Nemeritis ananenkoi, Vas, 2020

Vas, Zoltán, 2020, Contributions to the taxonomy and biogeography of Nemeritis Holmgren (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Campopleginae), Zootaxa 4758 (3), pp. 486-500 : 487-489

Nemeritis ananenkoi sp. nov.

Material examined. Holotype: female, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moševići , 31.V.2002, leg. I. & Gy. Rozner; specimen card-mounted, Id. No. HNHM-HYM 153200 .— Paratype: male, Republic of North Macedonia [on label: Macedonia], prov. Tetovo, Mts. Sar Planina, Mt. Popova Sapka , 1600–1800m, 11.VII.1997, leg. Gy. Rozner; specimen card-mounted, Id. No. HNHM-HYM 153201 .— The holotype and paratype specimens are deposited in the Hymenoptera Collection of HNHM (Budapest, Hungary) .

Diagnosis. Nemeritis ananenkoi sp. nov. can be identified by the combined presence of the following characteristics: head conspicuously large, rectangle-shaped in dorsal view; second flagellomere ca 3.0× as long as wide apically; gena rather long and wide, in dorsal view almost as long as eye width, anterior half about parallel behind eye, posterior half weakly narrowed; face about as wide as width of frons below median ocellus; clypeus basally finely granulate, its apical third medially smooth and shiny with few weak punctures, laterally very finely granulate to almost smooth; lower mandibular tooth distinctly longer than upper tooth; area superomedia pentagonal, longer than wide, its lateral carinae diverging behind costulae (in female) or about parallel (in male), apically opened, confluent with area petiolaris; fore wing without areolet; second tergite in female 1.5×, in male 1.8× as long as its apical width; ovipositor sheath ca 3.7× as long as hind tibia; tegula yellow; hind femur brown. Nemeritis ananenkoi sp. nov. is most similar to N. minor (Szépligeti) , which species can be readily distinguished from the new species by the shape of head (gena short and distinctly narrowed behind eyes), by the more elongated second tergite (about twice as long as its apical width in female, more than twice as long as its apical width in male) and by its significantly longer ovipositor sheath (4.7× as long as hind tibia).

Description. Female ( Figs 1–4 ). Body length ca 3.5–4.0 mm, fore wing length ca 3.0 mm.

Head: Antenna with 21 flagellomeres; basal flagellomeres slender, first flagellomere ca 5.0× as long as wide apically; second flagellomere ca 3.0× as long as wide apically; preapical flagellomeres distinctly longer than wide. Head finely granulate with some very weak, inconspicuous punctures and with moderately dense, greyish hairs, transverse, conspicuously large, rectangle-shaped in dorsal view, ca 1.6× as wide as maximum width of mesoscutum. Ocelli small, ocular-ocellar distance 2.0× as long as ocellus diameter, posterior ocellar distance 2.0× as long as ocellus diameter. Inner eye orbits about parallel, not indented. Frons impressed above toruli. Gena (temple) rather long and wide, in dorsal view almost as long as eye width, anterior half about parallel behind eye, posterior half weakly narrowed. Occipital carina complete, reaching hypostomal carina at about mandibular base; hypostomal carina not elevated. Malar space 0.6× as long as basal width of mandible. Face flat in profile, about as wide as width of frons below median ocellus. Clypeus flat, rather wide, very weakly separated from face, basally finely granulate, its apical third medially smooth and shiny with few weak punctures, laterally very finely granulate to almost smooth; apical margin of clypeus medially almost straight, laterally convex, sharp, shiny. Mandible rather long, lower margin of mandible with moderately wide carina from teeth toward base, lower mandibular tooth distinctly longer than upper tooth.

Mesosoma: Mesosoma granulate with some very weak, inconspicuous punctures and with moderately dense greyish hairs, not elongate, ca 2.3× as long as wide. Pronotum with weak transverse wrinkles in ventral half; epomia distinct. Mesoscutum convex in profile, about as long as wide, notaulus not developed. Scuto-scutellar groove deep. Scutellum convex in profile, without lateral carina. Mesopleuron granulate, matt; speculum very finely granulate to smooth and subpolished; mesopleural suture relatively weak with weak transverse costae. Pleural part of epicnemial carina strong, bent to anterior margin of mesopleuron reaching it below its middle height; transversal part of epicnemial carina (i.e. part at the level of sternaulus running through the epicnemium to the ventral edge of pronotum) not developed; ventral part of epicnemial carina (behind fore coxae) little elevated. Sternaulus indistinct. Posterior transverse carina of mesosternum complete. Metanotum about 0.5× as long as scutellum. Metapleuron granulate; juxtacoxal carina indistinct; submetapleural carina complete. Pleural carina of propodeum complete; propodeal spiracle small, circular, separated from pleural carina by about its length, connected to pleural carina by a smooth ridge. Propodeum short, granulate; propodeal carinae well developed. Area basalis narrow, triangular, little longer than its basal width. Area superomedia very finely granulate with weak transverse wrinkles, pentagonal, flat, little longer than wide, its lateral carinae diverging behind costulae, apically opened, confluent with area petiolaris, almost as long as area petiolaris. Costulae complete, connected to lateral margins of area superomedia little behind its middle. Area petiolaris finely granulate with distinct transverse wrinkles, distinctly impressed, lying almost but not exactly in the same level with area superomedia. Fore wing without areolet, 3 rs-m missing; distal abscissa of Rs straight, its extreme distal part very weakly curved toward anterior wing margin; distal abscissa of M weakly pigmented; nervulus (cu-a) postfurcal by about 1.5× its width, inclivous; postnervulus (abscissa of Cu 1 between 1 m-cu and Cu 1a + Cu 1b) intercepted little above middle by Cu 1a; lower external angle of second discal cell about right-angled. Hind wing with nervellus (cu-a + abscissa of Cu 1 between M and cu-a) broken and intercepted by discoidella (distal abscissa of Cu 1) at about anterior 0.4× its length, anterior section about vertical, posterior section reclivous; discoidella spectral, connected to nervellus. Coxae finely granulate. Hind femur 4.0× as long as high. Inner spur of hind tibia about 0.45× as long as first tarsomere of hind tarsus. Tarsal claws small and short, about as long as arolium, with few indistinct basal pecten.

