Cotesia xavieri Rousse

Rousse, Pascal & Gupta, Ankita, 2013, Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) of Reunion Island: a catalogue of the local species, including 18 new taxa and a key to species, Zootaxa 3616 (6), pp. 501-547 : 518

Cotesia xavieri Rousse , sp. nov.

( Figs 8 a, 8d, 8f)

Diagnosis. Scutellum moderately punctate. Hind coxa densely punctate above and polished laterally. Hind femur swollen. Terga 1–2 aciculo-punctate, tergum 3 densely and finely punctate. Female with antenna stout, flagellomere 15 quadrate.

Color. Mesosoma and head black but palpi yellowish and mandible, clypeus, labrum and antenna testaceous. Legs yellowish orange but fore coxa testaceous and middle and hind coxae dark brown. Terga 1–2 black with latero-tergites yellowish, remainder of metasoma reddish brown. Wings hyaline with venation light brown.

Description.

FEMALE (Holotype). B: 2.3; A: 1.9; L: 2.4.

Head. Entirely densely and shortly setose. Clypeus disctinctly separated from face dorsally, smooth, its ventral margin truncate. Face finely and sparsely punctate. Antenna with flagellomere 15 quadrate. H i: 1.1; EH i: 0.6; C i: 2.4; Fl 1i: 2.7; Fl 2i: 2.7; FL1– 2 i: 1.1; Fl 15i: 1.0; Fl 16i: 1.4; OO i: 2.2; IO i: 2.2.

Mesosoma . Densely setose on punctate areas. Pronotum polished, upper and lower furrows deep and crenulate. Anterior third of mesopleuron puncto-reticulate, posterior part polished with sternaulus deeply impressed, crenulate. Metapleuron aciculo-punctate posteriorly, anterior half polished with a deep pit. Mesoscutum entirely puncto-reticulate. Scuto-scutellar suture deep and wide, crenulate. Scutellum moderately punctate, punctures larger than on mesoscutum. MSC i: 0.8. Propodeum coarsely rugose with a complete median longitudinal carina. Fore wing. Pterostigma distinctly enlarged, 0.5x wider than long. R1/Pl i: 1.0; r/Pw i: 0.8; r/2Rs i: 1.4. Hind wing. Vannal lobe regularly rounded, pilosity longer on the basal third of hind margin. Legs. Hind coxa finely puncto-reticulate above, laterally polished. Hind femur rather swollen. Cx/T 1i: 1.4; F i: 3.3.

Metasoma. Tergum 1 curved in profile view, in dorsal view barrel shaped, basal half smooth with a wide longitudinal groove on basal third, apical half coarsely aciculo-punctate. Tergum 2 rectangular, transverse, coarsely aciculo-punctate. Tergum 3 finely and sparsely punctate. Hypopygium evenly sclerotised, large and triangular, distinctly protruding beyond metasomal apex. Ovipositor straight and tiny, apex of sheath setose. T1a i: 1.5; T1b i: 1.5; T1/T 2i: 2.1; T2a i: 0.4; T2b i: 0.4; T2/T 3i: 0.7; OT i: 0.1.

MALE. Unknown.

Material examined. HOLOTYPE Ƥ (MNHN EY8793) Verbatim label data: La Réunion ML 161 320m Saint Philippe, Mare Longue, plantation ONF, piège Malaise au sol site 2, 2/ 8.VIII.2001, Attié Marc leg.; complete.

Etymology. Named for Bernard Xavier, entomologist at GDS Réunion.

Distribution records. Reunion.

Genus Diolcogaster Ashmead (Saeed et al. 1999)

Mesososcutum smooth to puncto-reticulate, notauli absent. Scutellum smooth to weakly punctate. Propodeum smooth to rugose-punctate, always with complete medial longitudinal carina, with or without costulae but lateral carinas never present. Fore wing with areolet closed (r–m present), variable in shape from small and quadrangular to slit-like. Hind wing with vannal lobe mostly weakly convex to straight, rarely concave, its margin with row of long thick hairs, or hairs sparse or absent. Hind coxa large, up to twice as long as first metasomal tergite. Hind tibial spurs unequal in length, with inner spur always longer than outer spur, its length varying from half to almost as long as hind basitarsus. Tergum 1 broad posteriorly to parallel-sided but never narrowing posteriorly. Medial groove of tergum 1 always present in anterior half, usually for almost entire length of tergite. Tergum 2 variable but mostly rectangular and wider than long, usually as long as or shorter than tergum 3. Tergum 2 usually with well-defined median field, Tergum 3 sometimes with median field. Hypopygium short, not more than half length of hind tibia, evenly sclerotised. Ovipositor short, mostly hidden within hypopygium, exposed part much less than half length of hind tibia. Pilosity on ovipositor sheaths variable from present on entire length to just a few hairs concentrated at apex.

This is a medium-sized genus with about 70 known species, most diverse in the tropics and subtropics. They are mostly gregarious parasitoids of macrolepidoptera, with some exceptions, their known hosts belong to 18 families. This genus is easily distinguished among microgastrine genera though it lacks a unique derived character and is probably polyphyletic.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Cotesia spp. a: C. xavieri sp. nov., female, habitus; b: C. plutellae Kurdjumov, scutellum; c: C. ruficrus Haliday, scutellum; d: C. xavieri, scutellum; e: C. sesamiae Cameron, scutellum; f: C. xavieri, terga 1 – 3.