Gryonoides flaviclavus var. nigrigaster, Dodd, 1920

Miko, Istvan, Masner, Lubomir, Ulmer, Jonah M., Raymond, Monique, Hobbie, Julia, Tarasov, Sergei, Margaria, Cecilia Beatriz, Seltmann, Katja C. & Talamas, Elijah J., 2021, A semantically enriched taxonomic revision of Gryonoides Dodd, 1920 (Hymenoptera, Scelionidae), with a review of the hosts of Teleasinae, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 87, pp. 523-573 : 523

Gryonoides flaviclavus var. nigrigaster

Description.

Body length: 1800-2000 µm. Color of head (female): black, interantennal process yellow, mouthparts yellow. Antenna color female: yellowish, radicle, scape darker than pedicel and flagellum. Color of mesosoma (female): mesoscutellum, hind femur distally brown, rest of mesosoma ochre. Color of metasoma (female): ochre, T2, T3 posteriorly, T4, T5, T6, S2, S4, S5, S6 brownish. Female radicle length: elongate, scape 4-4.5 times as long as radicle. Torular triangle and central keel continuity: torular triangle opened dorsally, not continuous reduced central keel. Torular triangle dorsal limit versus midlevel of upper face: torular triangle extending to horizontal (transverse) midline of upper face. Transverse setal fields on upper face: absent. Upper face sculpture: granulous dorsally. Two bare patches equal width of 2-3 ocelli diameters lateral to dorsal region of torular triangle present. Upper face concavity dorsal view: convex. Central keel: present. Head shape anterior view: head rounded in anterior view (longest head width in horizontal midline of head). Occipital carina structure dorsomedially: crenulate. Facial striae dorsal end: not reaching midlevel of eye. Vertex sculpture: smooth. Notaulus: present. Notaulus anterior end: anterior to the transscutal line. Dorsal metapleural area: glabrous. Anteromedial pits of propodeum: absent. Area between plica and lateral propodeal carina sculpture: carinate (1 or 2 carinae present). Number of longitudinal carinae between plica and longitudinal (dorsal) section of lateral propodeal carina: 1; 2. Medial region of lateral propodeal area pilosity: glabrous. Posterior propodeal projection length: more than two times as long as wide. Rugulose sculpture on T3: absent. T3 posterior 4/5th: smooth.

Comments.

Most specimens of Gryonoides flaviclavus have a largely black mesoscutellum and only two specimens (CNCHymen_132756 from Brazil and one specimen from Peru) have an orange mesoscutellum (concolorous with the rest of the mesosoma). One specimen from Suriname (CNCHymen_132763) has a darker body and distally brownish scape. The rest of the antenna is yellow in this specimen. Specimens of Gryonoides flaviclavus var. nigrigaster are smaller than specimens of > Gryonoides flaviclavus var. flaviclavus and differ from them in the exclusively black metasoma. The two varieties are geographically separated and may represent different subspecies or may even belong to different species. Since we did not find other differences than the coloration and body size, traits that are highly variable in Scelionidae , we treat the two forms as conspecific. Gryonoides flaviclavus superficially has a more northern distribution as numerous specimens have been collected from Venezuela, Suriname, and Colombia, whereas G. fuscoclavatus has a more southern distribution with many specimens from Bolivia (Fig. 25 ). The geographic distribution of the two species overlap in Peru and Brazil, however. The differences between G. flaviclavus and G. fuscoclavatus might represent intraspecific variability in coloration, vertex pilosity, and T3 sulcus length. We have located only one specimen from Brazil (CNCHymen_132722) where antenna coloration is contradicted by two body characters as one has long T3 sulci and dense setae on vertex, but exclusively yellow antenna.

Material.

Holotype: female, CNCHymen_135290, Peru: Huanuco, Rio Llullapichis , 9°37'S, 74°56'W, 260m, 1.IX.1981 M. von Tschirnhaus, primary forest YPT (CNC) . Paratypes: Gryonoides fuscoclavatus var. flaviclavus : Brasil - 3 females (CNC), Colombia - 1 female (CNC), Peru - 14 females (CNC), Suriname - 2 females (CNC), Venezuela - 19 female (CNC); Gryonoides flaviclavus var. nigrigaster : Panama - 20 females (CNC) .

Figures

Figure 25. Distribution of Gryonoides fuscoclavatus Masner & Miko, sp. nov. and Gryonoides flaviclavatus Masner & Miko, sp. nov.