Pristomerus babinga, Rousse & Noort, 2015

Rousse, Pascal & Noort, Simon van, 2015, Revision of the Afrotropical species of Pristomerus (Ichneumonidae: Cremastinae), with descriptions of 31 new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 124, pp. 1-129 : 35-37

Pristomerus babinga sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D84F4F33-A53F-44CF-A6CB-88E4E1F87C43

Fig. 4

Diagnosis

Large; yellow to yellowish-orange overall, with frons darker than face and notaulus and scutellum distinctly lighter than remainder of mesonotum; anterior edge of pterostigma whitish; face densely punctate-granulate; inner margins of eyes diverging ventrally; clypeus strongly transverse, medially smooth; malar line moderately short; remainder of head coriaceous; antenna with 31–35 flagellomeres, penultimate flagellomere quadrate; mesosoma densely and evenly punctate, except pronotum dorsally and speculum ventrally; area superomedia elongate; female femoral tooth strong; ovipositor long, slightly sinuous apically. Male unknown.

Differential diagnosis

Large and mostly yellow to orange species; differentiated from all other Afrotropical species by the combination of the rather strong femoral tooth, the ventrally diverging inner margins of eyes, the strongly transverse clypeus, the numerous flagellomeres and the long ovipositor. The only other Afrotropical species with such a transverse clypeus is P. bullis , in which the femoral tooth and the ovipositor are shorter.

Type material

Holotype

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: ♀, “ Central African Republic, Préfecture Sangha-Mbaéré, Parc National de Dzanga-Ndoki, 38.6 km 173°S Lidjombo , 2°21.60’N 16°03.20’E, 350 m, 20– 21. v. 2001, S. van Noort, Malaise trap, CAR01–M160, lowland rainforest SAM–HYM–P047384” ( SAMC).

Paratype

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: ♀, same label data except: “Réserve Spéciale de Forêt Dense de Dzangha-Sangha, 12.7 km 326°NW Bayanga, 3°00.27’ N 16°11.55’ E, 420 m, 10– 11. v. 2001, CAR 01– M 78, Lowland Rainforest SAM–HYM–P047385” ( SAMC).

Description

Female (2 specimens)

B 9.6–10.1; A 5.5–5.9; F: 6.2–6.4; CT 2.4–2.6; ML 0.5; POL 1.0; OOL 1.3; Fl n-1 1.0; ASM 2.2; OT 1.9–2.1; FFT 2.

COLOUR. Head yellow with frons, vertex and occiput yellowish-orange; mesosoma, legs and metasoma yellowish-orange with scutellum and notaulus yellow; tergites 1–2 sometimes basally blackened; flagellum and ovipositor sheath black; wings hyaline, venation brown, anterior edge of pterostigma whitish.

HEAD. Face densely punctate-granulate; inner margins of eyes diverging ventrally; clypeus strongly transverse, short, moderately punctate-granulate laterally, medially smooth; malar line moderately short; frons, vertex and temple coriaceous; occipital carina joining hypostomal carina at mandible base; antenna with 34 flagellomeres (both apices broken in holotype), penultimate flagellomere quadrate.

MESOSOMA. Moderately elongate; entire mesosoma densely and deeply punctate, except pronotum dorsally and ventral half of speculum smooth, mesopleuron with an oblique, shallowly striate furrow below speculum, and propodeum medially transversely striate; notaulus moderately deep; area superomedia sometimes not defined laterally. Legs. Femoral tooth about as high as basally wide, followed by a row of denticles.

METASOMA. Tergite 2, apical half of tergite 1 and base of tergite 3 longitudinally aciculate, following tergites coriaceous with sparse punctures; thyridium subcircular; ovipositor long, stout, weakly sinuous apically.

Male

Unknown.

Distribution

Central African Republic.

Figures

Fig. 4. Pristomerus babinga sp. nov. Holotype, ♀. A. Habitus, lateral view. B. Head, mesosoma, dorsal view. C. Head, anterior view. D. Propodeum, dorsal view. E. Mesosoma, lateral view. F. Hind tibia, lateral view (inset: data labels).