Camera lunavenatrix Santos & Onody, 2016

Villanueva-Bonilla, German Antonio, Onody, Helena Carolina, Santos, Bernardo F. & Vasconcellos-Neto, Joao, 2016, First record of egg sac predation on a wall crab spider Selenopidae (Araneae) by the wasp Camera lunavenatrix sp. n. (Ichneumonidae, Cryptinae), Journal of Hymenoptera Research 49, pp. 65-79 : 70-73

Camera lunavenatrix Santos & Onody sp. n.

Type material.

Holotype ♀ (DCBU# 91323): BRAZIL, São Paulo, Jundiaí, Serra do Japi, 23°11'S, 46°52'W. Emerged on 24.x.2014 from egg sac of Selenops cocheleti ( Araneae : Selenopidae ) collected on 17.x.2014. G. Villanueva. Paratypes: 1 ♀ (MZUSP# 54697), same data as holotype; 2 ♀, 3 ♂ (DCBU# 91324-91326; MZUSP# 54698, 54699), same data as holotype, except egg sacs collected on 18.ix.2014 and emergences on 23-25.ix.2014.

Diagnosis.

Head, mesosoma and metasoma almost entirely black except legs ferruginous; occipital carina incomplete ventrally; tergite 1 relatively short, almost as long as tergite 2; body covered with moderately dense white pilosity; ovipositor short, 0.25 × as long as hind tibia; clypeus convex, in lateral view almost pyramidal; posterior transverse carina of propodeum medially arched forwards, raised laterally; crossveins 2r-m and 3r-m of areolet subparallel; vein 2m-cu almost straight, reclivous; forewing vein 1cu-a arising distinctly basad of 1M+Rs.

Female. Forewing 9.0 mm. Head. Densely pilose; mandible stout, apex 0.6 × as wide as base; malar space 0.8 × as long as basal width of mandible. Clypeus densely punctate, 2.0 × as wide as high, in front view more or less trapezoidal, width at apex 1.4 × of basal width, distinctly convex, apically abruptly truncate, in lateral view almost pyramidal; apical margin medially straight, laterally not projecting. Antenna with 33 flagellomeres; first flagellomere 6.5 × as long as wide; apex of apical flagellomere uniformly tapered; area between antennae with small rounded tubercle. Supra-clypeal area convex, distinctly rugose-punctate. Supra-antennal area distinctly rugose-punctate, medially with a distinct longitudinal depression. Vertex finely punctate. Occipital carina sharp, laterally sinuous, incomplete ventrally, not meeting hypostomal carina or base of mandible.

Thorax. Mostly mat, uniformly and densely pilose. Pronotum densely punctate, ventrally striate; epomia distinct, diverging from pronotal collar, dorsally straight, almost reaching dorsal margin of pronotum. Mesoscutum almost flattened, subcircular, 1.1 × as long as wide, shiny, densely punctate; notaulus distinct over more than 0.5 of mesoscutum length, with transverse striae, strongly impressed anteriorly, weaker posteriorly; scutellum shiny, punctate; scuto-scutellar groove deep, anteriorly mostly smooth, posteriorly with longitudinal striae. Mesopleuron ranging from densely punctate to rugose-punctate; subalar ridge distinctly projecting, narrow; epicnemial carina reaching about 0.7 of distance to subalar ridge; sternaulus incomplete and weak, reaching 0.6 of distance to mid coxa. Transverse sulcus at base of propodeum deep, about 0.4 × as long as anterior area of propodeum, medially smooth; metapleuron densely punctate, juxtacoxal carina absent. Fourth tarsomere not bilobed.

Propodeum. 1.1 × as long as wide; anterior margin medially concave, with distinct anterolateral projections; anterior area moderately punctate, shiny and smooth between punctures and slightly rugose on first lateral area, medially with distinct longitudinal carina; spiracle elliptic, spiracle 2.0 × as wide as long; anterior transverse carina medially slightly arched forwards. Posterior area of propodeum rugulose; posterior transverse carina complete, medially distinctly arched forwards, raised laterally; median longitudinal carina of propodeum present between anterior and posterior transverse carinae.

