Meteorus orion Aguirre, Almeida & Shaw

Aguirre, Helmuth, de Almeida, Luis Felipe, Shaw, Scott Richard & Sarmiento, Carlos E., 2015, An illustrated key to Neotropical species of the genus Meteorus Haliday (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Euphorinae), ZooKeys 489, pp. 33-94 : 70-74

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Braconidae

Meteorus orion Aguirre, Almeida & Shaw sp. n. Figures 147-153

Diagnosis.

Occipital carina incomplete; mandibles twisted; notauli rugose-carinate and not distinct; longitudinal and transversal carinae on propodeum forming broad areolae dorsally; hind coxa strigate and punctate; tarsal claw simple; dorsope absent; ventral borders of first tergite joined completely along ½ of segment; ovipositor 1.7 × longer than first tergite; colorful pattern of orange, yellow, white and black on the body.

Body color.

Antenna dark brown; annulus absent; head orange except area between ocelli black. Propleuron orange-yellow; pronotum dorsally orange, ventrally yellow; mesonotum dark brown, except area among lobes and a patch on scutellum orange; mesopleuron dark brown; metanotum dark brown; metapleuron white; propodeum dark brown except posterior and lateral areas white-cream. Prothoracic legs testaceous except coxa and trochanter white cream; mesothoracic legs testaceous except coxa and trochanter white cream; metathoracic legs dark brown except entire femur and tibia medially testaceous. T1 white-yellow basally, dark brown apically; T2-T8 dark brown; sterna yellow-cream with dark brown spots. Wings hyaline; stigma brown.

Body length.

3.9 mm.

Head.

Antenna with 29 flagellomeres; flagellar length/width ratios as follows: F1 = 3.4, F2 = 3.1, F3 = 3.1, F27 = 1.8, F28 = 1.7, F29 = 2.2; head 1.3 wider than high; occipital carina incomplete; ocellus-ocullar distance 1.6 × ocellar diameter; head height 1.6 × eye height; temple length 0.4 × eye length in dorsal view; vertex in dorsal view not descending vertically behind the lateral ocelli; frons smooth and polished; face maximum width 1.2 × minimum width; face strigate-punctate; face minimum width 1.3 × clypeus width; clypeus rugose; malar space length 1.1 × mandible width basally; mandibles twisted.

Mesosoma.

Pronotum in lateral view carinate-punctate; propleuron slightly puncticulate; notauli rugose-carinate and not distinct; mesonotal lobes not well defined. central lobe of mesoscutum rugulose; scutellar furrow with three carinae; mesopleuron punctate, rugose-lacunose close to the tegula; precoxal sulcus long, wide and carinate-rugose; metapleuron rugulose; propodeum carinate-rugose; longitudinal and transversal carinae forming broad areolae dorsally, median depression absent.

Legs.

Hind coxa strigate and punctate; tarsal claw simple.

Wings.

Wing length 3.4 mm; second submarginal cell of forewing not strongly narrowed anteriorly. Front wing: length of vein r 0.7 × length of vein 3RSa; vein 3RSb straight; length of vein 3RSa 0.9 × length of vein r-m; vein m-cu postfurcal. Hind wing: length of vein 1M equal to length of vein cu-a; length of vein 1M 1.4 × length of vein r-m.

Metasoma.

Dorsope absent; ventral borders of first tergite joined completely along ½ of segment; first tergite with costae convergent posteriorly; ovipositor thickened basally and straight; ovipositor 1.7 × longer than first tergite.

Cocoon.

Length cocoon 3.9 mm; width cocoon 1.8 mm; honey-brown translucent. Oval-shaped, main structure formed by honey-light brown threads, loosely enveloped by darker threads.

Female variation.

Unknown.

Male variation.

Unknown.

Type locality.

ECUADOR, Napo province, Yanayacu biological station, San Isidro forest, 00°35.9'S; 77°53.4'W, 2163 m.

Type specimen.

Holotype female (point mounted), ECUADOR, Napo province, Yanayacu biological station, San Isidro forest, 00°35.9'S; 77°53.4'W, 2163 m, reared from a noctuid caterpillar collected on Diplazium costale var robustum ( Dryopteridaceae ) VII.17.2009, parasitoid pupation VII.21.2009, parasitoid emergence VIII.7.2009, YY40067 (rearing code), UWIM.

Paratype. Unknown.

Distribution.

Ecuador, province of Napo.

Biology.

Solitaty parasitoid of Noctuidae feeding on Diplazium costale var. robustum ( Dryopteridaceae ).

Comments.

The occipital carina incomplete, mandibles completely twisted, first metasomal tergite without dorsopes, ventral borders of first tergite joined along half of segment and the colorful pattern of orange, yellow, black and white on the body set Meteorus orion close to Meteorus mirandae . The new species might be easily sorted by having the hind coxa completely dark brown and the middle one completely yellowish-white (hind and middle coxae dorsally black, ventrally yellow in Meteorus mirandae ), the notauli shallow and not distinct, and the tarsal claw simple.

Etymology.

The mythological Greek hunter “Orion” inspired the name for this species, because of the hunting behavior upon noctuid caterpillars. By coincidence, the yellowish white middle coxa line up with the pale white posterior of the propodeum, like the three stars in the "belt of Orion," the most conspicuous part of this famous constellation.