Holopyga piliventris Ducke, 1907

Lucena, Daercio A. A., Santos-Neto, Pedro E., Zanella, Fernando C. V. & Almeida, Eduardo A. B., 2022, Taxonomic review of the elampine cuckoo wasps from northeastern Brazil (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae), with the description of three new species, Zootaxa 5213 (3), pp. 201-235 : 225-228

Holopyga piliventris Ducke, 1907

( Figs 15 , 16 )

Holopyga piliventris Ducke, 1907: 95 . Lectotype ♂, designated here. BRAZIL, Maranhão: Codó , 22.vi.1907, A. Ducke ( MZSP #04578 : examined).

Extended diagnosis (male). Body size: 3.9 mm. Head predominantly metallic green; vertex with transverse dark purple band; scape brownish green; pedicel and flagellomeres brown; mandible brown; frons densely foveate changing abruptly on scapal basin, becoming densely cross-ridged, with some marginal punctures; vertex densely sculptured, with low ridges and small punctures inserted among large foveae, becoming slightly striate around ocelli; clypeus finely punctulate; lateral ocelli with discrete shallow depression, linked transversely by discrete posterior line; genal carina indistinct; gena with longitudinal ridges; malar space 0.3× MOD; subantennal distance 0.9× MOD; F1 1.1× F2; F2–F9 similar in size; lower medial margin of clypeus straight. Mesosoma mainly metallic green; scutum and scutellum with dark purple tints; metanotum with bluish highlights; posterior declivity of metapectalpropodeal complex dark purple, with bluish highlights; posterior propodeal projection green; legs mainly metallic light green, tarsi light brown; tegula brown; wing membrane light fuscous with brown veins; dorsum of mesosoma and mesopleuron densely foveate, larger and deeper on metanotum; notaulus and parasidal signum faintly marked; posterior mesopleuron striate; profemur somewhat striate basally on outer surface; inner margin of tarsal claw with one subsidiary tooth; inner spurs of meso- and metatibia serrated; Rs&M 2 v smoothly curved submedially. Metasoma mainly metallic green, with purplish blue highlights marginally on terga; disk of T1–T2 with wide dark band; sterna entirely dark brown; T2 and T3 with marginal semitranslucent rim; T3 distal margin evenly round; terga densely foveate, with shallow marginal micropunctures among foveae; sterna punctate. Dorsum of body with abundant, short, sub-erect, yellowish pale setae; compound eye with very short and sparse microtrichia, most visible marginally (in oblique view, magnification above 100×); legs abundantly setose, tarsomeres with spine-like, thick, even setae; wing membrane entirely setose; abundant, decumbent, yellowish pale setae on metasomal terga; S2–S3 with relatively long, pale setae.

Female ( Fig. 16 ). Same as male, except: body mainly metallic bluish green with dark purple bands; scape green; F1 1.3× F2; posterior mesopleuron smooth, non-striate; terga finely foveate, lacking marginal shallow micropunctures among foveae; T3 slightly truncate medially.

Variation. Specimens vary from 3.8 to 4.3 mm in total body length. The shorter measurements (2.5–3 mm) given in the original description by Ducke (1907) may be incorrect.

Material examined. Lectotype ♂. BRAZIL, Maranhão: Codó, 22.vi.1907, A. Ducke ( MZSP 04578 ). Bahia: Jequié, campus UESB II, Malaise III, 9.xii.2006, Silva-Júnior J. C. & cols. ( CEDU-UNILA: 1♀). Same data as preceding, except: 25.xi.2006 ( CEDU-UNILA: 1♀). Ceará: Caridade , 05.v.1909, A. Ducke ( MPEG: 1♀). Crateús , 05°11′20″S 40°42′35″W, 06.v.2014, Almeida , Lucena & Tavares ( RPSP: 1♀). Paraíba: Sumé , Sítio Pitombeira / Valdemir , Malaise , 07°41′22″S 36°56′46.5″W, 533m, 02.x.2010, H. M. Sousa ( UFMG 1202319 : 1♀).

