Ascogaster rubriscapa, Kittel & Austin, 2015

Kittel, Rebecca N. & Austin, Andrew D., 2015, New species of Australian arid zone chelonine wasps from the genera Phanerotoma and Ascogaster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) informed by the ‘ Bush Blitz’ surveys of national reserves, Journal of Natural History 50, pp. 211-262 : 229-230

Ascogaster rubriscapa sp. nov.

( Figures 7a – e , 15 )

Description (female)

Body measurements. Length of body 4.4 mm; ratio of antenna to body 0.5; ratio of length of fore wing to body 0.7; ratio of length of metasoma to mesosoma 1.4.

Head. Antenna with 19 antennomeres; ratio of length of third antennomere to fourth 1.2; ratio of length of third, fourth, penultimate and terminal antennomere 5.8, 4.8, 1.7 and 2.3 times their width, respectively; ratio of length of eye in dorsal view to length of temple 5.8; ocelli isosceles; imaginary line between anterior margins of posterior ocelli is not touching the anterior ocellus; ratio of width of face in anterior view to its height 2.4; ratio of width of clypeus to its height 2.0; clypeus without teeth; ratio of length malar space to base of mandible 2.8; face punctate; frons rugose; eyes glabrous; ratio posterior ocelli:LOL:POL:OOL 1.0:3.0:1.5:3.0.

Mesosoma. Middle lobe of mesoscutum punctate; notauli present; mesoscutellum shiny, fine punctate, weakly convex; mesopleuron shiny, punctate; precoxal sulcus present; ratio of height of mesosoma to its length 1.5; hind coxa shiny, fine punctate; ratio of length of hind tibia to hind tarsus 1.0; ratio hind coxa, hind femur, hind tibia and hind tarsus 1.7, 5.6, 4.7 and 11.0 times their width, respectively; ratio of length of posterior spur to length of basal tarsus 0.5; fore wing: 2-R1 absent; ratio of length of 1-R1 to length of pterostigma 1.0; ratio of width of pterostigma to its length 2.8; ratio r:3-SR:SR-1:r-m 1.0:0.7:4.2:0.8; SR-1 completely sclerotised; 1-SR+M emanating from 1+M; 2-SR+M antefurcal.

Metasoma. Shape of metasoma long oval in dorsal view; ratio of width of metasoma to its length 0.48; carapace broadens strongly to posterior end in lateral view; ratio keel to metasoma length 0.11; carapace rugose.

Colour. Black; except legs, pedicel, tegula and wing venation brown.

Diagnosis

Superficially similar to A. prolixogaster , but A. rubriscapa lacks the elongated tip of the carapace. Overall, it can be distinguished from all other Australian Ascogaster species by the combination of its colour and size, the shape of the carapace and the number of antennomeres. In addition, A. rubriscapa is one of only five species, along with A. ferruginegaster , A. prolixogaster and two undescribed species ( Ascogaster sp. 25 and Ascogaster sp. 28), that has a 3-bp indel in its CO1 sequence at position 271 – 273.

Specimens examined

Holotype, Australia (South Australia): 1 ♀, “ 25 – 28 October 2010, Bon Bon Station 30° 37.56'S, 135°24.18'E, S. Mantel, F. Colombo, R. Kittel & G. Taylor, MT amongst Senna artemisioides, Acacia tetragonophila , Acacia aneura , and Acacia victoriae ; Bush Blitz survey 367 Malaise 9 ” ( SAM).

Male. Unknown.

Biology

Unknown.

Etymology

The name refers to the red scape of the specimen.

Distribution

South Australia ( Bon Bon Station ; Figure 15 ) .

CO1 sequence

Genbank accession number for this species is KJ438533 .

Figures

Figure 7. Ascogaster rubriscapa sp. nov.: (a) habitus, lateral, holotype, scale line = 1 mm; (b) mesosoma, dorsal, holotype, scale line = 1 mm; (c) metasoma, dorsal, holotype, scale line = 1 mm; (d) head, anterior view, holotype, scale line = 0.5 mm; (e) fore wing, holotype, scale line = 1 mm.

Figure 15. Distribution map: Ascogaster brevivena sp. nov., grey circle; Ascogaster ferruginegaster sp. nov., black triangle; Ascogaster prolixogaster sp. nov., grey triangle; Ascogaster rubriscapa sp. nov., black square.