Pristomerus kelikely Rousse, Villemant & Seyrig, 2013

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 : 54-56

Pristomerus kelikely Rousse, Villemant & Seyrig, 2013

Fig. 14

Diagnosis (updated from Rousse et al. 2013)

Small; yellow to yellowish-orange overall; face moderately to densely punctate; inner margins of eyes slightly converging ventrally; clypeus strongly transverse, sparsely and shallowly punctate; malar line short; remainder of head coriaceous; occipital carina joining hypostomal carina at mandible base; antenna with 29–32 flagellomeres, penultimate flagellomere longer than wide; mesosoma elongate, moderately to densely punctate but pronotum almost entirely and ventral half of speculum smooth, and mesonotum apically shallowly punctate; female femoral tooth absent; ovipositor moderately long, apically weakly sinuous. B 3.2–4.6; A 2.8–4.0; F 3.2–4.3; CT 2.0; ML 0.4; POL 0.8; OOL 1.2; Fl n–1 1.2; ASM 2.1; OT 1.6–1.8; FFT 0. Male with ocelli not enlarged, hind femur and femoral tooth stouter, and area superomedia sometimes more slender. POL 0.9; OOL 1.1.

Differential diagnosis

Small and entirely yellow to yellowish orange species; differentiated from most other Afrotropical species by the absence of the femoral tooth in females, the short malar line, the strongly transverse clypeus and the rather long ovipositor. It is closely related to P. moramora and P. venda sp. nov., from which it may be differentiated by the colour and antennal length characters given in the key (see comments below). It is also structurally very similar to P. sara sp. nov.; however, this species exhibits white-marked femora and tibiae, a colour pattern that appears to have ecological relevance (see general discussion).

Material examined

Holotype

MADAGASCAR: ♀, “ MADAGASCAR, Anivorano XII 1929, EY 0000002477” ( MNHN).

Other material

TANZANIA: 3 ♀♀, “Tanzania, Mkomazi Game Reserve, Ibaya Camp, 3.58S 37.48E 25.xii.1995 – 29.i.1996, S. van Noort, Malaise trap, Acacia / Commiphora / Combretum bushland, SAM–HYM– P048059” ( SAMC); 1 ♀, same locality, “Kikolo plot, 04°08.72’S 38°01.37’E, 16 April–2 May 1996, S. van Noort, Commiphora woodland, Malaise trap, SAM–HYM–P016192” ( SAMC).

Distribution

Madagascar. New record: Tanzania.

Comments

The three species P. kelikely , P. moramora and P. venda can only be keyed by rather weak though constant differentiating features. Pristomerus moramora is mostly separated from the other two by the extensive dark colouration of the mesosoma and metasoma. Furthermore, the males of P. kelikely and P. moramora have ocelli that are not enlarged, which is very unusual in Pristomerus and separate both from P. venda . However, several specimens in the SAMC and MNHN collections could not unambiguously be assigned to one of these three species: this species-complex needs further examination before being fully resolved.

Figures

Fig. 14. Pristomerus kelikely Rousse, Villemant & Seyrig, 2013. 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).