Ganodes atayupanquii Castillo & Sääksjärvi, 2014

Castillo, Carol, Díaz, Francisco A. & Sääksjärvi, Ilari E., 2014, First record of Poemeniinae (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) from Peru, with description of a new species and a key to the world species of Ganodes Towne s, Zootaxa 3795 (2), pp. 193-197 : 194-196

Ganodes atayupanquii Castillo & Sääksjärvi , sp. n.

Holotype: Female. Peru: Cusco, Cosñipata valley, San Pedro, 13°02’58’’S / 71°32’13’’W, 1500 m, 20.ix.2007, leg. Carol Castillo, Malaise trap. Paratypes: four females, same data as holotype.

Diagnosis. Ganodes atayupanquii sp. n. ( Fig. 1 ) differs from almost all other species of Ganodes in having tergite II smooth and polished instead of closely punctate. Only G. townesi Díaz, 2008 has the same tergite sculpture pattern but differs in many other characteristics of sculpture and coloration. In G. townesi the mesoscutum is finely and closely punctate, without striae, while the mesoscutum of G. atayupanquii sp. n. has irregular striae centrally. In addition, G. atayupanquii sp. n. is the only species of the genus with the following coloration: lateral margins of tergites II–IV white, hind coxa fulvous and mesopleuron mostly white and red.

Description. Female. Fore wing length about 11–13 mm. Eyes ventrally convergent so lower face is narrow, at its narrowest 0.8–0.9 times as wide as high; lower face polished, with weak setiferous punctures; head with flattened vertex (in dorsal view), gena short but in frontal view very convex and not constricted behind eyes; posterior ocellus separated from compound eye by 1.8–2 times its maximum diameter. Mesoscutum polished, with fine and shallow punctures bearing short hairs, centrally with irregular striae, diagonal to almost transverse, most anterior striae in a “V” shape; scutellum flattened. Mesopleuron polished with fine and close shallow punctures but bare under speculum and along lower half of mesopleural suture. Metapleuron polished, with moderate-sized, shallow, spare punctures. Dorsal part of propodeum with fine, transverse striae, laterally tending to rugosity. Tergite I dorsally polished and smooth, without lateromedian carina; tergite II polished and smooth with some sparse punctures laterally and posteriorly, tergites III–IV finely and closely punctate but tergite III with a longitudinal median impunctate stripe. Ovipositor projecting beyond apex of sternite by 2.7–2.9 times length of hind tibia.

Head black and white; around hypostomal carina, mandible, malar space, a spot on lower face, frons medially, vertex, upper part of gena, occiput and antenna except for flagellar segments 9–15 black. Mesosoma: propleuron white ventrally, black laterally, pronotum black, upper and lower margins of pronotum white, mesoscutum black except for two pairs of white spots, scutellum white with a median black mark, central part of metanotum and tegula white, mesopleuron ventrally fulvous, laterally white, with a median diagonal fulvous stripe and some black marks around speculum, mesepimeron white. Metapleuron fulvous. Propodeum dorsally black with yellow bands laterally. Metasoma black with lateral and posterior margins of all tergites whitish; ovipositor sheath black. Fore and mid legs predominantly orange, fore coxa with white, red and black marks, fore and mid tarsi distally infuscate. Hind coxa and trochanters fulvous, femur black, tibia and tarsus yellow but last tarsomere black. Wings hyaline, pterostigma black.

Male. Unknown.

Variation. One specimen has the hind femur more orange than black. The diagonal fulvous stripe on the mesopleuron can be reduced, showing a white speculum. The pleural carina is black-marked in two specimens.

Habitat. All specimens were collected in a primary forest at the south east limit of Manu National Park in the Peruvian Andes. Habitats on the eastern slopes of the Andes below this altitude (1500 m) are considered a major ecotone between the humid montane forest and the premontane forest belt ( Young & León 1999). The Andean foothills of Manu-Tambopata are considered to be a super-humid region ( Killeen et al. 2007). In 2007, the average monthly temperature ranged from 16.1–19.7 °C and monthly precipitation ranged from 117–802 mm. The specimens were collected at the beginning of the wet season ( Merkord 2010).

Etymology. The species is named after the father of the first author, Vladimir Castillo Atayupanqui.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 3. Ganodes atayupanquii sp. n. 1 Lateral view of the holotype female (showing only part of the ovipositor). 2 Mesoscutum, dorsal view. 3 Tergites I – IV, dorsal view (scale: 2 mm for 1, 1 mm for 2,3).