Prasmodon almasolisae Fernandez-Triana & Whitfield, 2014

Fernandez-Triana, Jose L., Whitfield, James B., Smith, M. Alex, Braet, Yves, Hallwachs, Winnie & Janzen, Daniel H., 2014, Review of the Neotropical genus Prasmodon (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae), with emphasis on species from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 37, pp. 1-52 : 8-10

Prasmodon almasolisae Fernandez-Triana & Whitfield sp. n. Figs 1-6 , 101

Type locality.

COSTA RICA, ACG, Alajuela Province, Sector Rincon Rain Forest, Sendero Anonas, 405m, 10.90528, -85.27882.

Holotype.

♀ in CNC. Specimen labels: 1. DHJPAR0038908. 2. Voucher: D.H.Janzen & W.Hallwachs, DB: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu, Area de Conservación Guanacaste, COSTA RICA, 10-SRNP-40859.

Paratypes.

2 ♀, 2 ♂ (CNC, NMNH). COSTA RICA, ACG database codes: DHJPAR0038170, DHJPAR0038913, DHJPAR0040001, DHJPAR0040518.

Description.

Female. Body length 4.9-5.0 mm, rarely 4.5-4.6 mm. Fore wing length 4.9-5.0 mm, 5.1-5.2 mm, rarely 5.3-5.4 mm. Body color: meso- and meta soma entirely yellow-orange (with the exception of a very small black spot on axillar complex) ( Figs 5, 6 ). Scape color: partially dark brown to black ( Fig. 5 ). Flagellomeres color: most flagellomeres brown to black, except for small apical area (F15-16, and occasionally apical half of F14) which is yellow-brown ( Fig. 3 ). Tegula and humeral complex color: tegula pale, humeral complex partially dark/partialy pale. Mesotibia color: entirely yellow. Metatibia color: posterior 0.1-0.3 dark brown to black ( Fig. 4 ). Metatibia spurs color: yellow-orange. Metatarsus color: dark brown to black (except for anterior 0.7 or less of first metatarsomere) ( Fig. 1 ). Fore wing color pattern: hyaline. Fore wing veins color: all veins dark brown ( Fig. 2 ). Pterostigma color: entirely dark brown. Hypostomal carina: not raised. Scutoscutellar sulcus: with 6 impressions ( Fig. 5 ). Areolet height÷vein r length (fore wing): 0.2 ×. Hind wing subbasal cell: mostly without setae ( Fig. 5 ). Hind tarsal claws: with pectination uniform, teeth thick and relatively evenly spaced. Shape of mediotergite 1: distinctly narrowing posteriorly, width at posterior margin clearly less than width at anterior margin and median width ( Fig. 6 ). Mediotergite 1 length÷width at posterior margin 3.6-4.0 ×. Mediotergite 2 width at posterior margin÷length: 3.1-3.5 ×. Ovipositor sheaths length: 0.6 × as long as metatibia, rarely 0.5 × as long as metatibia.

Male. As female but with flagellomeres fully dark brown to black.

Molecular data.

Sequences in BOLD: 11, barcode compliant sequences: 11 ( Fig. 105 ).

Biology and ecology.

Hosts: Elachistidae , Antaeotricha radicalis , Antaeotricha ribbei , Antaeotricha Janzen07, Antaeotricha thapsinopa , elachJanzen01 Janzen131, Gonionota Janzen116, Stenoma Janzen129.

Distribution.

Costa Rica, ACG rain forest.

Etymology.

This species is named in honour of Alma Solis of the SEL/USDA laboratory in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C, in recognition of her decades of taxonomic knowledge and support contributing to understanding the species-level and higher taxonomy of the Crambidae , Pyralidae and Thyrididae of ACG, INBio and Costa Rica, as well as other parts of the world.

Figures

Figure 105. Neighbor-Joining tree (Saitou and Nei 1987) based on distances computed using the Kimura 2 - parameter method (Kimura 1980) of all Prasmodon sequences from the ACG. Tree tips are labeled with species name | specimen accession | host information | sequence length and ambiguities | type status.

Figures 1 - 6. Prasmodon almasolisae 1 Habitus 2 Fore wing 3 Antenna (partially) 4 Metatibia 5 Head and mesosoma, dorsal view 6 Propodeum and metasoma, dorsal view.

Figure 100 - 101. 100 Cocoon of Prasmodon bobrobbinsi 101 Cocoon of Prasmodon almasolisae.