Metasoma: Metasoma finely granulate with moderately dense greyish hairs, relatively stout, 2.3× as long as wide. First tergite relatively long and slender, almost 3.0× as long as its apical width, as long as second tergite, without glymma; dorsomedian carina of first tergite weak. Second tergite 1.5× as long as its apical width; thyridium long oval, weak, its distance from basal margin of tergite about 2.0× as long as its length. Metasoma from third tergite onward compressed, posterior margin of apical tergites medially widely but not deeply excised. Ovipositor sheath long, ca 3.7× as long as hind tibia; ovipositor thin, compressed.

Colour: Antenna, including scapus, dark brown, apical margin of pedicellus narrowly yellowish brown. Head black except palpi brownish, mandible yellowish and mandibular teeth dark brown. Mesosoma black except tegula yellow. Metasoma: first tergite black, apically narrowly reddish brown; second tergite light reddish with a large dark brown patch on its posterior half, dark brown patch starting at 0.5× tergite length and extending to 0.8× tergite length; basal third of third tergite light reddish, apical two-third blackish; following tergites blackish; ovipositor sheath dark brown. Wings hyaline, wing veins and pterostigma brown. Fore leg: coxa blackish to dark brown, apically narrowly yellowish brown; trochanter brownish, apically narrowly yellowish; trochantellus yellow; femur reddish yellow; tibia yellowish; tarsus yellowish to yellowish brown, apical tarsomeres brownish. Middle leg: coxa blackish, apically very narrowly yellowish brown; trochanter brownish, apically narrowly yellowish; trochantellus yellow; femur reddish yellow, ventrally darkened on basal half; tibia yellowish; tarsus yellowish brown, apical tarsomeres brownish. Hind leg: coxa black, apically very narrowly reddish brown; trochanter dark brown, apically narrowly yellowish brown; trochantellus yellow; femur brown; tibia basally and externo-medially yellowish brown, subbasally, interno-medially and apically brown; tarsus brown, first tarsomere basally narrowly yellowish brown.

Male: Similar to female in all characters described above, except: antenna with 23 flagellomeres; ocular-ocellar distance 1.7× as long as ocellus diameter; anterior half of gena subparallel behind eye in dorsal view; mesoscutum slightly longer than wide; area superomedia more elongate, longer than area petiolaris, its lateral carinae about parallel behind costulae, transverse wrinkles indistinct, costula little before its middle; area petiolaris with weak transverse wrinkles, less impressed, lying about in the same level with area superomedia; hind femur 4.4× as long as high; first tergite ca 3.5× as long as its apical width; second tergite 1.8× as long as its apical width; posterior margin of apical tergites medially not excised; metasoma darker, second tergite predominantly dark brown to blackish, only basal 0.25 and apical 0.1 reddish brown, third tergite blackish with basal 0.2 reddish brown; legs darker, coxae entirely black, trochantelli dark brown to blackish, apically narrowly yellowish brown, fore femur ventrally and basal two-third of middle femur brown, hind femur dark brown, tibiae and tarsi somewhat darker brownish.

Distribution. Currently known from the Balkan Peninsula ( Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of North Macedonia).

Ecology. No host is known.

Etymology. The new species is dedicated to Oleksiy M. Ananenko, one of the three men who went under the damaged reactor of Chernobyl nuclear power plant to drain the water tank to prevent further explosions.

Remarks. The new species belongs to the N. lissonotoides species group sensu Horstmann (1975, 1994). It can be distinguished from all species of the group by the combined presence of the characters given in the Diagnosis section. All species of the group are without host information.

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. Nemeritis ananenkoi sp. nov., holotype female: 1, lateral habitus; 2, head in dorsal view; 3, propodeum in dorsal view; 4, colouration of basal tergites.