Pristaulacus barbeyi ( Ferrière, 1933 )

Published, First, 2007, Revision of the Palaearctic species of Pristaulacus Kieffer, 1900 (Hymenoptera: Aulacidae), Zootaxa 1433, pp. 1-76 : 11-16

Pristaulacus barbeyi ( Ferrière, 1933)

( Figs. 4, 24, 44, 64, 97, 109, 114)

Odontaulacus Barbeyi Ferrière, 1933: 141 (♀, ♂).

Odontaulacus barbeyi: Hedicke, 1939: 21 .

Pristaulacus barbeyi: Smith, 2001: 279 .

Material examined. ALGERIA: holotype ♀ labelled “Type/Algeria, Babor, 1931, A. Barbeyi /da galerie de Bupreste, Abies numidica / Odontaulacus barbeyi Ferr. ♀, Ch. Ferrière det., Type/Muséum, Ferrière leg. 1933” ( MNHN); paratype ♂ labelled “Cotype/Algerie, Babor, 1931, A. Barbeyi /sorti de l’ecorce de l’ Abies numidica / Odontaulacus barbeyi Ferr., Ch. Ferrière det., type/Museum Paris, Ferrière leg. 1933” ( MNHN). MOROCCO: Medio Atlante, Aim-Lenh, 20.VI.1986, 1♂, D. Gianasso leg. ( MRSN). GREECE: Larissa, Anatoli-Spilia, VII–VIII.1990, 1♀, 1♂, Zabransky ( NMW); Agios, exp. 616, 4–6.X.69, 1♀, Frank Wilson ( NMW); Attika, Parnis Oros, 13.VI.1974, 2♀, Mühle leg. ( ZSMC). TURKEY: Içel, Çamliyayla, m 800, 1♀, ex larva, emerged XI.1984, from wood of Abies cilicica , collected VI.1984, G. Curletti leg. ( DBAC); Içel, 25 km NW Erdemli, Aydinlar env., cedar forest, 9–12.VI.2000, Roman Królik leg., 1♀, 2♂ ( IBLP); 12.V.1998, 1♂, ex larva, emerged together with Phaenops knoteki turcica, Roman Królik leg. ( IBLP); Antalya, Akseki, 15.VI–8.VII, ex larva from Abies cilicica , emerged together with Phaenops knoteki, Roman Królik leg., 1♀, 2♂ ( IBLP); 15.V.1998, 1♀, ex larva from Abies , emerged together with Phaenops knoteki, Roman Królik leg. ( IBLP).

Records from literature. Ferrière (1933).

Type locality. “ Algerie, Babor ” ( Ferrière 1933) .

Notes on type material. The type material ( MNHN) consists of two specimens, the holotype ♀, and the paratype ♂ ( Ferrière 1933), both in good condition .

Redescription. ♀ (holotype). Length (excluding ovipositor): 10.7 mm; fore wing length: 8.1 mm.

Colour black except: mandible extensively reddish orange with teeth blackish, except outer one, extensively dark red; maxillo-labial complex brown, with palpi lighter; antenna blackish brown dorsally, with A1 and ventral part red orange; hind leg, except tarsus, dark brown; remaining parts of legs reddish orange, with dorsal surface of fore and mid femora darker; wings hyaline, with veins and stigma dark brown, without dark spots; metasoma extensively red orange, with T1 and T2 darker; valvula 3 of ovipositor brown. Setae: whitish, except yellow gold on mandibles.

Head ( Figs. 4, 24), from above, 1.5x wider than long, dull, except on temples, shiny; occipital margin straight; temple, from above, weakly developed, 0.6x as long as eye length, moderately convergent posteriorly and rounded; occipital carina very narrow, cerciniform, less than 0.2x diameter of an ocellus; POL:OOL= 1.7; ocellar area 2.3x wider than long; frons and clypeus coarsely rugulose; vertex and occiput transverse carinulate with some coarse punctures; temple polished with coarse, superficial, and moderately dense punctures (distance between punctures about 1x or more diameter of a puncture), except along outer margin of eye; malar area punctate to punctate rugulose; occipital area transverse striolate; mandible polished and shiny, with a few punctures in middle; antenna as long as fore wing length; A3 4.0x longer than wide; A4 8.0x longer than wide, and 1.7x longer than A3; A5 9.2x longer than wide, and 1.6x longer than A3; following antennomeres progressively shorter, last one cylindrical, with apex slightly acute, 2.5x longer than wide. Setae: erect, short, and moderately dense on top of frons, less dense on vertex; erect, long, and dense on temples; recumbent, moderately long, and dense on remaining parts of frons, on clypeus, and on malar area; semierect, moderately long, and dense on A1; setae length of temples 0.7–0.8x diameter of an ocellus.