Distribution. BRAZIL (Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba) ( Fig. 17 ).

Host. Unknown.

Remarks. This species belongs to Holopyga as clearly evidenced by the scapal basin transversely cross-ridged, transverse shallow sulcus linking lateral ocelli, notaulus faintly marked or indistinct, profemur ventrally expanded, and mesopleuron sharply bordered with carina (see also Krombein 1969, Kimsey 1982, and Kimsey & Bohart 1991). Notwithstanding, this species and at least three other Nearctic and Neotropical species have a suite of unusual diagnostic characteristics ( H. wagnerella du Buysson, 1901 , H. mimeca Kimsey, 1982 [in Bohart & Kimsey 1982], and H. rudis Kimsey, 1982 [in Bohart & Kimsey 1982]): reduced body size (shorter than 5 mm), tarsal claw with single subsidiary tooth or with one subapical tooth and one basal tooth, indistinct genal carina, Rs&M 2 v short and smoothly curved submedially, and metasomal sterna dark brown. These characteristics readily distinguished these species from other Holopyga (see Bohart & Kimsey 1982) and they may constitute a subgroup within the genus.

Lucena & Almeida (2022) placed H. wagnerella (a species closely resembled to H. piliventris ) as sister to the remaining species of Holopyga . If these distinct Holopyga represent another Elampini group, or may form a subgroup within Holopyga , this will be the subject of future analyses. Holopyga piliventris closely resembles H. wagnerella du Buysson but can be distinguished from it based on the following combination of characteristics: vertex with transverse dark band (vertex without distinct dark band in H. wagnerella ); and T2 with marginal semitranslucent rim (T2 with indistinctly narrow translucent rim in H. wagnerella ). Additionally, the punctation of metasomal terga in H. piliventris is comparatively finer and sparser (coarser and denser in H. wagnerella ).

Ducke (1907) described Holopyga piliventris based on an unknown number of syntypes (males and females) from Codó and Caxias (Maranhão state), collected in June 1907. The male specimen housed at MZSP had a handwritten label “cotype” and a yellow paralectotype indication labelled by L. French. Another male from Codó, collected on 24 th June 1907, was labelled as lectotype by L. French and it is currently housed at the MNHN (Paolo Rosa, person. comm.). The lectotype designation by L. French was never published, and we were unable to locate other type specimens from Caxias supposedly housed at two collections: MZSP and MPEG. In accordance with the articles 72–74 of the Code (ICZN 1999), and to ensure stability on this case, we designate here the male cotype specimen housed at MZSP from Codó as the lectotype for H. piliventris Ducke, 1907 . Hereinafter the male specimen housed at MNHN should be considered a paralectotype. The whereabouts of other paralectotypes remain unknown. The presently known geographical records of this species are restricted to northeastern Brazil and include sites typically of the caatinga vegetation ( Fig. 17 ).

The female specimen illustrated in the Figure 16 is from Crateús, Ceará state.

Figures

FIGURE 15. Lectotype male of Holopyga piliventris Ducke, 1907 [MZSP] (designated herein). A. Habitus, lateral left view; B. Head, frontal view; C. Head and pronotum, dorsal view; D. Habitus, dorsal view; E. Metasoma, dorsal view; F. Metasoma, lateral right view. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (B, C, E, F), 1 mm (A, D).

FIGURE 16. Holopyga piliventris Ducke, female. A. Habitus, lateral right view; B. Head, dorsal view; C. Head, frontal view; D. Metasoma, dorsal view. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (B, C, D), 1 mm (A).

FIGURE 17. Geographical distribution of three South American species of Holopyga (left); individual records for each species shown on the maps on the right. Type locality of Holopyga iheringi du Buysson is signed with a question mark–see Comments under the species section.