Apanteles (Choeras) rugulosus Song & Chen

Song, Sheng-Nan, He, Jun-Hua & Chen, Xue-Xin, 2014, The subgenus Choeras Mason, 1981 of genus Apanteles Foerster, 1862 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from China, with descriptions of eighteen new species, Zootaxa 3754 (5), pp. 501-554 : 531-533

Apanteles (Choeras) rugulosus Song & Chen , sp. n.

( Figure 12. a–j )

Description. Female. Length of body 2.6 mm, of fore wing 3.3 mm.

Head. 2.4 times as wide as long, its width equal to the width of mesoscutum. Antenna with 18 segments, longer than the body length, segments finely setose, subapical antennal segments moniliform and subquadrate, and penultimate segment about as long as wide, length of 16th segment 0.9 times as long as 15th segment, length of third segment 0.9 times as long as fourth segment, length of third, fourth, 15th, 16th and penultimate segments 2.4, 3.1, 1.1, 1.0 and 1.0 times as long as their width, respectively; scapus swollen, almost touching each other. In dorsal view length of eye 1.7 times as long as temple. Ocellar triangle finely setose. Ocelli in a moderately high triangle, the posterior transverse tangent to the median ocellus hardly touching the posterior pair; ocelli large, their diameter longer than the distance between the hind and fore ocellus, closer to each other than to the eyes. OOL: OD: POL = 15: 7: 10. Frons smooth and softly shiny medially, setose and matt laterally and posteriorly. Temple and vertex rather finely punctulate and setose. Face and clypeus setose, finely punctulate and softly shiny. Face with median longitudinal carina. Length of malar space 0.6 times as long as basal width of mandible.

Mesosoma. Length of mesosoma 1.7 times as long as its height. Side of pronotum densely, setose and finely punctulate, without any furrow. Propleuron smooth and softly shiny. Prepectal carina completely absent. Precoxal sulcus deep, smooth and about 0.6 times as long as mesopleuron. Mesopleuron largely smooth and glabrous, but punctulate and setose anteriorly and ventrally. Mesoscutum finely and rather densely punctulate, softly shiny and rather densely setose. Notauli absent. Scutellar sulcus narrow with distinct crenulations, its width about 0.9 times as long as scutellum. Scutellum densely punctulate and setose. Side of scutellum with rather wide crenulate depression, lunula small-sized and obtusely triangular. Propodeum strongly rugose and with an indistinct and irregular median carina, finely and sparsely setose anteriorly.

Wings. Fore wing evenly covered with brown setae, denser towards the apex. Pterostigma relatively wide, 2.5 times as long as wide. Vein 1-R1 1.4 times as long as pterostigma, about 5.4 times as long as the distance from it to the top of marginal cell. Vein r 0.8 times as long as 2-SR and slightly curved, vein r arising beyond the middle of pterostigma and slightly shorter than breadth of pterostigma. Vein 2-SR straight. Stub of vein r-m of fore wing short, resulting in an open second areolet, areolet absent. 1-CU1: 2-CU1= 9: 11. Vein 1-SR pointing to the junction of 1-CU1 and 2-CU1. Hind wing evenly covered with brown hairs, setose. Vein cu-a curved. Edge of vannal lobe beyond its widest part more or less straight and here without a fringe of hairs.

Legs. Hind coxa densely punctulate and setose dorsally and ventrally, but sparsely punctulate and setose laterally. Length of hind coxa about equal to half of mesosoma. Tarsal claws slender and setose. Longer spur of middle tibia not reaching apex of middle basitarsus. Length of femur, tibia and basitarsus of hind leg 3.1, 5.9 and 4.4 times as long as their width, respectively. Length of hind tibial spurs 0.6 and 0.3 times as long as hind basitarsus respectively. Hind femur rather densely setose and punctulate.

Metasoma. Tergite I distinctly quadrangular and less narrowed apically, lateral sides straight and basal 0.3 with a wide and shallow excavation, its basal width 1.9 times as long as its apical width which is 1.2 times as long as median length of tergite II; median part of excavation smooth and shiny, remainder strongly rugose and coarsely sculptured, sparsely setose posteriorly. Tergite II transversely subtriangular, apical side curved which is 3.8, 4.3 times as long as basal width and its length respectively; largely rugose and smooth medially, sparsely punctulate posteriorly. Remaining tergites smooth, mat and finely setose. Ovipositor sheath hairy, very slender at base but broadening conspicuously towards apex and acute apically, nearly parallel-sided, its length (total length) 0.9 times as long as hind tibia. Hypopygium subhyaline and largely sclerotized, only near median line membranous and tightly folded along the middle line, with longitudinal creases laterally, acute apically.

