Apanteles (Choeras) yunnanensis Song & Chen

Song, Sheng-Nan, He, Jun-Hua & Chen, Xue-Xin, 2014, The subgenus Choeras Mason, 1981 of genus Apanteles Foerster, 1862 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from China, with descriptions of eighteen new species, Zootaxa 3754 (5), pp. 501-554 : 548-552

Apanteles (Choeras) yunnanensis Song & Chen , sp. n.

( Figure 19. a–j )

Description. Female. Length of body 2.5 mm, of fore wing 3.2 mm.

Head. 1.8 times as wide as long, equal to the width of mesoscutum. Antenna with 18 segments, with dense and short setae, almost equal to the body length, subapical antennal segments slightly elongated, length of 16th segment 0.9 times as long as 15th segment, length of third segment equal to fourth segment, length of third, fourth, 15th, 16th and penultimate segments 3.8, 3.8, 1.3, 1.2 and 1.0 times as long as their width, respectively. In dorsal view length of eye 1.4 times as long as length of temple. Ocellar triangle sparsely setose and punctulate. Ocelli in a moderately high triangle, the posterior transverse tangent to the median ocellus not touching the posterior pair; ocelli small, their diameter longer than the distance between the hind and fore ocellus, closer to each other than to the eyes. OOL: OD: POL = 15: 6: 11. Frons smooth and distinctly concave medially, narrowly punctulate and setose laterally and posteriorly. Temple, vertex rather sparsely and finely punctulate and setose. Face and clypeus punctulate and sparsely setose. Face with median longitudinal carina. Labrum flat and smooth. Length of malar space 0.5 times as long as basal width of mandible.

Mesosoma. Length of mesosoma 1.3 times as long as its height. Side of pronotum smooth and sparsely setose, with ventral furrow which with a few longitudinal carinae. Propleuron smooth and shiny. Prepectal carina completely absent. Precoxal sulcus smooth, 0.3 times as long as mesosoma. Mesopleuron largely smooth and glabrous, but punctulate and setose anteriorly and medio-laterally. Mesoscutum softly shiny, densely punctulate and setose. Notauli absent. Scutellar sulcus very narrow, with hardly visible crenulation, its width about 0.8 times as long as scutellum. Scutellum flat and rather sparsely punctulate. Side of scutellum with wide crenulate depression, lunula small-sized and obtusely triangular. Propodeum largely smooth but posteriorly with some crenulate rugae, anteriorly with rather sparse setae, no areola, costulae or median carina.

Wings. Fore wing evenly covered with brown hairs, denser towards the apex. Pterostigma relatively wide, 2.7 times as long as wide. Vein 1-R1 1.5 times as long as pterostigma and about 5.6 times as long as the distance from it to the top of marginal cell. Vein r 0.7 times as long as 2-SR and straight, vein r arising from the middle of pterostigma and almost equal to breadth of pterostigma. Vein 2-SR straight. Stub of vein r-m of fore wing short, resulting in an open second submarginal cell. 1-CU1: 2-CU1= 1: 2. Vein 1-SR pointing to 2-CU1. Hind wing evenly covered with brown hairs, setose. Vein cu-a curved. Edge of vannal lobe beyond its widest part straight and here without a fringe of hairs.

Legs. Hind coxa densely punctulate and setose. Length of hind coxa slightly longer than half of thorax. Tarsal claws slender and setose. Longer spur of middle tibia reaching apex of middle basitarsus and terminating in a long bristle. Length of femur, tibia and basitarsus of hind leg 3.5, 5.5 and 3.9 times as long as their width, respectively. Length of hind tibial spurs 0.5 and 0.3 times as long as hind basitarsus respectively. Hind femur densely punctulate. Hind femur finely punctulate. Fore and leg, hind trochanter and femur hyaline.