Mesosoma ( Fig. 44) moderately sculptured; pronotum areolate rugose to oblique carinulate, with lateroventral margins rounded, without teeth; propleuron dull and irregularly rugulose, especially at base, with punctures moderately coarse, superficial, poorly defined, and moderately dense (distance between punctures 1–2x diameter of a puncture); prescutum subrectangular, weakly concave in middle, transverse rugulose; mesoscutum transverse carinate, with anterior margin, in lateral view, slightly rounded; notaulus moderately deep and narrow; scutellum transverse carinate on median surface, areolate rugose along margins; mesepimeron transverse carinate; mesepisternum areolate rugose, with upper third weakly rugose; metanotum longitudinally carinate; propodeum areolate rugose, with base longitudinally carinate; ventral parts of mesosoma polished, except lateral margins rugulose punctate; fore wing with vein 2–rs+m short; fore coxa polished, shiny, with poorly defined and scattered punctures; mid coxa dull, transverse rugulose with moderately dense and deep punctures, especially at base; hind coxa ( Fig. 64) transverse rugose on dorsal surface, polished, with superficial and moderately coarse and dense punctures (distance between punctures about 2x diameter of a puncture) and some short carinae along lateral margins of ventral surface; trochanters polished, shiny, with irregular, moderately coarse, deep, and dense punctures, more superficial and less dense on fore trochanter; femora dull on dorsal surface, shiny on ventral surface; fore and mid femora with coarse, deep, and dense punctures on dorsal surface, coarse, deep, and scattered on ventral surface; hind femur weakly sculptured, with coarse, moderately deep, and dense punctures; spurs of mid and hind tibiae of the same length; hind basitarsus 11.6x longer than wide, and as long as tarsomeres 2–5; claw with two well-separated teeth, far from apex, first smaller than second. Setae: semierect or recumbent, short, and scattered on dorsal surface, longer and denser on sides; erect, long, and scattered on hind surface of propodeum; erect, moderately long, and dense on propleuron, with setae lengths about 0.6x as fore pretarsus length; semierect, short, and scattered on coxae and trochanters, more dense on dorsal surface of hind coxa; recumbent, very short, and moderately dense on dorsal surface of femora, erect, very short, and scattered on ventral surface.

Metasoma weakly compressed laterally, ovoidal in lateral view; petiole short, stocky, about as long as wide; segments 1 and 2 polished and shiny; following segments shiny with very fine sculpture, without punctures, except median part of S3–S5, S7, and T8, with superficial and scattered punctures, denser and deeper on S7; ovipositor 1.3x longer than fore wing length; apex of valvula 3 of ovipositor slightly acute. Setae: nearly absent, except on S3–S5, S7, and T8, recumbent, short, and scattered.

ď (paratype). Length: 8.5 mm; fore wing length: 6.1 mm. Colour, structure, and setae like ♀, except: A3 4.0x longer than wide; A4 5.1x longer than wide, and 1.4x longer than A3; A5 4.4x longer than wide, and 1.4x longer than A3; last antennomere cylindrical, 4.5x longer than wide, with apex rounded; metasoma elongate, slender, subcylindrical; metasomal segments polished, shiny and glabrous; sternites (except S1–S2) and last three tergites with a few short setae.

Intraspecific variation. Examined: 9♀; 8♂. Length (excluding ovipositor): 6.7–11.0 mm (♀); 7.0– 11.8 mm (♂); fore wing length: 5.1–8.0 mm (♀), 5.1–8.1 mm (♂); ovipositor: 1.2–1.7x length of fore wing. The colour of the body varies from light as in the type specimens, to dark (specimens from Greece) or very dark (specimens from Turkey); antenna and legs dark brown; fore and mid tibiae and tarsi more or less dark reddish; extensively T1, and last three metasomal segments blackish brown; in Turkish males the metasoma is nearly all blackish brown. The Turkish specimens also differ from the others by the sculpture of the head: coarsely and deeply punctate (especially on frons), with only short transverse carinulae near occipital carina, and by a longer ovipositor varying from 1.3 to 1.7x of fore wing length. They are otherwise very similar in the main characters to the other specimens from Greece and northern Africa; therefore, I include them under the same species .

Distribution. Algeria, Morocco (*), Greece (*), Turkey (*).

Remarks. This species was recently transferred to the genus Pristaulacus by Smith (2001). It was previously known from only type locality ( Algeria), thus it is newly recorded for Morocco, Europe ( Greece), and Turkey. It has an isolated position among Palaearctic Pristaulacus , since its high number of plesiomorphisms. Some of these characters, such as narrow occipital carina, lateroventral margin of pronotum rounded and without teeth, inner margin of claw with only two teeth, and short and stocky petiole, are also present in P. kostylevi (Alekseyev) , but it could be distinguished by the shape and sculpture of the head ( Figs. 4, 24), by the rounded anterior margin of the mesoscutum (acute, lamelliform and upwards directed in P. kostylevi ) ( Fig. 44), and by the shape of the hind coxa ( Fig. 64).

Notes on biology. Hosts: type specimens were obtained together with unidentified Coleoptera : Buprestidae ( Ferrière 1933) ; the Turkish specimens were obtained together with Phaenops knoteki Reitter, 1898 ( Coleoptera : Buprestidae ).