Fortipalpa Kasparyan & Ruíz-Cancino, 2007

Supeleto, Fernanda A., Santos, Bernardo F. & Aguiar, Alexandre P., 2022, Revision of Fortipalpa Kasparyan & Ruíz-Cancino, (Ichneumonidae, Cryptinae), Zootaxa 5219 (6), pp. 501-533 : 503-504

Fortipalpa Kasparyan & Ruíz-Cancino, 2007

Fortipalpa Kasparyan & Ruíz-Cancino, 2007 . Original description.

Fortipalpa: Yu et al., 2016 . Catalog.

Diagnosis. Fortipalpa Kasparyan & Ruíz-Cancino can be differentiated from all other genera of Neotropical Cryptinae by the following combination of features: ventral tooth slightly longer than dorsal tooth; propodeum and mesoscutum smooth, polished and almost impunctate; transverse furrow anterior to propodeum very shallow, without striae; propodeum posteriorly to anterior transverse carina with uniform, closely spaced transverse striae; T1 long and slender, T1LW 2.08–3.41; ovipositor moderately long, OST 1.25–1.70, straight, tip moderately compressed, apex of ventral valve not forming a lobe covering dorsal valve.

Female. Fore wing 5.75–10.60 mm long. Body slender and shiny, somewhat subcylindrical. HEAD. Mandible moderately long, MLW 1.44–1.71, apex distinctly narrower than base, MWW 0.46–0.51; ventral tooth slightly longer than dorsal tooth, rarely teeth about the same length. Malar space narrow, MSM 0.25–0.39. Clypeus of moderate size, CHW 0.47–0.57, weakly convex, apex with two very small tubercles at center or without tubercles; apical margin translucent and laterally projected. Clypeal fovea almost indistinct.Antenna with 21–24 flagellomeres; apical flagellomeres gradually thicker than basal ones, not flattened; apical flagellomere with distinct cluster of short, stiff setae. Supra-antennal area ventrally distinctly concave, with weak to distinct median line. Occipital carina sharp, complete, meeting hypostomal carina far from mandible base; hypostomal carina distinct, after meeting occipital carina ventrally raised, forming a flange. Temple and gena in lateral view moderately wide.

THORAX. Dorsal margin of pronotum regular, not swollen; epomia strong, short or moderately long, ending far from or near dorsal margin of pronotum. Mesoscutum subcircular 0.88–1.04 × as long as wide, polished smooth; notaulus moderately impressed, distinctly convergent, reaching 0.30–0.54 of mesoscutum length. Epicnemial carina reaching 0.60–0.80 of distance to subalar, almost straight to distinctly curved, ending at or above pronotal spiracle. Sternaulus moderately strong, complete but usually wide and shallow at posterior 0.25, weakly to strongly sinuous, distinctly carinate throughout. Median portion of postpectal carina present, but short. Posterior margin of metanotum with weak projections. Transverse furrow anterior to propodeum moderately deep, usually polished smooth. Juxtacoxal carina absent. Pleural carina absent. Fore tibia moderately swollen. On all legs, fourth tarsomere apically bilobed, with strong apical group of bristles.

PROPODEUM. Anterior margin medially concave or slightly concave, laterally with teeth-like projections; anterior area outline regular, not raised, in lateral view at the same level as the rest of propodeum. Propodeal spiracle elliptic or elongate, SLW 1.74–2.24. Anterior transverse carina complete, distinct, medially straight to slightly arched forwards. Area behind anterior transverse carina with transverse striation. Posterior transverse carina absent. Median longitudinal carina absent. Lateral longitudinal carina absent.

WINGS. Hyaline. Fore wing vein 1-Rs+M with bulla placed near basal 0.2–0.3; ramellus absent; crossvein 1m-cu basally bent, otherwise straight or more or less uniformly curved; limit between 1m-cu and 1-Rs+M more or less traceable or 1m-cu fully continuous with 1-Rs+M; crossvein 1cu-a arising opposite of 1M+Rs; vein 2Cua 0.64–0.86 × as long as crossvein 2cu-a; crossvein 2m-cu with bulla placed about to the middle; areolet small, APH 0.47–0.86, pentagonal or subpentagonal, usually distinctly wider than high, AWH 0.53–0.96; crossvein 3r-m spectral or nebulous; cross veins 2r-m and 3r-m parallel or weakly convergent, both veins usually about the same length, sometimes 2r-m slightly shorter than 3r-m; vein 3-M usually distinctly shorter than 2-M; vein 4-M usually tubular. Hind wing vein M+Cu apically distinctly convex; vein Cua almost same length or distinctly longer than crossvein cu-a, HW1C 0.97–2.00; vein Cub straight to distinctly convex at apical half; vein 2-1A ending at 0.13– 0.27 of distance to wing margin.

