Charops juliannae, 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 : 256-258

Charops juliannae sp. n.

( Figs 7–9 )

Type material – Holotype: female, Africa or. [= Africa orientalis], Arusha-Ju [= Tanzania, Arusha], XI.1905, leg. [K.] Katona [= K. Kittenberger]; specimen pinned, antennae damaged, Id. No. HNHM-HYM 153214 . – The holotype specimen is deposited in the Hymenoptera Collection of HNHM (Budapest, Hungary).

Diagnosis – Charops juliannae sp. n. could be easily identified by its colouration (tegula black, fore leg except coxae yellow, middle femur predominantly blackish with yellow patches, middle tibia yellow, hind femur black, hind tibia blackish to dark brown with distinct, elongate basal yellowish spot, hind trochantellus predominantly brown, dorsally and along apical margin narrowly yellowish, metasoma including apical tergites predominantly reddish with narrow dark brownish dorsal patches), apically moderately strongly curved distal abscissa of Rs, on basal half weakly developed and on apical half obsolescent lateromedian longitudinal carinae of medially weakly and narrowly impressed propodeum.

Description – Female ( Figs 7–9 ). Body length ca. 10 mm, fore wing length ca. 5.5 mm.

Head: First flagellomere ca. 3.3× as long as wide apically. Head lenticular, matt, its anterior surface rugose, posterior surface granulate with weak punctures, and with dense, moderately long, greyish hairs. Ocular-ocellar distance 0.7× 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 short, ca. 0.4× as long as basal width of mandible. Face narrow, almost flat in profile, narrowed ventrally, minimal width of face ca. 0.65× 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 with strong transverse wrinkles, its upper edge and posterior corner rugose; epomia distinct. Mesoscutum coarsely rugose, convex in profile, 0.8× as long as wide, notaulus not developed. Scuto-scutellar groove very narrow. Scutellum coarsely rugose, wide, medially rather widely impressed, concave, lateral carina indistinct. Mesopleuron coarsely rugosereticulate with distinct transverse wrinkles on upper half; mesopleural suture not impressed. Epicnemial carina complete, pleural part bent to anterior margin of mesopleuron reaching it about 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, slightly elevated. Sternaulus indistinct. Posterior transverse carina of mesosternum complete, medially excised, submedially developed into a pair of tooth-like, triangular processes. Metanotum rugose, short, about 0.25× as long as scutellum. Metapleuron coarsely rugose; juxtacoxal carinae distinct, strong; submetapleural carina complete, strong. Pleural carina of propodeum strong; propodeal spiracle strongly elongate, narrow, separated from pleural carina by about 0.6× its length, connected to pleural carina by a distinct ridge. Propodeum coarsely rugose with transverse wrinkles, medially distinctly and narrowly impressed, long, its apex reaching middle length of hind coxa. Lateromedian longitudinal carinae weakly developed on basal half of propodeum, costula rather weak, carinae on apical half of propodeum obsolescent. 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 0.7× length of intercubitus; distal abscissa of Rs almost straight, its distal part distinctly but moderately strongly curved toward wing margin; nervulus (cu-a) postfurcal by about its width; postnervulus (abscissa of Cu 1 between 1 m-cu and Cu 1a + Cu 1b) intercepted distinctly above middle by Cu 1a. Hind wing with nervellus (cu-a + abscissa of Cu 1 between M and cu-a) weakly reclivous, intercepted by discoidella (distal abscissa of Cu 1) at about its lower third; discoidella spectral, proximally connected to nervellus. Coxae coarsely granulate with superficial, weak punctures. Hind femur long and slender, about 6× as long as high. Inner spur of hind tibia about 0.65× 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 with short greyish to brownish hairs. First tergite very long and slender, moderately upcurved, more than 7× as long as width of its apical margin, 1.2× as long as second tergite, without glymma; dorsomedian carina of first tergite missing; postpetiolus moderately bulging. Second tergite long and slender, ca. 5× as long as its apical width; thyridium oval, its distance from basal margin of tergite about 3.5× 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 little longer than apical depth of metasoma; ovipositor strong, compressed, dorsal preapical notch distinct, lower valve abruptly narrowed before apex.

Colour: Antenna dark brown, scapus dark brown with somewhat paler, rather narrow apical margin, pedicellus dark brown. Head black, basal half of mandible blackish, apical half yellowish with reddish brown teeth, palpi ivory. Mesosoma including tegula black. Petiolus yellowish brown, at extreme basal part blackish, postpetiolus dark brown; second tergite dark brown, subapically indistinctly dark reddish brown, its narrow apical margin black; metasoma from third tergite, including apical tergites, predominantly reddish with narrow dark brownish dorsal patches. Wings weakly infuscate, wing veins and pterostigma dark brown. Fore leg: coxa blackish; rest of leg yellow, apical tarsomeres yellowish brown. Middle leg: coxa black; trochanter ventrally brown, dorsally yellowish; trochantellus yellow; femur predominantly blackish with yellow patches; tibia yellow; tarsus yellow to yellowish brown, apical tarsomeres brownish. Hind leg: coxa black; trochant- er blackish with narrowly yellowish brown apical margin; trochantellus predominantly brown, dorsally and along apical margin narrowly yellowish; femur black; tibia blackish to very dark brown with distinct, elongate basal yellowish spot; tarsus dark brown.

Male: Unknown.

Distribution – Currently known from Tanzania.

Etymology – The new species is gratefully dedicated to Istvánné Domonkos (her maiden name is Julianna Szabó; she is known as “Jutka” among colleagues), preparator and assistant of the Hymenoptera Collection in the Hungarian Natural History Museum since 1994. For more than 25 years, she has beautifully mounted tens of thousands of hymenopteran specimens with outstanding professionalism and vocation, has taken exceedingly good care of the collection, and has been invaluable assistance and an invaluable person in all activities of the Hymenoptera Collection.

Remarks – Among the Afrotropical species of the genus the new species is most similar to Charops cariniceps Cameron, 1906 ; however, this species could be distinguished from the new species by its entirely black apical tergites, partly reddish fore and middle femora, reddish yellow hind trochantellus, apically at most slightly curved distal abscissa of Rs, and complete and strong lateromedian carinae of propodeum. Charops juliannae sp. n. is also superficially similar to Charops spinitarsis Cameron, 1905 ; however, this species could be readily distinguished from the new species by its yellow tegula and reddish hind femur and tibia. See Discussion for the identification key of Afrotropical Charops species.

Figures

Figs 7–9. Charops juliannae sp. n., holotype: 7 = lateral habitus, 8 = head, frontal view, 9 = fore wing, distal abscissa of Rs (scale bar on Fig. 7 = 1 mm)