Hecabolus semiaridus Sormus

Castro, Clóvis Sormus De, Zaldívar-Riverón, Alejandro, Briceño-G, Rosa & Penteado-Dias, Angélica Maria, 2013, The genus Hecabolus Curtis 1834 (Braconidae: Doryctinae) in South America, with description of six new species, Zootaxa 3664 (3), pp. 377-391 : 385-387

Hecabolus semiaridus Sormus de Castro, Zaldívar-Riverón & Briceño-G. sp. n.

Figs 4 B, C

Diagnosis. Hecabolus semiaridus is morphologically similar to H. sulmatogrossensis sp. nov. These two species share smooth vertex and mesoscutal lobes; acrosternite moderately long, 0.4 times length of first metasomal tergite; second and third tergites partially sculptured; second metasomal tergite without any furrows; and hind femur moderately broad, 2.9–3.2 times longer than wide. However, H. semiaridus mainly differs from H. sulmatogrossensis sp. nov. by having the vein 2CU of fore wing arising behind middle of subdiscal cell (2CU interstitial to vein 1CU in H. sulmatogrossensis sp. nov.); first discal cell of fore wing shorter, 1.6 times longer than wide (2.5 times in H. sulmatogrossensis sp. nov.); veins 1M and m-cu of fore wing parallel (slightly divergent posteriorly in H. sulmatogrossensis sp. nov.); and a shorter ovipositor, 1.3 times longer than metasoma (1.9 times in H. sulmatogrossensis sp. nov.).

Description. Female. Body length 3.5 mm; fore wing length 2.4 mm; ovipositor length 3.4 mm.

Head: Head width 1.4 times median length (in dorsal view) 0.9 times width of mesoscutum. Transverse diameter of eye 1.3 times as long as temple. Ocelli small, arranged in equilateral triangle. POL 1.0 times Od 0.5 times OOL. Eyes glabrous, without emargination opposite antennal sockets, 1.3 times higher than broad. Height of malar space 0.4 times height of eye, 0.5 times basal width of mandible. Face convex, its width 1.2 times height of eye. Malar suture absent. Clypeus high, with a distinct lower flange. Hypoclypeal depression small and elliptical; 0.3 times longer than wide. Occipital carina wide, complete, ventrally joined with hypostomal carina. Hypostomal flange wide. Head below eyes roundly narrowed. Antennae more than 12-segmented (apical segments missing). Scape 1.8 times longer than its maximum width. First flagellar segment straight, slightly widened anteriorly, 2.5 times longer than apical width, 0.8 times longer than second segment.

Mesosoma: Length of mesosoma 2.0 times its height. Pronotum long, weakly convex dorsally. Mesoscutum (lateral view) moderately declivous, roundly elevated above pronotum, its length (dorsal view) 0.9 times maximum width. Median lobe of mesoscutum shortly protruding forward, without distinct anterolateral shoulders. Notauli wide and scrobiculate. Prescutellar depression shallow, with 12 longitudinal carinae, finely rugose between carinae, 0.5 times as long as scutellum. Scutellum weakly convex. Precoxal sulcus shallow, straight, running along 0.7 length of lower part of mesopleuron. Metanotal tooth almost indistinct. Metapleural lobe long and narrow, rounded apically. Propodeum with small and blunt lateral tubercles.

Wings. Fore wing 5.4 times longer than its maximum width. Pterostigma 4.0 times longer than wide. Vein r arising in the middle of pterostigma. Marginal cell long, its length 3.2 times maximum width. Vein R1 1.8 times longer than pterostigma. Vein r 1.5 times maximum width of pterostigma. Vein 3RSa slightly curved anteriorly and straight in posterior half, 5.4 times longer than vein r, 4.0 times longer than vein 2RS; vein 2RS 1.4 times longer than vein r and 2.7 times longer than vein m-cu. Vein m-cu antefurcal to vein 2RS. Vein (RS+M)a slightly curved. First discal cell short, 1.6 times longer than wide. Veins 1M and m-cu slightly divergent posteriorly. Vein cu-a postfurcal to vein 1M. Vein 1M 1.6 times longer than vein 1RS, about 2.0 times longer than vein m-cu. Vein M + CU distinctly S-shaped posteriorly. Subdiscal cell open distally, 2cu-a vein absent; vein 2CU arising behind middle of subdiscal cell. Hind wing 3.7 times longer than wide; vein C+Sc+R 0.2 times longer than vein Sc+R. Basal cell narrow, weakly widened in apical half, its length 8.7 times maximum width, 0.3 times length of wing. Vein M+CU about 0.4 times as long as vein 1M. Vein m-cu straight.

