Charops aeruginosus, Vas, 2020

Vas, Zoltán, 2020, New Species And Records Of Charops Holmgren, 1859 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Campopleginae), Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 66 (3), pp. 247-264 : 249-251

Charops aeruginosus sp. n.

( Figs 1–3 )

Type material – Holotype: female, Formosa [= Taiwan], Kosempo [= Jiasianpu hill near Jiasian], IV.[1]908, leg. [H.] Sauter; specimen pinned, Id. No. HNHM-HYM 153211 . – Para- type: female, Formosa [= Taiwan], Teraso [= Manchoutsun], II.1909, leg. [H.] Sauter; specimen pinned, Id. No. HNHM-HYM 153212 . – The holotype and paratype specimens are deposited in the Hymenoptera Collection of HNHM (Budapest, Hungary).

Diagnosis – Charops aeruginosus sp. n. could be easily identified by the combination of the following characters: tegula light brownish, fore and middle femora entirely orange, hind femur predominantly rusty reddish, hind tibia brown, metasoma predominantly ferruginous with black to dark brown patches, wings weakly infuscate, indistinct propodeal carination, coarsely and entirely reticulate-rugose mesopleuron with transverse wrinkles along posterior margin, and large size.

Description – Female ( Figs 1–3 ). Body length ca. 14 mm, fore wing length ca. 7.5 mm.

Head: Antenna with 45–46 flagellomeres; first flagellomere ca. 2.5–2.7× as long as apically wide; preapical flagellomeres quadrate to slightly longer than wide. Head lenticular, matt, its anterior surface rather coarsely rugose, posterior surface granulate with indistinct punctures, and with dense, long, greyish hairs. Ocular-ocellar distance 0.4× as long as ocellus diameter, posterior ocellar distance about as long as ocellus diameter. Inner eye orbits strongly indented and weakly convergent ventrally. Malar space ca. 0.4× as long as basal width of mandible. Face flat in profile, narrowed ventrally, minimal width of face ca. 0.65–0.7× as long as eye length. Clypeus very weakly separated from face, convex in profile, its apical margin convex, sharp. Mandible short, high, lower margin of mandible with rather wide flange from teeth toward base, flange abruptly narrowed at teeth, mandibular teeth of equal length.

Mesosoma: Mesosoma with dense, moderately long, greyish hairs. Pronotum smooth with strong transverse wrinkles, its upper edge and posterior corner rugose; epomia strong. Mesoscutum coarsely rugose, weakly convex in profile, little shorter than wide, notaulus not developed. Scuto-scutellar groove very narrow. Scutellum coarsely rugose, wide, flat, medially widely impressed, concave, lateral carina indistinct. Mesopleuron very strongly sculptured, coarsely reticulate-rugose with transverse wrinkles along posterior margin; mesopleural suture not impressed. Epicnemial carina complete, strong, pleural part bent to anterior margin of mesopleuron reaching it above its middle height, transversal part (i.e. part at the level of sternaulus running through the epicnemium to the ventral edge of pronotum) developed, ventral part (behind fore coxae) complete, not elevated. Sternaulus indistinct. Posterior transverse carina of mesosternum complete, medially slightly excised, submedially developed into a pair of tooth-like, triangular processes. Metanotum coarsely rugose, short, about 0.3× as long as scutellum. Metapleuron coarsely rugose; juxtacoxal carinae distinct, strong; submetapleural carina complete, strong. Pleural carina of propodeum strong; propodeal spiracle rather strongly elongate, narrow, separated from pleural carina by about 0.5× its length, connected to pleural carina by a distinct ridge. Propodeum rather coarsely rugose with irregular wrinkles, long, its apex reaching beyond middle length of hind coxa, propodeal carinae indistinct. Fore wing without areolet, 3 rs-m missing; pterostigma long and narrow; second recurrent vein (2 m-cu) distal to intercubitus (2 rs-m) by about 0.5–0.7× length of intercubitus; distal abscissa of Rs straight, its extreme distal part slightly curved toward wing margin; nervulus (cu-a) postfurcal by about 0.1–0.2× its length; postnervulus (abscissa of Cu 1 between 1 m-cu and Cu 1a + Cu 1b) intercepted distinctly above middle by Cu 1a; hairs of subbasal and first subdiscal cells conspicuously sparse as compared to other areas of fore wing. Hind wing with nervellus (cu-a + abscissa of Cu 1 between M and cu-a) strongly reclivous, intercepted by discoidella (distal abscissa of Cu 1) distinctly above its middle; discoidella spectral, proximally connected to nervellus. Coxae granulate with superficial, weak punctures. Hind femur long and slender, almost 7× as long as high. Inner spur of hind tibia about 0.8× as long as first tarsomere of hind tarsus. Tarsal claws small and short, little longer than arolium, basal half with small but distinct pecten.

