Chartocerus delicatus Girault, 1933

Molin, Ana Dal & Woolley, James B., 2020, Notes on types of Australian Chartocerus Motschulsky (Hymenoptera: Signiphoridae), Journal of Natural History 54 (9), pp. 681-702 : 691-693

Chartocerus delicatus Girault, 1933

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C9E2E3E9-6AD8-41E0-8AE2-4A8B7438EF0E

EOL taxon ID: 848109

( Figure 6 ; DOI:10.5281/zenodo.3893702)

Girault (1933, p. 2), as Matricia (sic) delicata (original description).

Dahms (1983, p. 216): notes on type material.

Type material. Holotype female, QM T8736 ; partially broken, the head and one antenna removed. Dahms (1983) mentions the slide was cracked and mended with paper, and that it contains the female holotype together with several other insects. The label data reads: ‘ Matritia delicata Girault , Type ♀ || On adhesive bracts of Passaflora [sic], Taringa , 26 November 1928 | Ent. Div. Dep. Ag. & Stk., Qld.’ The original description mentions only ‘Taringa, No. 26, 1928’. Dahms (1983) provides some more information from Girault’s unpublished manuscript: ‘One female found upon the adhesive bracts of Passaflora [= Passiflora ] foetida in my home garden was the type.’

Description. Female. Length 0.74 mm. Body light brown; legs and tarsi yellowish or light brown, syntergum and ovipositor sheath seem slightly darker than the rest of the body. Wing infuscation seems to cover the entire wing; it suggests a medial hyaline area, but the infuscation only gets lighter close to the end of the stigmal vein, and then also noticeably infuscated at the apex of the wing, with another small hyaline area on the anterior portion. Head roughly rounded in frontal view; punctate sculpturing. Pronotum, mesoscutum, scutellum and metanotum transversely striate; axillae reticulate, medial area of propodeum reticulate. Mesoscutum with about 14 small setae arranged somewhat symmetrically in posterior half of mesoscutum. Scutellum with 9–10 fine setae in posterior margin of scutellum and 1 on top of each axilla. Protibia about 2/3 of length of mesotibia; mesotibia about 2/3 of length of metatibia; mesobasitarsus less than half of length of mesotibia, mesotibial spur with 5 teeth. Fore wing with 2 setae on submarginal vein, lacking M1, as described above for other Australian species of Chartocerus . Hind wing 6.5× as long as wide, marginal fringe a little less than ½ width of wing. Mt1 bilobed, although faintly visible.

Remarks. Girault (1933) mentions it differs from C. australicus by shorter marginal fringe in wings, and metafemur infuscated only apically, which might have been an oversight, since several other species of Chartocerus present such a pattern.

Figures

Figure 6. Chartocerus delicatus (Girault), holotype ♀, Queensland Museum Type HY 8786. (a) habitus; (b) head and antenna; (c) antenna; (d) fore and hind wings; (e) mesosoma; (f) metasoma.