Metasoma. Tergite I subtriangular and strongly narrowed apically, lateral margins almost straight, basal with a shallow basal excavation, its basal width 2.5 times as long as its apical width which is equal to median length of tergite II; smooth and mat, but slightly rugose and sparsely setose medio-laterally. Median field of tergite II transverse subtriangular, apical margin straight which is 3.5 times as long as basal width and its length; largely smooth, but sparsely punctulate and setose laterally. Tergite III smooth and longer than tergite II. Remaining tergites smooth and setose. Ovipositor sheaths hairy and narrowed, nearly parallel-sided, length of it (total length) almost equal to length of hind tibia. Hypopygium largely sclerotized but membranous near median line, and tightly folded along the middle line, with a hyaline longitudinal creases laterally and acute apically.

Colour. Head black. Mandible yellowish brown and subhyaline. Clypeus dark reddish brown. Antenna dark brown. Mesosoma black. Wing membrane subhyaline and weakly brownish. Pterostigma and veins of fore wings dark brown. Veins of hind wings weakly pigmented. Fore and middle legs yellow and hyaline, except distal tarsi black. Hind coxa black basally, brown medially and yellowish brown apically. Hind trochanter and basal 0.8 part of hind femur yellow and hyaline. The remainder of hind femur and apical half of hind tibia brown. Basal half of hind tibia yellowish brown. Hind tarsi brown. Tibial spurs yellow. Tergite I and II black. Remaining tergites blackish brown. Ovipositor reddish brown, its sheath black.

Variation. Body length 2.4–2.7 mm. Fore wing length 3.0– 3.3 mm. Tergite I slightly and faintly rugose apically. Middle segments of antenna white. The color of hind tibia from yellowish brown to dark brown. And some individuals slightly different in colour pattern.

Male. Unknown.

Biology. Unknown.

Material examined. Holotype, ♀, China, Yunnan Prov., Baoshan, Lujiangba, Gaoligongshan Natural Park, 2009. V. 10–11, Wang Manman, No. 200903910 ( ZJUH). Paratypes (all in ZJUH): 1♀, China, Yunnan Prov., Baoshan, Lujiangba, Nankang, 2009. V. 9, Zeng Jie, No. 200904207; 1♀, China, Yunnan Prov., Dali, Cangshan, 2009. V. 25, Zeng Jie, No. 200905189; 1♀, China, Yunnan Prov., Yingjiangxian, Tongbiguanxiang, 2009. V. 17, Zeng Jie, No. 200904248.

Distribution. China (Yunnan) ( Fig. 23 ).

Remark. The new species is similar to Apanteles (Choeras) parabolus ( Kotenko, 2007) , but can be distinguished hypopygium largely sclerotized but membranous near median line, and tightly folded along the middle line, with a hyaline longitudinal creases laterally (the latter not tightly folded along the middle line and with no longitudinal creases laterally); length of ovipositor sheaths (total length) almost equal to length of hind tibia (the latter about 0.7 times as long as hind tibia); and propodeum with no median carina (the latter with distinct longitudinal medial carina).

Etymology. The specific name “ yunnanensis ” derives from the Yunnan province of China, referring to the type locality of the species.

Figures

FIGURE 23. Distribution map of Choeras species in China IV. ▲: Apanteles (Choeras) tenuialatus Song & Chen, sp. n.; Δ: Apanteles (Choeras) tumidus Song & Chen, sp. n.; ■: Apanteles (Choeras) validicarinatus Song & Chen, sp. n.; ●: Apanteles (Choeras) varicolor Song & Chen, sp. n.; ┼: Apanteles (Choeras) yunnanensis Song & Chen, sp. n..

FIGURE 19. a – j. Apanteles (Choeras) yunnanensis Song & Chen, sp. n. a, habitus, lateral view; b, antenna; c, fore wing; d, hind wing; e, head, dorsal view; f, head, frontal view; g, mesoscutum and scutellum, dorsal view; h, mesosoma, lateral view; i, propodeum and T 1 – T 3, dorsal view; j, metasoma, lateral view.