the splendidula group; but antennae are distinctly slender than in this group.

Figures

Fig. 1. Platygaster azarbaijanica Buhl & Asadi sp. nov., ♀; A, C, E = holotype (HMIM); B, D = paratype (HMIM). A. Habitus in lateral view. B. Head and mesonotum in dorsal view. C. Habitus in dorsal view. D. Metasoma in dorsal view. E. Head and antenna in lateral view. Scale bars: A, C =200 µm; B, D–E = 100 µm.