Colour. Black. Head dark reddish brown. Mandible yellowish brown with reddish brown apically. Clypeus reddish brown. Labrum yellowish brown. Antenna brownish with black marking externally. Mesoscutum dark reddish brown. Wing membrane weakly yellowish brown. Pterostigma and veins of fore wings slightly brown. Veins of hind wings weakly pigmented. Fore and middle legs hyaline and yellow except distal tarsi black. Hind coxa black basally and yellowish brown apically. Hind trochanter and femur hyaline and yellow but in a small area on top of yellow. Basal half of hind tibia yellowish brown and the remainder brownish. Apical two segments of hind tarsi yellow and remainder segments brownish. Tibial spurs pale yellow. Abdominal tergites black. Ovipositor yellowish brown, its sheath dark brown.

Variation. Body length 1.8–2.6 mm. Fore wing length 2.4–3.3 mm. Some individuals slightly different in the rugae and irregular median carina of propodeum; and some slightly different in colour pattern.

Male. Unknown.

Biology. Unknown

Material examined. Holotype, ♀, China, Zhejiang Prov., Gutianshan, 1992. VII.18, Chen Xuexin, No. 923492 ( ZJUH). Paratypes (all in ZJUH): 1♀, China, Zhejiang Prov., Gutianshan, 1992. VII.18, Chen Xuexin, No. 923496; 1♀, China, Zhejiang Prov., Anji, Longwangshan, 1995. VII.20, Wu Hong, No. 971240; 2♀, China, Zhejiang Prov., Tianmushan, 1987. IX.2, Chen Xuexin, No. 877542, 877513; 1♀, China, Zhejiang Prov., Tianmushan, 1987. VII.21, Chen Xuexin, No. 873116; 4♀, China, Zhejiang Prov., Tianmushan, 1987. VII.21, Lou Xiaoming, No. 874438, 874411, 874575, 874469, 874711; 3♀, China, Zhejiang Prov., Tianmushan, 1987. VII.22, Lou Xiaoming, No. 874711, 874606, 874609; 1♀, China, Zhejiang Prov., Tianmushan, Laodian, 1998. IX.27, Zhao Mingshui, No. 20001169; 1♀, China, Zhejiang Prov., Tianmushan, Laodian-Xianrending (1050–1547m), 1998. V.17–18, Xu Weiliang, No. 885967; 2♀, China, Zhejiang Prov., Lin’an, Longtangshan (850m), 1998. V.12, Du Yuzhou, No. 980866, 980968; 2♀, China, Henan Prov., Jigongshan, 1997. VII.10, Chen Xuexin, No. 973641, 974936; 1♀, China, Guizhou Prov., Kuankuoshui Natural Reserve, Shilingou, 2010. VI.9, Tan Jiangli, No. 201004475;1♀, China, Yunnan Prov., Dali, Diancangshan (2520m), 1996. V.23, Du Yuzhou, No. 977460; 1♀, China, Yunnan Prov., Baoshan, Lujiangba, Nankang, 2009. V.9, Wang Manman, No. 200904968.

Distribution. China (Zhejiang, Henan, Guizhou, Yunnan) ( Fig. 22 ).

Remark. The new species is similar to in Apanteles (Choeras) parasonium ( Kotenko, 2007) , but can be distinguished by the propodeum with an indistinct and irregular median carina (the latter without a longitudinal medial carina); the antenna longer than the body (the latter shorter than the body); and the tegulae black (the latter yellow or brownish yellow).

Etymology. The specific name “ rugulosus ” derives from the Latin adjective “ rugulosus ”, referring to the propodeum strongly rugose and tergite I largely rugose.

Figures

FIGURE 22. Distribution map of Choeras species in China III. ●: Apanteles (Choeras) parviocellus Song & Chen, sp. n.; ┼: Apanteles (Choeras) rugulosus Song & Chen, sp. n.; ▲: Apanteles (Choeras) semilunatus Song & Chen, sp. n.; Δ: Apanteles (Choeras) semirugosus Song & Chen, sp. n..

FIGURE 12. a – j. Apanteles (Choeras) rugulosus Song & Chen, sp. n. a, habitus, dorsal view; b, antenna; c, fore wing; d, hind wing; e, head, frontal view; f, head, dorsal view; g, mesosoma, lateral view; h, mesosoma, dorsal view; i, T 1 – T 3, dorsal view; j, metasoma, lateral view.