Chelonus buscki (Viereck, 1912)

Sandoval-B, Ada L., Shaw, Scott Richard, Herrera, Henri W. & Sarmiento, Carlos E., 2024, Diversity and differentiation of the Chelonus (Microchelonus) species of the Galapagos archipelago (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Cheloninae), Journal of Hymenoptera Research 97, pp. 825-848 : 825-848

Chelonus buscki (Viereck, 1912)

Fig. 1 A

Chelonus (Chelonella) buscki Viereck, 1912: 618 . Type locality: Montserrat, Trinidad.

Microchelonus buscki (Viereck): Shenefelt 1973: 878. Papp 2010: 157, 172. Papp 2016: 236–237.

Description.

Female. Body length 2.12–2.80 mm. Head black; Mandibles yellow with basal and apical areas brown. Carinae between ocelli and eyes present. Antenna shorter than the body, penultimate flagellomere cuboidal. Scape yellow, pedicel concolorous with the scape. Flagellomeres brownish. Mesosoma black, scutellum rugose. Foreleg entirely yellow. Medial and hind legs as follows: coxa brown-black, trochanter yellow, femur mostly brown to black with proximal and distal apex turning yellow, medial tibia entirely yellow, hind tibia light-yellow with a brown medial macula. Medial and hind leg with tarsi 1–4 yellow, last tarsomere dark brown. Fore wing stigma brown. Metasoma black or brownish, without yellow maculae. In dorsal view basal part of metasoma without longitudinal carinae. Apical foramen of carapace present.

The specimens from Galapagos Archipelago did not show a pair of large yellow spots or a single pale-yellow band on its carapace as indicated in Viereck´s (1912) description. Instead, some specimens have a testaceous or dark brown irregular area as described above.

Comments.

C. buscki is a very widespread and common neotropical species, having previously been recorded in Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Peru, and Trinidad ( Papp 2016). This is the first record of the species in the Galapagos.

In Costa Rica, it has been reared from Omiodes cuniculalis ( Crambidae ) feeding on host plants including Gliricidia sepium , an introduced species of Fabaceae and other woody host plants ( Sharkey et al. 2021). C. buscki is a species that is easily identified using Papp’s (2016) key and comes out at couplet 42. A full morphological description is on pages 236–237 of Papp’s (2016) revision.

Specimens studied.

Ecuador, Galápagos – Floreana • 7 ♀♀; Cerro Pajas ; 1°17'44.592"S, 90°27'29,447"W; 537 m a. s. l; 22–29 May. 2019; J. Avendaño, D. Albuja leg.; Humid zone; malaise trap; ECESPOCH- ICCDRS – Fernandina • 2 ♀♀; 0°21'50.076"S, 90°34'22.007"W; 1264 m a. s. l; 04–11 Nov. 2018; H. Herrera, J. Avendaño, P. Picón leg.; Humid zone; malaise trap; ECESPOCH- ICCDRS – Santiago • 2 ♀♀; 0°13'3.828"S, 90°43'27.84"W; 334 m a. s. l; 23–26 Jun. 2021; H. Herrera, J. Avendaño, P. Picón leg.; PanTrap; ECESPOCH- ICCDRS – Pinta • 5 ♀♀; 0°33'57.744"S, 90°45'14.435"W; 257 m a. s. l; 19–22 Jul. 2021; H. Herrera, J. Avendaño, P. Picón leg.; Humid zone; PanTrap; ECESPOCH- ICCDRS .

Figures

Figure 1. Habitus of the Chelonus species found in the Galapagos islands. Chelonus buscki A Chelonus carinatus B Chelonus johni C Chelonus refluus D Chelonus sulcifera E Chelonus topali F Chelonus turgoclarus G. Scale bars: 1 mm. All are females.