Physotarsus melotarsus Zhaurova

Zhaurova, Kira & Wharton, Robert, 2009, A revision of Physotarsus Townes (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Ctenopelmatinae), with description of 18 new species, Zootaxa 2207, pp. 1-52 : 39-40

Physotarsus melotarsus Zhaurova , n. sp. ( Figs 48 , 49 )

Diagnosis. Lateral ocelli separated by 1.8X their widest diameter from each other and 1.7X their widest diameter from eye margin. Antenna with 27–28 flagellomeres. Pronotum impunctate, rugose medially and along posterior margin. Mesoscutum densely punctate over entire surface. T1 about 1.6–1.8X as long as broad. Face yellow, frons medially and occiput black. Mesosoma black and yellow ( Fig. 48 ). Metasomal tergites mostly black with apical margins yellow. Hind femur and tibia orange, tarsomeres and pretarsus black. Fore wing entirely hyaline.

Physotarsus melotarsus is one of several species with a black and yellow mesosoma, a distinctly punctate mesopleuron, and a completely hyaline wing. It differs from all but P. foveatus and P. t o n i c u s in having the entire mesoscutum deeply punctate. The face is completely yellow in P. melotarsus and partially to completely black medially in P. foveatus and P. tonicus .

Description. Female: Body ( Fig. 48 ) 4.0– 4.5 mm, fore wing 3.6–3.8 mm. Head ( Fig. 49 ): Clypeal margin widely subtruncate laterally, with thick, rounded central lobe. Clypeus about 2.6X as wide as long, divided medially by very shallow transverse depression. Face covered with short to very short setae; setae longer, less dense on clypeus. Anterior tentorial pits elongate and upcurved laterally. Malar space 0.2–0.3X width of mandibular base. Face about 2.2X as broad as long, strongly protruding in profile, densely punctate, slightly more so medially than laterally. Interantennal area flat, area immediately behind antennae weakly concave laterally turning convex before reaching ocelli. Anterior margin of torulus situated at about 0.7 of eye height. Interantennal distance about equal distance between lateral ocelli. Widest diameter of torulus 1.3X widest diameter of median ocellus. Lateral ocelli separated by 1.8x their widest diameter from each other and 1.7X their widest diameter from eye margin. Area between lateral ocelli quite strongly depressed, area immediately behind ocelli not sharply declivitous. Antenna with 27–28 flagellomeres, first flagellomere 3.5–4.2X longer than wide, 0.8X widest transverse diameter of eye, second flagellomere 0.8x length of first. Occipital carina present on ventral 0.7 of head. Mesosoma: Anterior margin of pronotum medially very slightly emarginate, laterally rounded and slightly upcurved. Lateral groove of pronotum complete though usually weak ventrally, broadly rugose. Pronotum impunctate, rugose medially and along posterior margin. Mesoscutum densely punctate over its entire surface. Epicnemial carina parallels anterior margin of mesopleuron. Mesopleuron strigose dorsomedially, otherwise densely punctate with small impunctate area. Metapleuron uniformly densely setose. Propodeum with posterior vestige of pleural carina, or without carinae entirely; narrowly impunctate posteromedially, densely punctate laterally. Tarsal claws with stout setae basally. Fore wing stigma narrow, about 3.8–4.0X longer than wide; Rs+2r arising from basal 0.4 of stigma; marginal cell about 2.8– 2.9X longer than wide; 2rs-m 1.3–2.2X longer than abscissa of M between 2rs-m and 2m-cu; Cu1a about 0.5X length of 2cu-a; cu-a weakly antefurcal, rarely interstitital relative to Rs&M. Hind wing M+Cu bowed; basal abscissa of Rs 1.0–1.2X length of rs-m; 1st abscissa of Cu1 1.6–3.1X longer than cu-a. Metasoma: T1 about 1.6–1.8X as long as broad; surface in profile with basal depression gradually becoming flat medially, weakly convex posteriorly, dorsal tendon anchored at base of depression; spiracles not or only weakly protruding in profile; dorsolateral carina extending about 0.5–0.7X distance to spiracle. Cerci protruding less than basal width.

Male: Antenna with 30 flagellomeres. Male subgenital plate evenly, weakly convex. Otherwise as in female, except as noted below.

Color. Head mostly yellow, ocellar field and occiput black, with triangular extension from ocellar field onto frons, small black spot immediately posteriad antenna. Antenna gradually darkening from orange apically to dark brown basally, more extensively brown dorsally than ventrally. Mesoscutum black with yellow bands laterally and along notaular lines, scutellum yellow except at extreme base. T1 mostly black with narrow yellow stripe laterally from base to spiracle and broad apical transverse band yellow; remaining tergites mostly black with apical margins yellow. Fore and mid coxa yellow, femur and tibia orange posteriorly, otherwise variously yellow to pale orange, tarsomeres yellow, sometimes apical tarsomeres infumate. Hind coxa mostly black with varying amount of yellow, trochanter and trochantellus mostly black, femur and tibia orange, tarsomeres and pretarsus black. Male with hind coxa, propodeum, and T1 more extensively black. Fore wing entirely hyaline.

Material Examined. Holotype Ψ ( TAMU): [ USA, Texas] first line of data label: “Casa Blanca Intern.” second line: “St. Park, Laredo, TX” third line: “ III-8-01, At Light” fourth line: “After 11:00 pm” fifth line: “W.F. Chamberlain”. Paratypes: Texas, 1 ɗ Crockett Co., 16.7 mi W Ozona, 9.v.1997 (Gillogly & Schaffner) ( TAMU), 2 Ψ Fredericksburg, 5 & 7.v.1998 (H&M Townes) ( AEIC), 1 Ψ 8 mi SW Port Mansfield, 18.iii.1994 (WF Chamberlain) ( TAMU), 1 Ψ San Ygnacio, 18.iii.1994 (WF Chamberlain) ( TAMU), 1 Ψ Sutton Co., 16 mi W Sonora, 11.v.1997 (Gillogly & Schaffner) ( TAMU). Additional material (not paratype): 1 ɗ Texas, Sinton, vi.1975 (V Nealis) ( AEIC).

Remarks. The holotype was collected at light after 11 pm; one of the paratypes was also collected at light. The species is thus likely to be nocturnal.

We also examined 1Ψ specimen, possibly representing a different species, collected from Andreas Canyon, Palm Springs, CA (CNC). It is very similar to P. melotarsus , but with hind tarsomeres orange to light brown.

The species name is derived from Greek, referring to the black hind tarsomeres.

Figures

FIGURES 45 – 48. Habitus and face. 45, Physotarsus maculipennis, face. 46 – 47, P. melipennis n. sp.; 46, habitus; 47, face. 48, P. mel ota rs us n. sp., habitus.

FIGURES 49 – 52. Habitus and face. 49, Physotarsus melotarsus n. sp., face. 50 – 51, P. niveus n. sp.; 50, habitus; 51, face. 52, P. oculatus n. sp., habitus.