Holophris melinh Nguyen & Wiśniowski, 2021

Nguyen, Lien Thi Phuong & Wiśniowski, Bogdan, 2021, Review of Holophris Mocsáry (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae) from Vietnam, with description of a new species, Zootaxa 4963 (2), pp. 393-399 : 396

Holophris melinh Nguyen & Wiśniowski , sp. nov.

( Figs 5–10 )

Material examined. Holotype, ♀, pinned, VIETNAM, Me Linh, Ngoc Thanh , Vinh Phuc, Malaise trap, 30.vi.2020, leg. IED-c. ( IEBR) . Paratype, ♀, Me Linh, Ngoc Thanh , Vinh Phuc, Malaise trap, 20.vi.2020, leg. IED-c. ( IEBR) .

Diagnosis. Holophris melinh sp. nov. is most similar to H. marginella in general habitus and coloration of head and mesosoma. It can be separated from the latter by presence of two rows of punctures on anterior margin of pronotum (versus one row in H. marginella ), and metallic blue and violet reflection on metasomal terga (versus almost black in H. marginella ). It is also similar to H. thailandica Rosa, Wei, Notton & Xu, 2016 in general habitus, presence of two rows of punctures on anterior margin of pronotum, as well as wrinkled mesoscutellum but can be differentiated by gena almost without wrinkles (versus gena with wrinkles in H. thailandica ), and by shape of forewing stigma which length (at dorsal margin) is less than twice of its maximum width (versus more than twice longer as its maximum width in H. thailandica ), and metanotum almost black (versus metanotum golden to red in H. thailandica ).

Description. Female ( Fig. 10 ). Holotype. Body length 2.7 mm. Forewing length 1.8 mm. Paratype. Body length 2.3 mm. Forewing length 1.5 mm.

Head. In frontal view, dorsal profile extremely convex ( Fig. 5 ). Head from scapal basin to occipital area with small, shallow and spaced punctures, with intervals transversally and deeply wrinkled forming continuous striae between punctures. Scapal basin deep and polished. In lateral view, longest distance between genal carina and ventral margin of eye 0.76 × MOD; genal carina bisecting MS, its end near lower margin of compound eye. Ocellar triangle isosceles, mid ocellus close to postocellar line. Postocellar line medially absent. OOL = 1.44 × MOD; POL = 2.23 × MOD; MS = 1.3–1.45 × MOD; relative length of P:F1:F2:F3 = 1:0.65:0.5:0.5. Gena smooth, almost without wrinkles. Occipital area and ocellar area smooth and impunctate, with sparse tiny punctures.

Mesosoma. Pronotum impunctate, with sparse tiny punctures; with two rows of large and deep punctures on anterior margin, almost unite medially ( Fig. 6 ), and large, dense punctures antero-laterally, propodeal corner with corrugated intervals ( Fig. 8 ). Mesoscutum impunctate, with sparse tiny punctures ( Figs 6, 7 ); notaular pits narrow and long (0.8 × MOD), notauli indistinct ( Fig. 7 ); mesoscutum laterally with row of large and elongated punctures close to tegula margin. Mesoscutellum with four foveae on anterior margin, with two median foveae large (1.7 × MOD) and two lateral ones smaller (1.3 × MOD). Mesoscutellum longitudinally wrinkled, with large oval punctures in between wrinkled laterally, small puncture medially ( Fig. 7 ). Metanotum distinctly elongated, with deep, round and large punctures and subequal intervals, with smooth intervals bearing some tiny punctures. Mesopleuron with large and round punctures, with narrow interspaces (0.2–0.5 × PD), with elongated sub-transverse striae from subalar fovea to posterior margin ( Fig. 8 ). Tarsal claw with three teeth.

Metasoma. T1–T3 almost impunctate, with very sparse and tiny punctures. T1 without semitransparent rim. T2 and T3 with wide brownish semitransparent rim (1.5–2.5 × MOD). Apex of T3 without median notch ( Fig. 9 ).

Colouration. Face metallic green to blue; ocellar area, gena and occipital area blue. Pronotum metallic blue to green, mesoscutum black medially and blue laterally (almost black in paratype), mesoscutellum metallic golden-red or bronze, metanotum almost black ( Fig. 7 ), mesopleuron metallic green or bronze ( Fig. 8 ). Antenna black, with scape metallic blue or green. Tegula brown, without metallic reflection. Legs metallic bluish green, with tarsi testaceous and without metallic reflection. Metasoma black, with metallic blue or violet, with brown semitransparent rim on posterior margins of T2 and T3 ( Fig. 9 ).

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. Vietnam (northern part).

Etymology. The specific name refers to the name of the Me Linh biodiversity station in Vinh Phuc province, where the species was collected; it is to be treated as a noun in apposition.

Figures

FIGURES 5–10. Holophris melinh sp. nov., holotype ♀. 5. Head in frontal view. 6. Vertex and pronotum in dorsal view. 7. Mesoscutum, scutellum and metanotum in dorsal view. 8. Head and mesosoma in lateral view. 9. T2 & T3 in dorsal view. 10. Habitus in lateral view. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.