Legs. Fore tibia with a row of at least eight slender spines arranged in a line. Hind coxa without basoventral tubercle, weakly protruding forwards in ventro-anterior corner, 1.4 times longer than maximum width. Hind femur moderately broad, 3.2 times longer than wide. Hind tibia wide. Hind tarsus 0.4 times as long as hind tibia. Basitarsus as long as second-fifth segments combined. Second tarsal segment 0.4 times as long as basitarsus, 1.8 times as long as fifth segment (without pretarsus).

Metasoma: Metasoma longer than head and mesosoma combined. First tergite with moderately long basal sternal plate, 0.4 times as long as first tergite; with small dorsope. Maximum width of first tergite 2.0 times its minimum width; length 1.3 times its apical width, 1.3 times length of propodeum. Second metasomal tergite without any furrows. Median length of second tergite 0.4 times length of third tergite; combined length of second and third tergites 0.8 times their maximum width. Ovipositor sheaths slender, 1.3 times longer than metasoma, 2.5 times longer than mesosoma, about 0.8 times as long as body, 1.4 times as long as fore wing.

Sculpture and pubescence. Vertex smooth; frons and face rugose; face with short, sparse setae; temple and gena smooth. Pronotal groove wide, deep and scrobiculate, with slightly rugose microsculpture; lateral area of pronotum strongly rugose. Mesoscutum smooth, median lobe smooth and sparsely setose. Scutellum smooth and sparsely setose. Notauli not joining, reaching the end of mesoscutum in a large longitudinally rugose area. Mesopleuron porcate dorsally, smooth medially and ventrally; venter of mesopleuron smooth; subalar groove deep and scrobiculate, wide dorsally, becoming narrow ventrally; mesopleural sulcus deep and scrobiculate; precoxal slightly scrobiculate. Metapleuron rugose-areolate. Propodeum strongly rugose-areolate, with a lateral longitudinal and a median longitudinally irregular carinae running along the entire length of propodeum, with small and blunt lateral tubercles. Hind coxa and femur smooth. First metasomal tergite longitudinally striate with rugose microsculpture; second tergite longitudinally striate with rugose microsculpture medially, laterally smooth; third tergite mostly smooth, only longitudinally striate with rugose microsculpture on a small basal median area; remaining tergites smooth and polished.

Colour: Body brown to dark brown, scape and pedicel honey yellow; flagellomeres honey yellow, turning black to apex; eyes grey; fore and middle legs brown, fore and middle tibiae light yellow at apex, tarsi honey yellow; hind coxa black, trochanter and trochantellus honey yellow, femur black, tibia honey yellow on basal half, brown on apical half; tarsi honey yellow. Wings hyaline, with a straight white line arising at basal part of pterostigma; pterostigma and veins brown, ovipositor and sheaths brown; tip of the ovipositor strongly sclerotised.

Variation. Body length at least 3.5 mm (paratype with incomplete metasoma); fore wing length 3.0 mm.

Male. Unknown.

Material examined. Holotype, female (UCOB): Venezuela, Lara, Cerro Saroche, Cañaote #5, 10º 11’ 83” N- 69º 26’ 13” W, YPT, 12-15/IV/2008, R. Briceño, R. Paz y A. Miklos col,. DNA voucher no. CNIN 737 (Dory 0008), GenBank accession number (barcoding locus: cytochrome oxidase I mitochondrial DNA gene) HQ945447 . Paratype. One specimen, female (UCOB): same data as holotype.

Distribution. The two known specimens belonging to this species were collected at the Parque Natural Cerro Saroche, in the state of Lara, northwest Venezuela.

Biology. Unknown. Other doryctine species have been recently described for this region (López-Estrada et al., 2012; De Jesús-Bonilla et al., 2012), which is mostly represented by xeric vegetation with deciduous and semideciduous shrubs (Inparques 1992).

Etymology. The name of this species refers to the semiarid environment that characterises the Parque Nacional Cerro Saroche in the state of Lara, Venezuela.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Hecabolus sulmatogrossensis sp. nov. (female, holotype); A habitus, lateral view. Hecabolus semiaridus sp. nov. (female, holotype); B mesosoma, dorsal view; C metasoma, dorsal view. Hecabolus sulmatogrossensis sp. nov. (female, holotype); D fore and hind wings. Hecabolus robustus sp. nov. (female, holotype); E fore wing. Hecabolus julianoi sp. nov. (female, holotype); F fore wing.