Digonocryptus narratorius ( Fabricius, 1804 )

Aguiar, Alexandre Pires & Ramos, Adriana C. B., 2011, 2846, Zootaxa 2846, pp. 1-98 : 49-51

Digonocryptus narratorius ( Fabricius, 1804)

Figs 81, 82, 118, 135, 136, 152, 153, 199, 239

Cryptus narratorius Fabricius, 1804:76 . ♀ Description.

Ichneumon narratorius: Thunberg, 1822:253 . Keyed.

Ichneumon narratorius: Trentepohl, 1829:861 . ♀ Description.

Mesostenus insularis Ashmead, 1894 , in Riley et al. (1894):138. New name invalidated by pre-1961 replacement. Syn. nov. Mesostenus insularis: Ashmead 1895:780 . ♀ New record.

Mesostenus cressonii Ashmead, 1900:351 . New name for M. insularis Ashmead, 1894 .

Mesostenus grenadensis Ashmead, 1900:351 . Syn. nov.

Cryptus narratorius: Schmiedeknecht, 1908:28 . Syn.

Digonocryptus grenadensis: Cushman, 1929:6 . Syn.

Digonocryptus cressonii: Cushman, 1929:6 . Syn.

Digonocryptus insularis: Townes and Townes, 1966:126 . Generic transfer

Digonocryptus grenadensis: Townes and Townes, 1966:126 . Generic transfer

Digonocryptus narratorius: Townes and Townes, 1966:127 . Generic transfer.

Digonocryptus cressonii: Yu and Horstmann, 1998:241 . Listed.

Digonocryptus grenadensis: Yu and Horstmann, 1998:241 . Listed.

Digonocryptus narratorius: Yu and Horstmann, 1998:241 .Listed.

Description. FEMALE. Fore wing 9.4 mm.

Head. Ventral tooth of mandible as long as dorsal tooth. Clypeus apical area delimited by smooth border; clypeal margin with two weak and approximated teeth ( Fig. 118). Antenna apical flagellomeres missing; white band starting at flagellomere IV; 7 flagellomeres at least 50% white.

Mesosoma . Pronotum along folding region between anterior and posterior side, and along posterior margin, subcrenulate. Mesopleuron above level of speculum strigate, glabrous, except subcircular patch of sparse hairs posteriorly, below subalar prominence; mesopleuron below level of speculum, mesepimeron, carinal triangle and metapleuron covered with dense white pilosity. Subalar prominence large, suboval, rounded. Sternaulus deep, subcrenulate. Sulcus between sternaulus and scrobe weak. Posterior transverse carina of mesosternum imperfectly developed medially (as a wrinkle). Lower metapleuron coarsely strigate-rugulose. Propodeum: area in front of anterior transverse carina glabrous, smooth, except medially with two distinct, diverging ridges extending from carina towards anterior margin; area between anterior transverse carina and petiolar foramen covered with dense white pilosity. Propodeal apophyses present as subtle scale-like structures, continuous with complete posterior transverse carina, which is undulate, medially blending with overall rugosity. Area between anterior and posterior transverse carinae longitudinally rugose, medially slightly oblique; area behind posterior carina rugose, radially near petiolar foramen. Fore wing in Fig. 199; vein 3-Cu 1.48 length of 4-Cu. Hind wing in Fig. 239.

Metasoma. Postpetiole medio-anteriorly with small and very weak concavity; dorsolateral and median dorsal carinae absent; petiolar spiracles irregular, in dorsal view right spiracle not prominent, left spiracle prominent. Ovipositor 1.22 length of hind tibia. Apex of lower valve with 13 teeth.

