Eucharis (Psilogastrellus) albipennis Bouček, 1956

Neveen S. Gadallah, Ahmed M. Soliman & Hathal M. Al Dhafer, 2017, Eucharitidae new to the fauna of Saudi Arabia (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea), with the description of a new species and the previously unknown male of Eucharis (Psilogastrellus) albipennis Bouček, Journal of Natural History 51 (1), pp. 96-113 : 104-107

Eucharis (Psilogastrellus) albipennis Bouček, 1956

( Figures 5 a −d (♂), 6a −f (Holotype ♀))

Eucharis (Pachyeucharis) albipennis Bouček, 1956: 254 − 255. Type data: Israel: Kfar Yeroham. Holotype ♀, by original designation. Type depository: NMPC.

Psilogastrellus albipennis ; Bouček, 1977: 124; change in combination.

Material examined

1♂, Saudi Arabia, Rawdhat Khoreim (25.38305°N, 47.27833°E), altitude 572 m, 28 April 2012 (leg. Al Dhafer et al.), on Nitraria retusa (KSMA).

Diagnosis

Small in size (5.0 mm); gaster bright metallic green, slightly fulvous ventrally; vertical sides of scutellum with two or three coarse striae; antenna 13-segmented, with all funicular segments longer than broad.

Description

MALE: Body length: 5.0 mm.

Colour ( Figure 5 a). Body dark metallic green (except antenna and legs) with some bronzy tinge, antenna black, legs yellowish (except dark metallic green coxae); trochanters brownish, femora dark brown on basal two-thirds as well as last tarsomeres and claws. Wings whitish, giving off bright-coloured reflections, with pale brown to yellowing veins; metasoma bright metallic green, slightly fulvous when seen from ventral side.

Head. As in female, wider than height in frontal view, narrower than mesosoma. Antenna placed in a depression, lateral sides of antenna (inner margins of eyes until antenna) coarsely rugose; lower face (behind antennal bases) coarsely transversely striated. Posterior margin of head finely transversely striated in dorsal view. Malar space relatively long, finely obliquely striate. Clypeus small, smooth, confluent with face (not separated). Antenna 13-segmented, funicle segments slightly submoniliform, all are densely clothed with minute sensory pits; last funicle segment appearing as if of two fused segments, pointed at apex.

Mesosoma. Glabrous, anterior margin of mesoscutum with transverse rugose striations, rest of surface with shallow punctuations that are spaced by one diameter especially laterally, becoming coarser and deeper in the middle. Notauli foveolate, contiguous posteriorly, a very thin median sulcus hardly visible between them. Lateral lobe of mesoscutum very small, coarsely punctate with smooth areas in between. Scutellum relatively longer than broad, with a median longitudinal foveolate shallow sulcus, that is thicker than that on mesoscutum, ending with two somewhat trapezoidal narrowly separated processes (the space between them in the form of an inverted V), each of these processes deeply concave or truncated at end ( Figure 5 b). Scuto-scutellar surface foveolated; axillae with two or three striae ( Figure 5 c). Upper area of mesopleuron coarsely areolate, with bluish reflection, lower part smooth and shiny, with some fine sparse punctures. Propodeum densely and finely areolated along its dorsal surface. Wing distinctly wrinkled along its whole length ( Figure 5 d).

Metasoma. Petiole about two-thirds as long as hind tibia, finely shagreened, with distinct longitudinal shallow furrow along its whole length medially. Gaster with only first gastral tergite (Gt2) occupying the whole metasomal area, which is very smooth and shiny.

Host records

Unknown.

Distribution

Israel (female, Bouček 1956), Saudi Arabia (male, new record).

Notes

This male differs from Bouček ’ s description of the female from Israel in the following characters: smaller, 5 mm in length (female 6.5 − 7 mm); gaster bright metallic green, slightly fulvous only ventrally (gastral tergites of female are fulvous, Figure 6 a, b); vertical sides of scutellum with two or three coarse striae (with coarsely horizontal striae in female); antenna 13-segmented, all funicular segments longer than broad (female antenna 12-segmented, only penultimate funicular segment transverse). Until further specimens are collected, we consider these differences to be intraspecific.

Figures

Figure 5. Eucharis (Psilogastrellus) albipennis Bou č ekι ♂. (a) Habitus. (b) Dorsolateral view of scutellumι scutellar processes indicated. (c) Lateral view of mesosomaι axilla indicated. (d) Wings.

Figure 6. Eucharis (Psilogastrellus) albipennis Bou č ekι holotype ♀ (UCRC ENT 334441). (a) Habitus. (b) Dorsolateral aspect of body. (c) Head and mesoscutum. (d) Dorsal aspect of head and mesosoma. (e) Lateral aspect of head and mesosoma. (f) Label of holotype.