Apanteles limus Liu & Chen, 2020

Liu, Zhen, He, Jun-Hua, Chen, Xue-Xin & Gupta, Ankita, 2020, The ater-group of the genus Apanteles Foerster (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from China with the descriptions of forty-eight new species, Zootaxa 4807 (1), pp. 1-205 : 107-109

Apanteles limus Liu & Chen , sp. nov.

( Figures 51 , 101 )

Description. Holotype. Female. Body length 2.8 mm, fore wing length 2.9 mm.

Head. Transverse in dorsal view, 2.0× as wide as long, 1.2× wider than mesoscutum. Vertex between eye and posterior ocellus shiny with indefinite punctures. Temple slightly shiny with shallow punctures, strongly constricted. Face hardly 0.8× as high as wide, shiny with superficial small punctures, inner margin of eyes parallel-sided. Ocelli small, posterior tangent to anterior ocellus just touching posterior ocelli, distance between fore and hind ocellus as long as diameter of hind ocellus, POL:OD:OOL=4.5:2.0:5.0. Antenna distinctly shorter than body length, closely articulated, penultimate flagellomere slightly transverse.

Mesosoma. Length:width:height = 45.5:26.5:31.8. Disc of mesonotum slightly shiny with dense, coarse punctures, interspaces smaller than diameter of puncture, somewhat confluently punctate at posterior end of notaulic courses, without longitudinal striations. Scutellar sulcus slightly curved, narrow with carinae inside. Scutellum somewhat shiny and smooth, except for some indistinct small punctures laterally, median length much longer than basal width. Lateral polished field of scutellum hardly reaching half length of scutellum. Propodeum slightly shiny, coarsely, strongly rugose anterio-laterally (above the imaginary costulae), areola complete with V-shaped apex, costulae more or less wanting, spiracle enclosed by keels, shiny and polished posterio-laterally and inside areola. Mesopleuron shiny, anterior most parts strongly punctate, its margin rugulose-punctate.

Legs. Hind femur thin, 3.2× longer than wide. Hind coxa shiny with small, dense punctures above (basally). Spines on outer side of third tibia not dense. Inner spurs of hind tibia hardly half length of hind basitarsus, outer spur 1/3. Basitarsus of hind leg as long as tarsomeres 2–4 combined, claws of normal size.

Wings. Pterostigma 3.0× as long as its widest part. Vein 1-R1 1.3× longer than pterostigma, 4.8× as long as its distance from apex of marginal cell. Vein r arising from middle of pterostigma, strongly oblique outwards, weakly longer than width of pterostigma and 2-SR, indistinctly angled at junction, 2-M 3/4 as long as 2-SR, as long as 2- SR+M and slightly longer than 1-SR, cu-a nearly as long as 2-SR. First discal cell of fore wing much wider, nearly 1.4× wider than high. Second submarginal cell of hind wing 1.7× wider than high. Vein cu-a nearly straight. Hind wing not broad, length of 1-M almost equal with distance between its distal extremity and apex of vannal lobe, and vannal lobe beyond its widest part straight and hairless.

Metasoma. 1.1× longer than mesosoma. T1 nearly parallel-sided anteriorly, but distinctly converged at apical third, 3.0× longer than hind width, concave at basal two-fifths, turned-over part slightly shiny with strong rugosity, longitudinal channel absent, and apical tubercle shiny and polished. T2 shiny, weakly uneven laterally, 3.2× wider than long in the middle, nearly straight apically. T3 1.8× longer than T2. Tergites posterior to T2 shiny, smooth and pubescent. Hypopygium broad, and distinctly longer than apex of metasoma. Ovipositor sheath as long as length of hind tibia, relatively narrow, hairs sparse, ovipositor without apical attenuation.

Colour. Black. Tegula dark brown. Palpi and spurs pale yellowish. Antenna and ovipositor sheath dark brown to black. Labrum and mandible dark reddish brown. Fore and mid coxae yellowish brown, hind coxa black. Legs bright reddish yellow, except apical 2/5 of hind tibia and most part of hind tarsus brownish. Wing membrane hyaline, brownish, C+SC+R, 1-R1, pterostigma, r, 2-SR and 2-M brown, other alar veins more or less light brown.

Variation. Body length 2.4–2.8 mm, fore wing length 2.4–2.9 mm.

Male. Body length 2.3 mm, fore wing length 3.0 mm. Similar to female mostly, except: legs weakly blackish and T2 more subtriangular (head missing).

Material examined. Holotype: 1♀, Mt. Taman , Yilan, Taiwan, 2011.VI.14, Tang Pu, No. 201104587 . Paratypes: 9♀♀ 1♂, ditto, Nos. 201104540, 201104560, 201104594, 201104601, 201104609, 201104613, 201104615, 201104652, 201104672, 201104557(♂) .

Distribution. China (Taiwan).

Etymology. The specific name “ limus ” derives from the Latin, referring to the penultimate flagellomere slightly transverse.

Remarks. This species is similar to A. cocotis Wilkinson , but differs in the following: ovipositor not thick (rather thick in latter); penultimate flagellomere slightly transverse (one and one third times longer than wide in latter); and areolation on propodeum not strong (rather strong in latter).

Figures

FIGURE 51. Apanteles limus Liu & Chen, sp. nov. Holotype. a. habitus, dorsal view; b. mesopleuron; c. head, dorsal view; d. wings; e. metasoma, dorsal view; f. mesonotum and scutellum, dorsal view; g. head, frontal view; h. ovipositor sheath. Scale line = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 101. 48–59: Distribution map of ater-group of the genus Apanteles Foerster, 1862. 48: A. latericarinatus Song & Chen, 2001; 49: A. lateroglabris Liu & Chen, sp. nov.; 50: A. latisulca Chen & Song, 2004; 51: A. Apanteles limus Liu & Chen, sp. nov.; 52: A. longicoxa Liu & Chen, sp. nov.; 53: A. longidiscus Liu & Chen, sp. nov.; 54: A. longirostris Chen & Song, 2004; 55: A. lunata Song & Chen, 2004; 56: A. magastigma Liu & Chen, sp. nov; 57: A. masoni Chen & Song, 2004; 58: A. medon Nixon, 1965; 59: A. muscosalis Liu & Chen, sp. nov.