Chalcis quechua Saguiah & Tavares, 2020

Saguiah, Pâmella Machado, Molin, Ana Dal & Tavares, Marcelo Teixeira, 2020, The South American species of Chalcis Fabricius (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae), Zootaxa 4885 (3), pp. 353-383 : 375-377

Chalcis quechua Saguiah & Tavares , sp. nov.

Figs 17 a–f, 18a, b

Diagnosis. This species can be recognized by the following combination of characters: Female. Antennal anellus longer than wide ( Fig. 17d ); mesepisternum mostly smooth and shiny at upper quarter; protarsal claws falcate; protarsomeres 4 and 5 each with a pair of peg-like spines ventrally ( Fig. 17e ); parascrobal area almost entirely smooth and shiny ( Fig. 17c ); metafemur ventrally with sharp inner basal tooth ( Fig. 18a ); propodeum with a well-defined diamond-shaped areola medial to adpetiolar area ( Fig. 18b ); petiole 5.2× as long as wide.

Description. FEMALE. Length 5.5 mm. Color: Predominantly black but the following parts yellow ( Figs 17 a–c, f): parascrobal area through lower face ( Fig. 17c ), pronotal collar ( Fig. 17b ), tegula, mesoscutellum laterally, profemur apically, anterior face of protibia, mesofemur basally and apically, mesotibia apically, metafemur internally and externally with C-shaped spot next to apex ( Fig. 17f ), metatibia basally, tarsi, and petiole. Wings slightly infuscate ( Figs 17a, b ).

Head. Lower face not bulging above clypeus, with shallow umbilicate fovea, interstices moderately broad and finely coriaceous to smooth, shiny ( Fig. 17c ); parascrobal area foveolate, interstices broad and mostly smooth and shiny, median intumescence absent ( Fig. 17c ); malar space 0.4× eye height; malar sulcus conspicuous, sinuous; internal carina fine and inconspicuous, absent near eye; external carina conspicuous, complete; gena smooth to alutaceous, genal carina reaching vertex; mandibular formula 2:3; antennal scrobe from smooth and shiny ventrally to coriaceous dorsally and without transverse carina below median ocellus ( Fig. 17c ); interantennal projection without median carina dorsally. MOD:POL:APL:OOL = 0.5:0.3:0.11:0.13. Scape 6.1× as long as wide, inner face flattened; anellus longer than wide; Fu1 about 2× as long as wide, and 1.0× as long as Fu2 length ( Fig. 17d ).

Mesosoma . Mesoscutum with interstices coriaceous and dull, narrower than diameter of umbilicate foveae; mesoscutellum flat, frenal carina forming two sublateral lobes; mesopleuron with mesepisternum from smooth and shiny to coriaceous at upper quarter and along the outer margin (except for 1 fovea dorsally), rugulose medially and foveate ventrally; propodeum with regular median carina, submedian carina absent, anterior costulae incomplete, posterior costulae irregular, adpetiolar area with well-defined and diamond-shaped areola medially, anterosubmedial area sparsely rugose to coriaceous ( Fig. 18b ); tarsomeres 4 and 5 of all legs with pubescence similar to basal tarsomeres; protarsomeres 4 and 5 each with a pair of distinct peg-like spines ventrally ( Fig. 17e ); protarsal claws falcate, ventrally with 4 basal spines followed by 1 acute prominence; mesocoxa slightly pubescent posteriorly; mesotibial spur 0.9× as long as the width of the mesotibial apex; metacoxa smooth and shiny dorsally, inner face pubescent; metafemur with outer face punctate and interstices smooth and shiny, ventrally with acute inner basal tooth ( Fig. 18a ) and 12 or 13 teeth along the outer margin, outer basal tooth the largest and close to second tooth, the latter minute, the following teeth increasing in size up to the sixth tooth ( Fig. 17f ); metatibia with apical spine slender and longer than the apical width of metatibia; metatarsomere 1 slightly longer than any of tarsomeres 2–5. Fore wing SMV:MV:PMV = 1.59:0.82:0.82.

Metasoma. Petiole 5.2× as long as wide, cylindrical, dorsolateral carina very short, ventrally without longitudinal carina; hypopygial median projection apically with distinct set of short and appressed bristles, ventrally with densely distributed bristles (bristles longer than the width of hypopygial projection in lateral view); ovipositor sheath slightly obliquely truncate apically, with some long setae.

MALE. Unknown.

Material examined. Holotype. ♀ ( NHMUK), ‘ Ecuador, Napo, 10 Km SW of Tena, 500 m, 21.VIII.1981 M. Cooper col.’.

Biology. Unknown.

Distribution. ECUADOR (Napo).

Remarks. The only known female of C. quechua is most similar to C. danunciae and C. winstonae females (see “Putative Relationships” below), but can be distinguished from those by the presence of an inner basal tooth ventrally on the metafemur ( Fig. 18a ) and a more elongate petiole, 5.2× as long as wide. This female was collected in the Ecuadorian Amazon, resulting in the most remote distribution in comparison to all other species treated here ( Fig. 22 ).

Etymology. The specific epithet is a noun in apposition that refers to the Indigenous peoples present in the type locality.

Figures

FIGURE 17a–f. Chalcis quechua sp. nov., holotype female: a, habitus, lateral; b, habitus, dorsal; c, head, frontal; d, antenna, inner face; e, protarsomeres 3 to 5; f, metafemur, outer face.

FIGURE 18a–b. Chalcis quechua sp. nov., holotype female: a, metafemur, inner face [arrow: inner tooth]; b, propodeum.

FIGURE 22. Distribution map of species of Chalcis from South America.