Meteorus eurysaccavorus Aguirre, Almeida & Shaw

Aguirre, Helmuth, de Almeida, Luis Felipe, Shaw, Scott Richard & Sarmiento, Carlos E., 2015, An illustrated key to Neotropical species of the genus Meteorus Haliday (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Euphorinae), ZooKeys 489, pp. 33-94 : 54

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Braconidae

Meteorus eurysaccavorus Aguirre, Almeida & Shaw sp. n. Figures 83-90

Diagnosis.

Occipital carina complete, ocelli small (ocelli ocular distance 2.7-3 × ocellar diameter), posterior area of temple and gena coriaceous, eyes convergent (face width 1.6 × minimum face width), mandibles untwisted, notauli distinct, lateral lobes of mesoscutum coriaceous, propodeum carinate-rugose, transverse carina on propodeum present, vein 3RSb distinctly curved, marginal cell short, dorsope and laterope present; ventral borders of first tergite widely separated, basal area of T3 coriaceous, ovipositor long (ovipositor 2.4 × longer than first tergite).

Body color.

Mostly black except: prothoracic legs brown from trochanter along tarsus; mesothoracic and metathoracic legs with trochanter, trochantellus, femur and tarsus dark brown, tibia light brown; sterna dark brown; wings hyaline.

Body length 3.4 mm.

Head.

Antenna with 19 flagellomeres; flagellar length/width ratios as follows: F1 = 5.5, F2 = 3.7, F3 = 3.7, F17 = 1.7, F18 = 1.7, F19 = 2.7; head 1.2 wider than high; occipital carina complete; ocelli ocular distance 3 × ocellar diameter; head height 1.5 × eye height; temples length 0.6 × eyes length in dorsal view; vertex in dorsal view not descending vertically behind the lateral ocelli; posterior area of temple and gena coriaceous; frons puncticulate; eyes convergent, maximum face width 1.6 × minimum face width; face finely rugulose; minimum face width 0.8 × clypeus width; clypeus smooth and polished; malar space length 0.6 × mandible width basally; mandibles untwisted.

Mesosoma.

Pronotum in lateral view completely rugose; propleuron mostly smooth except rugulose on the anterior part; notauli distinctive and rugose; mesonotal lobes well defined; lateral lobes of mesoscutum coriaceous; scutellar furrow with one distinctive carina; mesopleuron mostly smooth but rugulose close to tegula; precoxal sulcus long, wide and rugose-costate; metapleuron rugose; propodeum carinate-rugose; transversal carina on propodeum present; median depression on propodeum absent.

Legs.

Hind coxa strigate; tarsal claw simple.

Wings.

Wing length 3.2 mm; second submarginal cell of forewing not strongly narrowed anteriorly; vein r 0.6 × length of 3RSa; vein 3RSb distinctly curved; marginal cell short; vein 3RSa 0.7 × length of rm; vein m-cu of forewing antefurcal; vein 1M 1.1 × length of cu-a; vein 1M 0.6 × length of 1r-m.

Metasoma.

Dorsope and laterope present; ventral borders of first tergite widely separated; first tergite costate-rugulose; T2 coriaceous-costate, costae divergent; basal area of T3 coriaceous; ovipositor long and straight, ovipositor 2.4 × longer than first tergite.

Cocoon.

Unknown.

Female variation.

Body length 3.3-3.5 mm; antenna with 19-20 flagellomeres; ocelli ocular distance 2.7-3 × ocellar diameter; temples length 0.6-0.7 × eyes length in dorsal view; frons finely rugulose or puncticulate; minimum face width 0.7-0.8 × clypeus width; malar space length 0.5-0.6 × mandible width basally; scutellar furrow with four clearly distinctive carinae; precoxal sulcus rugose-costate or rugose-colliculate; wing length 3.2-3.4 mm; vein r 0.6-0.9 × length of 3RSa; vein 3RSa 0.7-0.8 × length of rm; vein 1M 0.9-1.1 × length of cu-a; vein 1M 0.6-0.8 × length of 1r-m; first tergite costate-rugulose, or entirely rugulose; ovipositor 2.1-2.4 × longer than first tergite.

Male variation.

Body length 3.4-3.5 mm; antenna with 23-24 flagellomeres; head height 1.6-1.7 × eye height; temple length 0.8-0.9 × eye length in dorsal view; maximum face width 1.2-1.3 × minimum face width; minimum face width 0.8-1 × clypeus width; malar space length 0.6-0.8 × mandible width basally; propleuron smooth and polished; scutellar furrow with six clearly distinctive carinae; wing length 3 mm; vein r 0.6 × length of 3RSa; vein 3RSa 0.8-0.9 × length of rm; vein 1M 1.1-1.3 × length of cu-a; vein 1M 0.6-0.7 × length of 1r-m; first tergite rugose.

Type locality.

BOLIVIA, La Paz, Patacayama Research Station.

Type specimen.

Holotype female (point mounted). Original label: BOLIVIA, La Paz, Patacayama Research Station, collected II–III.1995. Reared from larvae of Eurysacca melanocampta Meyrick, UWIM.

Paratypes. Two females and two males (point mounted), same data as the holotype, UWIM.

Distribution.

BOLIVIA, La Paz, Patacayama Research Station.

Biology.

Parasitoid of Eurysacca melanocampta ( Gelechiidae ).

Comments.

Meteorus eurysaccavorus is the only Neotropical Meteorus species with a combination of coriaceous sculpture on temple, gena, mesonotum and T2, presence of dorsopes on the first metasomal tergite, and the vein 3RSb of the frontal wing distinctly curved (such a vein is entirely straight in the rest of species). When Meteorus eurysaccavorus is compared with the previously known Neotropical Meteorus , the morphologically most-similar species is Meteorus muiscai , since both of them share a complete occipital carina, simple tarsal claw, metapleuron rugose and presence of dorsopes. However, Meteorus muiscai is completely smooth and shiny on the body surfaces on which Meteorus eurysaccavorus displays coriaceous sculpture, and the legs of Meteorus eurysaccavorus are dark brown to black, in contrast to yellow in Meteorus muiscai .

Etymology.

The specific epithet is composed by the stem eurysacca after the host genus name, and the suffix “vorus” derived from the latin “vor” that means voracious, referring to the feeding habit of the wasp larva on this gelechiid caterpillar.