Aulacus tasmanicus Jennings & Austin, 2018

Jennings, John T., Parslow, Ben A. & Austin, Andrew D., 2018, Systematics of the parasitoid wasp genus Aulacus Jurine (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Aulacidae) from Australia, Zootaxa 4538 (1), pp. 1-113 : 84

Aulacus tasmanicus Jennings & Austin , sp. nov.

Figs 46 , 66 .

Material examined. Holotype. ♀, “ Tasmania. A. Simson ( SAM). Right antenna missing flagellomeres 8 to tip, ovipositor sheaths missing, left fore wing damaged in discal/subdiscal and submarginal regions . Paratype. Tasmania: 1♂, Cambridge, C. Cole, 20.2.[19]16 ( SAM) .

Description. FEMALE. Length. 7.1 mm, excluding ovipositor.

Colour. Head and mesosoma black ( Figs 46A, B ), except antenna dark brown, scape and pedicel lighter, coxae dark brown, remainder of fore and mid legs orange, hind legs brown, except hind apical half basitarsus and segments 2–4 cream, metasoma dark brown, ovipositor orange. Wings hyaline except for brown infuscation apically on the marginal and third submarginal cells of fore wings ( Fig. 46B ).

Head. 1.10× wider than long when viewed dorsally ( Fig. 46C ); face rugose, pubescence long; with subantennal groove; frons without lateral medial carina above toruli, rugose, pubescence short; vertex rugose, a few scattered punctures, with a few lateral striations posteriorly, scattered short setae ( Fig. 44C ); gena rugose, a few scattered punctures, with a few lateral striations dorso-posteriorly, scattered short setae; posterior margin of head slightly concave in dorsal view; occipital carina absent; malar space 0.11× height eye; clypeus 4.3× as wide as high, margin sinuate, medial process present; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 0.82× distance between lateral ocelli; scape 1.7× length pedicel; first flagellomere 1.2× as long as scape, 0.7× as long as second flagellomere.

Mesosoma. Propleuron rugose, pubescence long, ventro-lateral carina hidden; pronotum rugose; mesoscutum in lateral view round antero-dorsally, medial and lateral lobes rugose, medial lobe tending to rugose-strigate posteriorly ( Figs 46D,E ), with scattered short setae, admedial lines present; notauli distinct, carinate, broad and shallow ( Fig. 46D ); scutellum and axillae strigate-rugose, scutellum with two deep depressions, separated by a weak median carina; metapostnotum broad, carinate, posterior margin slightly convex; mesopleuron rugose dorsally, areolate ventrally, with long pubescence; mesepimeron broad, carinate; metapleuron areolate, patch anteriorly before spiracle rugose, long scattered setae; propodeum areolate ( Fig. 44F ), posterior margin largely smooth, a few pronounced carinae; hind coxa strigate dorsally and laterally ( Fig. 46F ), pubescence long, denser laterally, ovipositor guide medial and oblique; hind trochanter imbricate, setae pubescence; prefemur on hind leg distinct; hind femur imbricate, with scattered short setae; hind tibia imbricate, pubescence short, with scattered stout emergent setae; hind femur 0.73× length hind tibia; hind tibia with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines; hind tarsomeres 1–4 with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines, tarsomere 1, 2.25× length tarsomere 2; tarsomere 2, 2.0× length tarsomere 3; tarsomere 3, 2.0× length tarsomere 4; tarsomere 4, 1.0× length tarsomere 5; hind tarsal claw 0.45× length tarsomere 5; fore wing veins 2r-m and 3r-m largely spectral; hind wing venation complete, M+Cu, Cu, r-m and 2-M spectral, with 3 equidistant hamuli.

Metasoma. Ovate, 1.82× length of mesosoma ( Fig. 46B ); T1 and T2 narrow, glabrous, T1 smooth with a few scattered punctures, T2 imbricate with a few scattered shallow punctures, T3–T8 imbricate, each tergite largely glabrous anteriorly but short setae becoming denser posteriorly; ovipositor 5.5 mm.

MALE. Similar to female, except length 7.6 mm; metapleuron areolate, patch anteriorly before spiracle smooth medially.

Etymology. This species is named in reference to Tasmania.

Distribution. This species is known only from Tasmania ( Fig. 66 ).

Biology. Nothing is known of the biology of this species.

Comments. Aulacus tasmanicus is similar to A. truncates . Both species have a medial, oblique ovipositor guide on the hind coxae but differ substantially in colouration, A. tasmanicus having the head and mesosoma black, and metasoma dark brown whereas in A. truncatus , the head and mesosoma are black, the metasoma predominantly dark brown, and T1 and T2 are paler. See key for other differences.

Figures

FIGURE 44. Aulacus simsoni sp. nov., holotype female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) dorsal head; (D) lateral head, pronotum and mesoscutum.

FIGURE 46. Aulacus tasmanicus sp. nov., holotype female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) dorsal head; (D) dorsal mesosoma; (E) lateral mesosoma; (F) dorsal propodeum and hind coxae.

FIGURE 66. Distribution of Aulacus tasmanicus sp. nov., A. tiernyi sp. nov., A. umbackae sp. nov., and A. vespiformis (Kieffer).