Taeniogonalos ayyari Binoy, van Achterberg and Girish Kumar, 2022

Binoy, C., van Achterberg, Cornelis, Polaszek, Andrew, Kumar, P. Girish & Santhosh, S., 2022, A review of Taeniogonalos (Hymenoptera: Trigonalyidae) from India with the description of two new species, Journal of Natural History 56 (21 - 24), pp. 1153-1185 : 1157-1161

Taeniogonalos ayyari Binoy, van Achterberg and Girish Kumar sp. nov.

( Figures 1a–e and 2a–h )

Type material

Holotype ♀, India: Tamil Nadu, Thirunelveli district, Ambasamudram range (8.682°N, 77.548°E; alt. 264 m), 23 August 2019, coll. P. Girish Kumar, ( ZSIK) Regd. No. ZSI/ WGRC / IR/INV.17487.

Diagnosis

Scutellum black medially and pale yellow laterally; middle lobe of mesoscutum tricoloured ( Figure 2b ); body markedly setose; outer side of supra-antennal elevations oblique and elevations 0.3× as long as scape; additional pair of oblique elevations at inner margin of eye; occipital carina distinct; head rugose-punctate, area adjoining ocelli smooth, devoid of punctures; interspaces smooth and shiny, punctures sparse on occiput and ventrally on temple; temple dorsally largely smooth except for some punctures; head distinctly wide in dorsal view; posterior margin of second metasomal sternite straight, armature lacking.

Description

Holotype, female, length of body 5.6 mm; fore wing 4.6 mm.

Head. Head in dorsal view 1.6× as wide as long; antenna with 24 antennomeres; frons coarsely rugose punctate, with narrow shiny interspaces; vertex with similar sculpture, moderately setose with medium-sized setae; OOD 2.4× POD, OOD 1.2× OD; temple largely smooth except some sparse setigerous punctation ( Figure 1c ); interocular distance at middle of face 3.5× distance between antennal toruli ( Figure 1e ). Eye in dorsal view 1.1× as long as temple; occipital carina distinct; supra-antennal elevation medium-sized, about 0.3× as long as scape, outer margin oblique; a pair of oblique projection on frons at inner eye margin ( Figure 1d ); clypeus markedly concave medio-apically, setose; mandible large.

Mesosoma . Mesosoma 1.2× as long as high ( Figure 2a ); transverse mesopleural sulcus indistinct; mesopleuron irregularly rugose anteriorly, indistinct below setation; posteriorly smooth, shiny; notauli deep, moderately narrow and largely crenulate; middle lobe of mesoscutum coarsely transversely rugose-punctate, lateral lobes with similar sculpture, short longitudinal parapsidal line indicated on lateral lobes; scutellar sulcus complete, medium-sized, finely crenulate; scutellum similarly sculptured as mesoscutum, convex, above level of mesoscutum, metanotum medially slightly convex, not protruding, faintly rugose ( Figure 2b ); propodeum largely longitudinally or obliquely rugose or nearly so; posterior propodeal carina arched ( Figure 2c ).

Wings. Fore wing: length of vein 1-M 0.9× as long as vein 1-SR, straight; subdiscal and discal cells less setose than remainder of wing ( Figure 2d ).

Metasoma. First metasomal tergite 2.5× as long as apically wide, smooth ( Figure 2g ); second metasomal tergite rugose-punctate, shiny, moderately setose; remaining tergites conspicuously rugose punctate, strongly setose ( Figure 2g ); sternites with similar sculpture as tergites; second sternite with posterior margin straight; third sternite 0.2× as long as second sternite; hypopygium bluntly triangular in ventral view ( Figure 2h ).

Colour. Black with the following parts differently coloured: head in dorsal view with a distinct V-shaped red band behind stemmaticum extending along occipital line and forming diverging band from occiput towards eye on either side ( Figure 1d ), pale spots anterior to median ocellus, faint red patch just beyond middle of post-ocellar line; head in frontal view black with following parts variously coloured: patch arising ventrad to lower ocular line, not extending onto middle of face, not meeting medially, on supra-antennal elevation, non-confluent patch on clypeal shield, medially interrupted by black band; mandible yellow with brown-red to black teeth; head in lateral view with yellow patch on outer orbital margin, meeting with red-brown patch from occiput enclosing black patch ( Figure 1e ); antennomeres testaceous, ventrally pale; mesosoma variably coloured, pronotum black with postero-lateral angle pale yellow; mesoscutum red-brown with the following parts variously coloured: middle lobe of mesoscutum red-brown with antero-medial inverted triangular black patch, lateral corner pale yellow; lateral lobe of mesoscutum redbrown with anterior part darker; axilla red-brown; scutellum black flanked by pale yellow patch on each side, anterior margin red-brown, lateral margin beyond yellow patch redbrown; metanotum pale yellow with median lobe dark ( Figure 2b ); propodeum black with two pale yellow patches sub-medially ( Figure 2c ); fore and mid coxae brown with ventral area dark; fore and mid femora dark brown with ventral margin pale brown; fore and mid tibiae brown with apex dark brown; hind coxa pale yellow with ventral margin black; all trochanters pale yellow; hind trochanter pale yellow with ventral margin brown; hind femur brown with apico-ventral area pale; all tarsi brown; fore wing largely fuscous with subapical dark brown patch; first metasomal tergite with pale yellow patch on antero-medial margin; second tergite with narrow subapical yellow band ( Figure 2g ); fourth and fifth metasomal tergites with non-confluent yellow band/macula on apical margin; sixth tergite yellow ( Figure 2g ); first–second metasomal sternites with subapical yellow band ( Figure 2h ).

Biology

Unknown.

Etymology

The species name is a genitive noun from the patronym Ayyar, after the Indian entomologist and pioneer T.V. Ramakrishna Ayyar who described many species including T. fulvoscutellata and T. kerala from southern India.

Distribution

India (Tamil Nadu).

Remarks

Taeniogonalos ayyari sp. nov. resembles T. kerala (Ayyar) in having the head with rugosepunctate sculpture; supra-antennal tubercles short and obtuse, apico-medial margin of second metasomal sternite of female straight, and metasomal armature lacking. Taeniogonalos ayyari sp. nov. however differs from T. kerala in having the head in dorsal view 1.6× as wide as long (vs 1.4× as wide as long); antenna 24-segmented (vs antenna 22- segmented); mesosoma red-brown (vs brown); second metasomal tergite without any yellow patch on anterior margin (vs second tergite with yellow patch at anterior margin); yellow patch on fourth tergite large (vs yellow patch on fourth tergite comparatively small); hind tibia dark brown without pale basal patch (vs hind tibia brown with pale basal patch); metasoma black with yellow marking (vs metasoma red-brown with yellow marking); yellow band on second metasomal sternite small (vs yellow band on second sternite wider than in alternative); different colour pattern of mesonotum).

Figures

Figures 1(a–e). Taeniogonalos ayyari Binoy, van Achterberg & Girish Kumar, sp. nov. Holotype ♀. a. Habitus, lateral view; b. Antenna; c. Head, lateral view; d. Head, dorsal view; e. Head, frontal view.

Figures 2(a–h). Taeniogonalos ayyari Binoy, van Achterberg and Girish Kumar, sp. nov. Holotype ♀. a. Mesosoma, lateral view; b. Mesosoma, dorsal view; c. Propodeum, dorsal view; d. Fore wing; e. Metasoma, lateral view; f. Terminal tergite and sternite, lateral view; g. Metasomal tergites, dorsal view; h. Metasomal sternites, ventral view.