Metasoma: Metasoma strongly compressed, very finely granulate to shagreened with short greyish to brownish hairs. First tergite very long and slender, upcurved, more than 7× as long as width of its apical margin, 1.2–1.3× as long as second tergite, without glymma; dorsomedian carina of first tergite missing; postpetiolus bulging. Second tergite long and slender, ca. 5× as long as its apical width; thyridium elongate, its distance from basal margin of tergite about 3× as long as its length. Posterior margins of third and following tergites medially weakly and widely concave, posterior margin of seventh tergite strongly excised. Ovipositor sheath short, subequal to apical depth of metasoma; ovipositor strong, compressed, dorsal preapical notch distinct, lower valve abruptly narrowed before apex.

Colour: Antenna dark brown, scapus and pedicellus ventrally golden yellowish, dorsally yellowish brown. Head black except palpi and mandible yellow, mandibular teeth dark reddish brown. Mesosoma black except tegula light brownish. Metasoma predominantly ferruginous with black to dark brown patches; first tergite yellowish brown, petiolus basally and/or apically with a blackish band or patch, postpetiolus darker brownish; second tergite predominantly blackish, laterally light reddish brown from thyridium to black apical margin; third tergite rusty reddish brown, dorsally blackish, laterally tinged with blackish to dark brown patches; fourth and following tergites rusty reddish brown, dorsally blackish to dark brown; ovipositor sheath dark brown. Wings weakly infuscate, wing veins and pterostigma dark brown. Fore leg: coxa black, ventrally and apically extensively yellowish; trochanter and trochantellus yellowish; femur entirely light orange; tibia and tarsus yellowish, apical tarsomeres brownish. Middle leg: coxa black; trochanter brown to yellowish brown; trochantellus yellowish brown; femur entirely orange; tibia reddish yellow; tarsus brownish except basal third of first tarsomere ventrally yellowish. Hind leg: coxa black; trochanter dark brown with narrow yellowish brown margin; trochantellus brownish; femur rusty reddish, ventrally darker brownish; tibia brown, without basal yellowish spot, apically slightly darkened; tarsus dark brown.

Male: Unknown.

Distribution – Currently known from Taiwan.

Etymology – The specific epithet aeruginosus is the masculine form of the Latin adjective aeruginosus , -a, -um meaning copper rust-coloured; it refers to the colouration of metasoma and legs of the new species.

Remarks – By using the identification key of GUPTA and MAHESHWARY (1977), Charops aeruginosus sp. n. runs to couplet 10 together with the other species of the “ Brachypterus Group” sensu GUPTA and MAHESHWARY (1971, 1977), but without further matching to either half of couplet 10. Among the Oriental species of the genus the new species is somewhat similar to Charops hersei Gupta et Maheshwary, 1971 known from India and Sri Lanka; however, this species could be readily distinguished from the new species by its pale yellowish fore femur, pale yellowish middle femur with dark brown patches ventrally in the middle, entirely black hind femur, blackish hind tibia, somewhat darker metasoma, different sculpture of mesopleuron (upper half densely covered with irregular wrinkles, lower half rugose), and absent lateromedian longitudinal carinae of propodeum (in Charops aeruginosus sp. n. lateromedian longitudinal carinae present but weak).

Figures

Figs 1–3. Charops aeruginosus sp. n., holotype: 1 = lateral habitus, 2 = head, frontal view, 3 = fore wing, distal abscissa of Rs (scale bar on Fig. 1 = 1 mm)