Tracheliodes amazonicus, C, Fernando Fernández & Amarante, Sérvio T. P., 2004

C, Fernando Fernández & Amarante, Sérvio T. P., 2004, A new species of Tracheliodes Morawitz (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae) from Colombia and a key to the Neotropical species, Zootaxa 491, pp. 1-6 : 2-4

Tracheliodes amazonicus new species

( Figures 1­5 )

Female: Head and thorax black; legs and gastral terga dark brown, sterna yellow. Scape brown dorsally, pale ventrally, flagellum brown, becoming pale toward apex. Pale markings: band along inner orbit from lower eye margin to about scape apex; gena along orbits from mandibular base extending above to about 4/5 of eye orbit; one similar streak on posterior margin of gena; spot on pronotal lobe; streak on anterior mesopleuron and two spots on scutellum. Wing membranes and veins pale rusty red.

Head, mesosoma and gaster mostly bare or with scattered, decumbent microsetae, denser on lower gena, ventral thorax, tergum I, and sterna I­II. Eyes glabrous. Clypeus with several short to long brown setae along free margin and on apex of clypeal midlobe disc. Inner orbits with decumbent setae over pale streak; mesopleuron and terga II­V with very sparse microsetae. Head and mesosoma mostly longitudinally, microscopically ridged (visible under magnifications of 50x or more), resulting in a satin or velvet like luster. Head as in Fig. 2 . Frons with conspicuous depression, clearly delimited above by transverse angular bulge in front of ocellar area and with coarse semiconcentric carinae on upper half. Inner orbits slightly convergent below. Supraorbital foveae elongate, distinct, finely granulose, dull in contrast with head integument. Flagellomere I about 1.6x longer than II, remaining flagellomeres a little longer than following, F X 2x as long as F IX. Vertex depressed behind and laterad to hindocelli, with shallow sulcus in front of midocellus. Ocellar triangle broader than long. Clypeus transverse, laterally produced into lobes; deeply notched between lateral lobes and midlobe; midlobe bulged, forming a flattened platform on disc, with four blunt teeth on free margin, partially fused to form a transverse carina ( Fig. 2 ) with six irregular foveae. Mandibles shiny, bidentate, lower teeth shorter than upper. Gena a little longer than eye in side view. Occipital carina incomplete, low, vanishing far from hypostomal carina.

Thorax with very sparse microsetae. Pronotal collar with mesally rounded notch, inconspicuously carinate at lower anterolateral angle. Scutum with admedian line, notaulus and parapsidial lines slightly impressed. Omaulus fine, almost vanishing close to prespiracular carina, episternal sulcus slightly impressed. Propodeal enclosure triangularly delimited laterally and posterolaterally by shallow, fine sulcus, bisectected medially by longitudinal sulcus that vanishes posterad on posterior face of propodeum.

Femora expanded ventrally. Foreleg ( Fig. 3 ): trochanter about 0.5x length of femur; femur flattened, greatly expanded ventrally, with a row of curved bristles along ventral edge. Midleg ( Fig. 4 ): trochanter with minute ventral tubercle; femur wedge­shaped below, posteriorly with several sparse setae; tibia with two stout bristles on anterior face and two ill­defined rows of stout bristles on dorsal face (9 bristles on dorsal face, 4 in tibial apex); tibial spur elongated, flattened, blade shaped, without terminal pecten. Hindleg ( Fig. 5 ): femur greatly modified, shaped as to fit hindtibia in resting, expanded to form large anteroventral smooth concavity on basal half; concavity with a few bristles in single row along dorsobasal margin; flattened on apicoventral face, flattened area bordered by sharp carina between anterior and ventral faces and delimited from posterior suface by well­defined angle; tibia clavate, slender and curved in basal half, expanded distally, with two rows of stout bristles ventrally, posteriorly with a row of short setae and posterior and distal rows of dense, short setae; basitarsus much longer than articles II–V together, with pecten, tarsomeres II and III projecting apically on anterior face, projection of tarsomere III almost reaching apex of tarsomere IV. Wings as in Figure 1 .

Gaster petiolate, tergum I narrowed at basal third to form a petiole. Terga I to III slightly constricted close to distal margin, constriction bearing row of minute, short, whitish setae; most of tergum I finely punctate, distal portion with transverse, fine wrinkles; terga II to V with scattered, short setae. Pygidial plate divided in two sections separated by step, one triangular and basal, other oval and apical; triangular section with scattered punctures. Sternum I with midlongitudinal carina that bifurcates on middle of sternal disc and delimits concave apical triangular area.; sternum II smoothly and slightly humped before middle, sterna III­V slightly convex, sternum VI smoothly and slightly humped on base.

Material examined. Holotype female, Colombia, Amazonas, Amacayacu National Park, Mata­Mata creek, 325m, Malaise trap in terra firme forest (T54a), 1 February 1989, M. Kelsey leg., deposited in Instituto de Ciencias Naturales Insect Collection ( ICN), Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá D.C., Colombia.

Diagnosis and comments. The structure of the frons, eyes completely devoid of hairs, clypeal structure, distribution of yellow markings on body, and shape of pygidium are distinctive. The species seems to have closest affinities with T. cutucu Cooper and T. panamae . The legs have similar modifications, but in T. cutucu the forefemur has at least the distal portion cylindrical while in T. amazonicus the forefemur expansion decreases continuously toward apex; the concave area on hindfemur of T. amazonicus is not as large as in T. cutucu , extending to about half of femur length in T. amazonicus , (two thirds in T. cutucu ); the femoral concavity is smooth in T. amazonicus while in T. cutucu it has a transverse carina near apex; the flattened apicovental area on hindfemur is more clearly defined in T. amazonicus . We have not examined specimens of T. panamae , but from the comments of Leclercq and Cambra (2002), saying that the legs are almost identical in T. cutucu and T. panamae , we conclude that the legs in T. amazonicus have the same differences we note here.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. 1, Tracheliodes amazonicus, lateral view. 2, T. amazonicus: head in frontal view. 3, T. amazonicus: front leg in anterior view. 4, T. amazonicus: mid leg in anterior view. 5, T. amazonicus: hind leg in anterior view.