Color. Head and mesosoma main color black, both with pale yellow areas; metasoma light orange with yellow stripes. Lateral pattern as in Fig. 81. Orbital band briefly interrupted at malar space only; width on supra-antennal area, temple and dorsal part of gena about 0.2 of interocular distance, covering most of gena except its posterior 0.2–0.3, thus clearly not reaching occipital carina ( Fig. 81). Mandible base yellow. Clypeus main area yellow, apical area, entire clypeal suture, continuous with supraclypeal area medio-longitudinally, narrowing towards antenna, black. Mesosoma in Fig. 81, with few, small yellow areas laterally; mesepimeron entirely yellow, but somewhat hidden by pilosity. Pronotum dorsally along anterior margin, except apex of lateral corner, with wide yellow stripe dorso-medially interrupted, then greatly narrowed near epomia; laterally on dorsal margin with large, elongate yellow spot. Propleuron entirely black. Scutellum, except its apex, and postscutellum yellow. Propodeum as in Figs 81–82, entirely black. Fore and mid coxae and trochanters pale yellow, fore coxa mesally brown, latero-apically with small brown streak; hind coxa dusty orange (190,070,020), ventro-basally darkest, dorsally on basal half yellow; fore and mid femora pale orange (255,172,101); hind trochanter, trochantellus, femur and tibia, except darkened apex, light orange; fore and mid tibiae with same color but lighter than respective femora; fore and mid tarsi from t1 pale orange to t5 dark brown; hind t1 basal 0.2 dark brown, t1 otherwise and entire t2–3 pale yellow, t4–5 dark brown. Metasoma: T1 dusty orange darker than hind coxa, apical margin widely yellow; T2–8 gradually changing from T2 basally light reddish orange (255,100,049) to T8 pale orange; T2–7 apical margin with yellow stripe, approximately narrower from T2 to T7.

Morphological variation. Fore wing 5.5–9.4 mm. Ovipositor 1.22–1.49 length of hind tibia. Antenna with 24– 25 flagellomeres; white band with 6–9, starting at flagellomere IV or V. Mesopleuron pilosity reaching partially its dorsal half; propodeum posterior transverse carina regular, bell-shaped, or shaped as “>” or “}”, area behind it irregularly rugose or rugulose. Color: orbital band widely interrupted at malar space, width at gena nearly reaching occipital carina; clypeal sulcus and nearly all supraclypeal area yellow, except for narrow medio-longitudinal black stripe which does not reach clypeus; T1–7 yellow stripes varying from weak to entirely absent.

MALE. Similar to female, including equivalent variability on metasomal color pattern. Differences as follows. Antenna with 25–27 flagellomeres; white band with 6–8, starting at flagellomere VII or IX. Smallest specimens with dark reddish brown instead of black. Clypeus, clypeal sulcus and supraclypeal area entirely yellow; pronotum anterior yellow stripe neither interrupted nor narrowed, nearly reaching or reaching posterior corner; hind t1 basal 0.5–0.8 dark brown, t1 otherwise, most or entire t2–4, and sometimes t5 basally, white.

Comments. The great color variation around the clypeus, and on the supraclypeal area and metasoma of the female is contrasted by some patterns which seem characteristic of the species: supraclypeal area with at least a narrow medio-longitudinal black stripe, fore and mid coxae and trochanters, hind t1 apical 0.6–0.8 and full t2–3 pale yellow, pronotum yellow stripe narrowed between epomia and its dorso-medial interruption, mesepimeron entirely yellow, and hind coxa dorsally with basal half yellow. Isolated from other species of the D. diversicolor complex mostly by having two clypeal teeth and mesepimeron entirely yellow. The subcrenulation on the pronotum is somewhat characteristic, although some strigation may be partially present on some large specimens of D. diversicolor and D. arcaeus .

Similar to some D. diversicolor , from which it can be distinguished by having the mesepimeron entirely yellow (vs. black); striped metasoma, due to yellow apically on T1–7 (vs. stripes absent or reaching T3 at most); and dense patch of hairs on antero-ventral half of mesonotum (vs. hairs reaching dorsal half).