Wings. Forewing vein 1-Rs+M and crossvein 1m-cu both almost straight; bulla of 1-Rs+M placed almost on its midlength; forewing crossvein 1cu-a arising distinctly basad of 1M+Rs; vein 2Cua 1.1 × as long as crossvein 2cu-a; crossvein 2m-cu almost straight, reclivous, bulla placed on midlength; areolet of moderate size, 1.30 as long as pterostigma, pentagonal, 1.1x as long as wide; crossveins 2r-m and 3r-m subparallel, about same length; vein 3-M distinctly shorter than 2-M. Hind wing vein 1-M forming right angle with vein Cua; vein Cub weakly convex, forming right angle with vein Cua.

Metasoma. First tergite moderately short, almost as long as tergite 2, about 2.0 × as long as maximum width; in cross section approximately depressed, mostly striate, sparsely pilose; apex 2.5 × as wide as base; spiracle at posterior 0.4 of its length, distinctly prominent; ventrolateral and median dorsal carinae absent; dorsolateral carinae present, reaching 0.5 of tergite 1 length. Tergite 2 short, 1.1 × as long as maximum width, in dorsal view trapezoidal, posterior width 1.7 × anterior width, mostly strongly punctate, apically finely punctate; thyridium slightly longer than wide; tergites 3-8 finely pilose and punctate. Ovipositor very short, 0.25 × as long as hind tibia, slender, straight, distinctly compressed, nodus slight but distinct; lower valve without conspicuous teeth.

Color. Black with ferruginous legs. Head: black; palpi ferruginous; antenna black, flagellomeres 6 apically and 7-13 entirely white. Mesosoma: black; legs mostly ferruginous; fore and mid legs basally slightly dark ferruginous, generally lighter towards apex except tarsomere 5 of foreleg and tarsomeres 3-5 of mid leg dark brown; hind leg with coxa, trochanters and femur dark ferruginous; hind tibia ferruginous on basal 0.65, apical 0.35 blackish; hind tarsomeres 1 basally, 3 apically and 4-5 dark brown to blackish, tarsomeres 1 apically and 2 entirely white. Metasoma: black, except very base of tergite 1 marked with ferruginous; ovipositor ferruginous and ovipositor sheath black; wings hyaline, apically infumate.

Male. Forewing 6.0-8.0 mm long. Generally similar to female except: vertex more sparsely punctate; first flagellomere shorter, about 3.5 × as long as wide; tergite 1 apically narrower, its maximum width about 1.3-1.5 × minimum width; hind leg with tibia more extensively blackish and basal 0.25 of tarsomere 1 and tarsomere 5 entirely black.

Variation. Forewing 9-9.5 mm long. Two females have metasoma with tergites 2-8 having some dark ferrugineous areas.

Comments.

Camera lunavenatrix sp. n. is similar in general morphology to the North American species C. euryapsis Cameron and C. californica Kasparyan and Ruíz-Cancino. The three species have the body approximately cylindrical, with the propodeum about as tall dorso-ventrally as the anterior part of the thorax, and a relatively short tergite 1. However, C. lunavenatrix can be readily distinguished from the other two species by the body almost entirely black (versus with extensive yellow marks); clypeus almost pyramidal in lateral view (versus only moderately convex, with rounded profile); posterior transverse carina of propodeum medially distinctly arched, bell-shaped (versus slightly and uniformly arched); and ovipositor quite short, only 0.25 × as long as hind tibia (versus 0.42).

The Brazilian species C. thoracica Szépligeti is quite different from the other species of the genus in having the anterior part of the thorax rather stout, with the propodeum distinctly shorter in lateral view; furthermore, tergite1 is distinctly longer than tergite 2, very different from the short tergite1 of the other species. Additionally, C. lunavenatrix can be separated from C. thoracica by the black metasoma (versus bright orange); and forewing vein 1cu-a arising based to crossvein 1M+Rs (versus opposite).

Etymology.

From the Latin luna ( “moon”) and Araneus venatrix ( “huntress”). The name of the spider genus Selenops derives from Selene , the moon goddess, and the suffix - ops, Greek for “eye”. Therefore the new species is deemed a "moon huntress" as it parasitizes egg sacs of Selenops .