Adelius aridus ( Tobias, 1967 )

Abu El-Ghiet, Usama M., Edmardash, Yusuf A. & Gadallah, Neveen S., 2022, New species and records of braconid wasps from Farasan Archipelago (Jazan) Saudi Arabia, with notes on Diolcogaster mayae Shestakov, Zootaxa 5104 (1), pp. 49-79 : 54

Adelius aridus ( Tobias, 1967)

Figs 3A–D

Myriola arida Tobias, 1967: 392 .

Acaelius arida Shenefelt, 1973: 670 .

Adelius arida Tobias, 1986: 591 .

Diagnosis. Body with head and thorax yellowish brown, metasoma waxy white, with the last three to four tergites dark brown ( Figs 3A, B, D ); legs yellowish; antenna yellowish basally, dark brown at apical half ( Fig. 3A ); fore wing hyaline, with slight infuscation behind pterostigma, pterostigma dark brown, colourless or very pale at extreme base and apex ( Fig. 3C ). Head transverse, 1.9× as wide as its length, slightly wider than mesosoma ( Fig. 3B ); temple rounded, 0.6× as long as eye in dorsal view ( Fig. 3B ); antenna filiform, somewhat longer than body ( Fig. 3A ). Mesoscutum densely finely punctate, uniformly setose throughout ( Fig. 3B ); scutellar sulcus crenulate ( Fig. 3B ); scutellum with sparse setae; propodeum areolate. With three rectangular areolae at base, and a narrow one apically; mesopleuron finely coriaceous, separated from metapleuron with a crenulate sulcus; metapleuron strigate ( Fig. 3D ). Wings slightly shorter than body ( Fig. 3A ); pterostigma enlarged, 2.4× as long as its maximum width, with vein 1–R1 reduced; veins 2–SR and 3–SR+SR1 issued from the same point; vein 3–SR+ SR1 only sclerotized at base, vein 1–SR+M nearly straight, vein 1–M slightly curved, to nearly straight ( Fig. 3C ). Ovipositor sheath short, rounded apically, with few long fine setae ( Fig. 3A ).

Material examined. 1♀, KSA: Jazan (Farasan Islands, Al-Sajid ), 16. 860626N 41.932564E, 25.i. 2017, light trap, leg. Usama M. Abu El-Ghiet & Tarek M. El-Sheikh.

General distribution. Iran, Turkmenistan (Derafshan et al. 2019), Saudi Arabia (Farasan Islands, Jazan) (new record).

Remarks. This is the first record of the genus Adelius for the Arabian Peninsula. The Saudi Arabian specimen agrees with the Iranian specimens of A. aridus (see Derafshan et al. 2019). It only differs from the Iranian specimen in having the antennae slightly longer than the body (slightly shorter in the Iranian specimens. 0.9× measured from Fig. 5B of Derafshan et al. (2019)).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Adelius aridus Tobias, 1967 (♀). A, lateral habitus; B, dorsal view of head and mesosoma; C, fore wing; D, lateral view of mesosoma and metasoma. A: scale bar (= 1.0×); B, D: 2.2×; C: 2.6×.

FIGURE 5. Hormius sp. (♀). A, lateral habitus (head is missing); B, fore wing; C, propodeum; D, mesoscutum and scutellum; E, lateral view of mesosoma, epicnemial carina indicated.A, B, D, and E: scale bar (= 1.0×); C: 1.2×.