Meteorus noctuivorus Aguirre, Almeida & Shaw

Aguirre, Helmuth, de Almeida, Luis Felipe, Shaw, Scott Richard & Sarmiento, Carlos E., 2015, An illustrated key to Neotropical species of the genus Meteorus Haliday (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Euphorinae), ZooKeys 489, pp. 33-94 : 67-70

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Braconidae

Meteorus noctuivorus Aguirre, Almeida & Shaw sp. n. Figures 135-141, 142-146

Diagnosis.

Occipital carina complete; big ocelli, ocellus-ocullar distance 0.8 × ocellar diameter; mandibles twisted; notauli shallow, not distinctive and rugose with a pronounced longitudinal carina; propodeum aerolate-rugose; dorsope absent; ventral borders of first tergite fused completely along ½ of segment; ovipositor 1.9 × longer than first tergite; mesopleuron completely yellow.

Body color.

Antenna dark brown; annulus absent; head clypeus and face yellow; frons orange; gena orange infused with brown; vertex and occiput brown; area between ocelli black. Propleuron yellow; dorsal border of pronotum black, remaining yellow; mesonotum dark brown except scutellum testaceous; mesopleuron yellow; metanotum dark brown; metapleuron dark brown; propodeum black-dark brown. Prothoracic legs yellow except tarsus light brown; mesothoracic legs yellow except tibia apically and tarsus light brown; metathoracic legs brown except coxa dorsally dark brown and trochanter light brown. T1 white-yellow basally, dark brown apically; T2-T3 brown; T4-T5 light brown; T6-T8 yellow; sterna cream infused with light brown. Wings hyaline; stigma brown.

Body length.

4.5 mm.

Head.

Antenna with 29 flagellomeres; flagellar length/width ratios as follows: F1 = 4.2, F2 = 3.5, F3 = 3.3, F27 = 1.8, F28 = 2.2, F29 = 4.7; head 1.1 wider than high; occipital carina complete; ocellus-ocullar distance 0.8 × ocellar diameter; head height 1.5 × eye height; temple length 0.5 × eye length in dorsal view; vertex in dorsal view descending vertically behind the lateral ocelli; frons smooth and polished; face maximum width 1.2 × minimum width; face strigate-rugulose; face minimum width equal to clypeus width; clypeus rugulose-strigulate; malar space length 0.2 × mandible width basally; mandibles twisted.

Mesosoma.

Pronotum in lateral view carinate and rugose; propleuron irregular and shiny; notauli shallow, not distinctive and rugose with a pronounced longitudinal carina; mesonotal lobes not well defined; central lobe of mesoscutum punctuate; scutellar furrow with five carinae; mesopleuron puncticulate, rugose close to the tegula; precoxal sulcus short, narrow and rugose; metapleuron rugose; propodeum aerolate-rugose, neither carinae nor median depression present.

Legs.

Hind coxa strigate-rugulose; tarsal claw with large lobe.

Wings.

Wing length 4.4 mm; second submarginal cell of forewing not strongly narrowed anteriorly. Front wing: length of vein r 0.5 × length of vein 3RSa; vein 3RSb straight; length of vein 3RSa 0.9 × length of vein r-m; vein m-cu antefurcal. Hind wing: length of vein 1M 1.1 × length of vein cu-a; length of vein 1M 0.8 × length of vein r-m.

Metasoma.

Dorsope absent; ventral borders of first tergite fused completely along ½ of segment; first tergite basally smooth, apically with convergent costae; ovipositor thickened basally and straight; ovipositor 1.9 × longer than first tergite.

Cocoon.

Length cocoon 5.5 mm; width cocoon 2.4 mm; honey-brown translucent except apex cap golden, posteriorly bordered by a dark ring; oval-shaped, loosely wrapped by threads, end cap nipple-like, thread length 55 mm.

Female variation.

Unknown.

Male variation.

Mesonotum dark brown except a light brown patch posteriorly on scutellum; mesopleuron yellow except area close to the tegula dark brown; metapleuron brown except ventral borders light brown; prothoracic legs yellow; T2-T3 brown, remaining surface lighter; sterna yellow; head 1.2 wider than high; head height 1.4 × eye height; malar space length 0.4 × mandible width basally; propleuron disperse punctured; precoxal sulcus long, narrow and carinate-rugose; wing length 3.9 mm; length of vein r 0.9 × length of vein 3RSa; length of vein 3RSa 0.7 × length of vein r-m; length of vein 1M 1.1 × length of vein r-m.

Type locality.

ECUADOR, Napo province, Yanayacu biological station 00°35.9'S, 77°53.4'W, 2163 m.

Type specimen.

Holotype female (point mounted) ECUADOR, Napo province, Yanayacu biological station 00°35.9'S, 77°53.4'W, 2163 m, reared from a noctuid caterpillar collected on Boehmeria bullata ( Urticaceae ) IX.22.2010, parasitoid pupation X.13.2010, parasitoid emergence XI.3.2010, YY 51987 (rearing code), UWIM.

Paratype. Male, ECUADOR, Napo province, Yanayacu biological station, 00°35.9'S, 77°53.4'W, 2163 m, reared from a noctuid caterpillar collected on Boehmeria bullata ( Urticaceae ) IX.5.2010, parasitoid pupation IX.29.2010, parasitoid emergence X.26.2010, YY 51587 (rearing code), UWIM.

Distribution.

Ecuador, province of Napo.

Biology.

Solitary parasitoid of a noctuid caterpillar feeding on Boehmeria bullata ( Urticaceae )

Comments.

Meteorus noctuivorus and Meteorus anuae share the occipital carina being complete, mandibles completely twisted, notauli shallow and not distinct, tarsal claw with a large lobe, ventral borders of first tergite joined along half of segment and first metasomal tergite without dorsopes. Meteorus noctuivorus might be distinguished by the first tergite basally white-yellow, distally brown-black (first tergite completely black in Meteorus anuae ).

Etymology.

The stem “noctui” (referring to the host family) and the suffix “vorus” meaning devouring, compose the specific epithet ("the noctuid-devourer").