In the cladistic analysis, three specimens (D29, D30, D35; Fig. 90) presented some important differences in relation to typical D. narratorius specimens: clypeal margin with one teeth (vs. two); propodeal area in front of anterior transverse carina without ridges (vs. two distinct diverging ridges extending from carina towards anterior margin); and apex of lower valve of ovipositor with 12 teeth (vs. 13)

Synonymy. All taxonomically relevant features of the female holotype of Mesostenus insularis Ashmead , as checked through high definition photographs ( Figs 153, 136), are also observed in D. narratorius Fabricius , strongly suggesting the synonymy. The only exception lays in the color of the hind tarsus, mostly white in D. narratorius but mostly dark orange in M. insularis . This may be related to the distinct geographic location of the examined holotype (Lesser Antilles) in relation to other specimens studied, but this feature alone is insufficient to support a separate specific status in Digonocryptus .

The cladistic analyses suggest that D. grenadensis (Ashmead) ( Figs 135, 152) should be treated as a junior synonym of D. narratorius , from which it is different by having the postscutellum black (vs. yellow), hind coxa dark brown (vs. orange), hind tarsus brown (vs. whitish), base of petiole dark brown (vs. orange) and T2 apical yellow stripe medially interrupted (vs. complete). All the other features are as observed in D. narratorius , including the morphological variation.

Material examined. 9 females, 6 males. HOLOTYPE of D. grenadensis (BMNH) [D18], pictures only ( Figs 152, 135). HOLOTYPE of D. insularis (BMNH) [D19], pictures only. Homotype ♀ [D14] “ Paramaribo, Surinam // Charlesburg Krepie // I.14-16.64// D. C. Geijskes ”; “HOMOTYPE// Cryptus // narratorius // V.K.GUPTA 19” ( AEIC) . Other specimens: ♂ “ Paramaribo, Surinam // MaRetraite I.10–12// D. C. Geijskes 1964”; “ Digonocryptus / / diversicolor ? // clypeus w/2 teeth” ( AEIC) . ♂ “ San Estaban , Ven. // nr. Puerto Cabello // I.1,1940 // P. J. Anduze ” [ Digonocryptus narratorius Townes det.] ( AEIC) . ♂ “ San Estaban , Ven. // nr. Puerto Cabello // I.3,1940 // P. J. Anduze ”; “ Digonocryptus // narratorius Fab. // Tow.1969” ( AEIC) . ♂ “ Camp Sautata // RioAtrato, Colom. // XI.12- XII.14.67”; “like diversicolor// but clypeus// with 2 teeth” ( AEIC) . 3 ♀ females [D15], [D16], [D17] + 2 ♂♂, same, XI.12-XII.14.67 ( AEIC) . ♀ [D13] “ Paramaribo, Surinam // Charlesburg Krepie // I.21–23.64// D. C. Geijskes ” ( AEIC) . ♀ [D12] “ Surinam // VI-24-68// R. Zwart. ”; “[?]-274// 24/6 - [?]”; “ Digonocryptus // narratorius // Townes det.” ( AEIC) . ♀ [D35] “ Brasil Pará Tucurui // Rio Tocantins // Saúde // 5a7-VI-1984 ”; “Armadilha// Malaise”; “ Digonocryptus sp. // M.C.Gonçalves det.1994” ( MPEG) . ♀ [D29] “ Brasil Pará // Serra Norte // Est. MAN- GANÊS// ARM.MALAYSE// 16-VI-1983 ”; “ Brasil Pará// W França ”; “ Digonocryptus sp. // M.C.Gonçalves det.1994” ( MPEG) . ♀ [D30] “ Brasil AC - Rio Branco // 25-X a 8-XI-91// F. Ramos / A. Henriques // I. Gorayeb /N Bittencourt”; “ Armadilha // 16m // Suspensa // MATA VARZEA”; “ Digonocryptus sp. // M.C.Gonçalves det.1994” ( MPEG) .

Distribution. Lesser Antilles NR, Brazil NR, Colombia NR, Grenada, Guyana, Venezuela, St. Vincent, Suriname.