Macroocula salehi Gadallah & Soliman

Gadallah, Neveen S., Soliman, Ahmed M., Al-Shahat, Ahmed M. & Hossni, Mohammed T., 2015, The genus Macroocula Panfilov in Egypt, with two new species (Hymenoptera: Bradynobaenidae: Apterogyninae), Zootaxa 4018 (3), pp. 396-410 : 405

Macroocula salehi Gadallah & Soliman , sp. nov.

( Figs 26−31 )

Material examined. Holotype ♀: Egypt, Wadi Shaghab (Aswan) [25°05'57"N, 33°07'27"E], 22−23.v.2014, pitfall trap, leg. A.M. Soliman [ CUE]. Paratypes 3 ♀: with same labels as holotype [ CUE].

Description. FEMALE (holotype). Body length 10 mm. Colour. Ferruginous red, except antennal tubercle apically, T6 and S4−S6 darker; T2 and T3 black, both terga anteriorly and posteriorly with red fasciae widened medially except on anterior constriction of T2 ( Figs 26, 30 ); S2 and S3 red with slight brownish tint; apical 2/3 of mandible reddish brown; mid and hind tibial spurs waxy white; eye black. Pubescence. Body including legs, scape of antenna and basal third of mandible clothed with long erect white setae intermixed with recumbent ones on face; metasomal segments 2−5 with apical fringe of sparse long white setae.

Head. In dorsal view triangular, slightly wider than pronotum, strongly convergent behind eyes, with somewhat rounded posterolateral angle and straight posterior margin; its width 1.25 × head height in frontal view; face shallowly punctate-subreticulate, punctures 1/2 diameter apart; vertex sparsely punctate, punctures 1−2 diameters apart, slightly convex in frontal view; minimum interocular distance 1.8 × LED; eye large, distinctly protuberant, with middle transverse axis located distinctly above mid line between free margin of clypeus and vertex; malar space 0.75 × LED; distance between antennal tubercles as long as tubercle length; clypeus gently convex on disc, coarsely punctate; gena smooth, with small tubercle at level of lower ocular margin. Mandible slender, pointed apically and edentate. Scape gently convex; F1 scarcely longer than F2; F2 as long as F3.

Mesosoma. Pronotal dorsal face (excluding anterior collar) rectangular, its length 0.7 × maximal width, punctate-reticulate, punctures feebly elongate with fine longitudinal ridges between, with anterior face gently declivous, humeral angle rounded and posterior margin broadly concave ( Fig. 27 ); pronotal lateral face clearly longitudinally ridged ( Fig. 28 ); rest of mesosomal dorsum strongly longitudinally ridged ( Fig. 27 ). Propodeal posterior face abruptly declivous and smooth; anteriormost part of mesepisternum and metapleuron smooth; depressed part behind mesopleural sulcus reticulate-foveate anteriorly, strongly longitudinally ridged posteriorly ( Fig. 29 ); metasternal process strongly bidentate. Femora remarkably swollen; hind femur strongly convex along its upper side; mid and hind femora densely punctate on their outer and upper sides towards apex; inner hind tibial spur about 0.8 × as long as metatarsomere 1.

Metasoma. First segment short; T1 progressively widened posteriorly (subspherical-shaped), as long as its maximal width, superficially punctate-reticulate; T2 bell-shaped, 0.75 × its maximal width, with considerable basal constriction or short petiole, deeply contiguously punctate (punctures with strong ridges between and slightly elongate) ( Fig. 30 ); T3 punctulate, punctures elongate and 1 diameter apart; T4−T5 smooth basally, closely finely punctate on apical two-thirds; T6 (pygidium) subtriangular, with longitudinal interrupted ridges, bordered laterally with long spaced sharp teeth becoming minute and closer towards apex ( Fig. 31 ). S1 densely punctate; S2 punctulate on greater anterior portion, smooth subapically, with a row of fine punctures along posterior margin; S4−S5 smooth except for a row of fine punctures along their posterior margin; S6 impunctate except for a few fine punctures subapico-laterally.

MALE unknown.

Remarks. The longitudinal ridges on the mesosomal dorsum, pronotal lateral face and mesepisternum and red fasciae on T2 and T3 of M. salehi strongly differentiate it from the most similar species, M. savignyi (Klug) and M. nitida (Bischoff) which have the mesosomal dorsum and mesepisternum punctate, the pronotal lateral face punctate to feebly irregularly wrinkled and T2 and T3 darkened throughout.

Etymology. This species is named in honour of Prof. Mostafa Abass Saleh (Al-Azhar University, Egypt).

Figures

FIGURES 26 − 31. Macroocula salehi sp. nov., ♀, holotype. 26. Habitus, dorsolateral view; 27. Mesosoma, dorsal view; 28. Pronotum, lateral face; 29. Mesepisternum; 30. T 2 & T 3; 31. T 6.