METASOMA. First metasomal tergite (T1) rather slender, T1LW 2.08–3.41, apex distinctly wider than base, T1WW 1.78–2.22, without anterolateral tooth, very sparsely pilose; spiracle placed a little after the middle, SPR 0.52–0.57, weakly to strongly prominent; median dorsal carina absent; dorsolateral carina inconspicuous; ventrolateral carina absent; median depression of T1 from very shallow to distinct. T2 not particularly long, T2LW 0.91–1.16, distinctly triangular, T2WW 1.63–2.22, thyridium subcircular. T2–8 sculpturing usually from T2 distinctly coriarious to T8 smooth or faintly coriarious. T2 sparsely pilose, T3–8 densely pilose; T 7–8 in lateral view lengthened. Ovipositor long, OST 1.25–1.70, overall shape straight or rarely slightly upcurved, compressed, polished smooth; dorsal valve with nodus weak but distinct, notch faint; ovipositor tip moderately pointed; ventral valve basad teeth with weak but distinct nodus, apex not projected dorsally as a lobe, its apex with 13–17 subvertical teeth.

Male. Generally similar to the respective females. Morphological secondary sexual differences are usually more or less uniform within Cryptini , as noted by Santos & Aguiar (2013), and apply to the males of Fortipalpa as follows. General body size usually smaller than respective females. Antenna with significantly more flagellomeres than in female; white band of flagellum covering more articles; apical flagellomere apically pointed, without a distinct cluster of modified setae. Transverse sulcus at base of propodeum slightly wider than in female. Fore tibia regular, not inflated. Areolet distinctly larger than in female, APH 0.98–1.03. Metasoma and T2–7 generally slenderer than in females (e.g. Figs 2A vs. 3C).

Remarks. Specimens of Fortipalpa are superficially similar to and can be confused with the large New World genus Messatoporus Cushman (revised by Santos & Aguiar, 2013) with which they share the generally slender and polished body, long and slender T1 and propodeum posteriorly with transverse striae. Fortipalpa can be readily differentiated by having the ventral tooth of mandible slightly longer than dorsal tooth (vs. much shorter than dorsal tooth, sometimes so short as to be indistinct); occipital carina always meeting hypostomal carina (vs. almost always fading out before meeting hypostomal carina) and ovipositor tip compressed (vs. depressed). Fortipalpa is also similar to Prosthoporus Porter , from which it can be readily differentiated by having the hind wing vein 2-1A distinct (vs. absent in Prosthoporus ); fore wing vein 2Cua at least 0.60 × as long as crossvein 2cu-a (vs. less than 0.30); and transverse furrow anterior to propodeum distinctly shorter than area anterior to anterior transverse carina (vs. about as long as area anterior to anterior transverse carina).

Biology. Hosts are unknown. Species of Fortipalpa seem to be relatively rare; over 40,000 specimens of Neotropical Cryptinae have been examined by the authors but only the 34 specimens reported herein were found. Most specimens have been collected by Malaise traps even though Moericke (yellow pan) traps have been extensively used in several localities as well (e.g., Aguiar & Santos 2010; Supeleto et al. 2020).

Distribution. Widely distributed in the Neotropics from Mexico to Southern Brazil. Current species records are from Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad, Ecuador, and Brazil (States: BA, ES, MG, MS, MT, PA, PR, RJ, SP) ( Fig. 19 ).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Fortipalpa exelysae sp. nov. Holotype female. A, Dorsal view. B, Head, frontal. C, Propodeum, dorsal. D, Ovipositor tip, left side.

FIGURE 19. All known distribution records for Fortipalpa spp. (first map) and individual records for each species. Taxa presented in alphabetical order.