Halticoptera semireticulata, Mitroiu, 2005

Mitroiu, Mircea-Dan, 2005, A review of the Romanian Halticoptera Spinola (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea, Pteromalidae), with description of three new species, Zootaxa 1090 (1), pp. 35-49 : 45-46

Halticoptera semireticulata sp. n.

(FIGS. 5, 8, 13, 14)

Female. Head and thorax bright green; gaster bluish­green. Mandibles reddish, teeth dark brown. Scape metallic, basal end and radicle pale reddish; pedicel metallic. Coxae of same color as thorax; trochanters reddish; femora greenish­black, with both ends reddish, the distal end more widely so; tibiae bright reddish, proximal and distal ends paler; tarsi reddish with fifth segment brownish. Tegulae reddish. Fore wings hyaline, venation pale reddish. Body length: 3.1 mm.

Head width about 2.1X length in dorsal view, width about 1.2X that of mesoscutum. Head width hardly 1.3X height in frontal view. Temples about half as long as eyes in dorsal view. OOL about 1.1X as long as POL. Each posterior ocellus separated by about 3X its diameter from the eye. Eyes small, length hardly 1.5X width, separated by about 2.6X their own transverse diameter. Malar space about 0.8X as long as transverse diameter of eye and about half as long as length of an eye. Gena hollowed at mouth corner. Oral fossa about 2.3X as long as malar space and about half as long as breadth of head. Antennae (FIG. 5) with lower edge of toruli slightly below lower edge of eyes. Toruli separated by slightly less than a diameter. Scape slightly longer than an eye, reaching the lower margin of median ocellus. Combined length of pedicellus and flagellum about 0.8X as long as breadth of head. Pedicellus length about 2.2X width, only slightly shorter than anelli plus first funicular segment. Funicular segments: first three about quadrate, last three slightly transverse, sensillae rather long, in two rows on each segment. Clava length about 2.2X width, about equal to three preceding segments, its apex rounded.

Thorax length (including propodeum) hardly 1.5X width, clearly arched dorsally. Pronotal collar entirely reticulated excepting a narrow smooth strip near its hind edge. Mesoscutum width hardly 2.2X length, mid­lobe strongly reticulated, side­lobes with median area less so. Notauli distinct to posterior margin of mesoscutum. Scutellum convex, about as long as broad, areoles smaller; frenal groove clearly visible. Axillae of same reticulation as the side­lobes of mesoscutum. Dorsellum with some very fine transverse striations. Propodeum (FIG. 13) medially about 0.6X as long as scutellum and about 3X as long as metanotum; median area almost smooth, with only very fine alutaceous sculpture, but with a rather distinct reticulation on sides, near plicae; basal foveae large, ovate, each of them having a fine oblique carina in the middle; median carina irregular, with some lateral oblique carinae; plicae clearly marked posteriorly, but less distinct anteriorly, not reaching to spiracles; spiracles rather big, oval, separated from the fore edge of propodeum by a distance about equal to their diameter; spiracular sulci very distinct, with some transverse carinae. Fore wings length 2.2X width; marginal vein about 2.6X as long as stigmal vein and about 1.4X as long as postmarginal vein (FIG. 8); basal cell, including basal vein glabrous, speculum open below; disc densely pilose. Tibiae of hind legs with two spurs, one slightly shorter than the maximum breadth of tibia, the other rather more than half as long as the first one.

Petiole (FIG. 14) apparent length about 1.2X width in dorsal view, with two anterior flanges, two very small, almost indistinct, lateral projections and median carina. Gaster ovate, globose, about as wide as thorax, length about 1.4X width, slightly shorter than thorax; basal tergite occupying hardly half of the whole gaster, its hind margin slightly incised medially; tip of hypopygium situated about half way from the tip of gaster.

Male. Unknown.

Material examined: Holotype ♀, Romania, Neamţ county, Potoci , 26. VI. 1999, meadow (M.­D. Mitroiu). Deposited in "Grigore Antipa" Natural History Museum, Bucharest, registration number 183020 (specimen glued on card with one side appendages mounted on two microscope slides).

Etymology: The name semireticulata refers to the characteristic sculpture of the propodeum.

Biology: Unknown.

Remarks: The female of H. semireticulata sp. n. would run in Grahams key (1969) as far as last couplet. Thus it can be placed in the group of species allied to H. circulus (Waker) (see above). From all these species it differs mainly in its much bigger size and characteristic propodeum.