Apanteles (Choeras) longus 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 : 526-528

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

( Figure 10. a–j )

Description. Female. Length of body 4.1 mm, of fore wing 4.8 mm.

Head. 2.0 times as wide as long, equal to the width of mesoscutum. Antenna with 18 segments, with short setae, almost equal to the length of body, subapical antennal segments much elongated, length of 16th segment 0.9 times as long as 15th segment, length of third segment equal to fourth segment, length of third, fourth, 15th, 16th and penultimate segments 2.8, 2.8, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.0 times as long as their width, respectively. In dorsal view length of eye 2.1 times as long as temple. Ocellar triangle sparsely setose and shiny. Ocelli in a very low triangle, the posterior transverse tangent to the median ocellus cutting into the posterior pair; ocelli large, their diameter longer than the distance between the hind and fore ocellus. OOL: OD: POL= 18: 10: 15. Frons shiny, smooth and distinctly concave medially, narrowly and slightly strigose and punctulate laterally, narrowly and sparsely setose posteriorly. Temple and vertex smooth and shiny, finely setose. Face strongly rugose, densely punctulate and setose. Clypeus densely punctulate. Face with a distinct median longitudinal carina. Length of malar space 0.6 times as long as basal width of mandible.

Mesosoma. Length of mesosoma 1.2 times as long as its height. Side of pronotum densely setose and punctulate, with narrow distinct ventral furrow with a few longitudinal carinae. Propleuron smooth and softly shiny. Prepectal carina and precoxal sulcus absent. Mesopleuron largely smooth, glabrous and shiny, sparsely setose medio-anteriorly, narrowly densely punctulate and setose ventrally. Mesoscutum finely and densely punctulate, indistinct posteriorly and softly shiny, densely setose. Notauli absent. Scutellar sulcus narrow with several distinctly longitudinal carinae, its width about 1.2 times as long as scutellum. Scutellum relatively sparsely setose, strongly shiny. Side of scutellum with wide crenulate depression, lunula small-sized and obtusely triangular. Propodeum largely smooth, sparsely setose anteriorly, but slightly and narrowly rugose laterally, strongly shiny, with a strong and regular median longitudinal carina which bifurcates into several short oblique carinae, more distinct at its base.

Wings. Fore wing evenly covered with brown hairs, denser towards the apex. Pterostigma relatively narrow, 3.1 times as long as wide. Vein 1-R1 1.5 times as long as pterostigma and 6.4 times as long as the distance from it to the top of marginal cell. Vein r 1.6 times as long as 2-SR and slightly curved, r arising much far beyond the middle of pterostigma and much longer than breadth of pterostigma. Vein 2-SR distinctly curved. Areolet very small and triangular, vein r-m arising from vein 2-SR at a considerable distance proximal to the junction of vein r and 2-SR. 1-CU1: 2-CU1= 5: 4. Vein 1-SR pointing to 1-CU1. Hind wing evenly covered with brown setae. Vein cu-a straight. Edge of vannal lobe beyond its widest part very slightly concave and without a hair-fringe.

Legs. Hind coxa strongly shiny and smooth, sparsely pubescent. Length of hind coxa about equal to half of mesosoma. Tarsal claws setose. Longer spur of middle tibia reaching apex of middle basitarsus and terminating in a long bristle. Length of femur, tibia and basitarsus of hind leg 3.4, 5.5 and 5.7 times as long as their width, respectively. Length of hind tibial spurs 0.3 and 0.6 times as long as hind basitarsus respectively. Hind femur densely and finely setose.

Metasoma. Tergite I subtriangular, lateral sides strongly curved and strongly narrowed apically, its basal width 3.2 times as long as its apical width which is 0.5 times as long as median length of tergite II; smooth, sparsely punctulate and setose which basally 0.7 with a relatively wide and shallow excavation. Tergite II distinctly pentagonal, strongly shiny, smooth and sparsely setose apically; apical side curved, apical width 3.1, 1.3 times as long as basal width and its length. Remaining tergites smooth, shiny and sparsely setose respectively. Ovipositor sheath finely hairy, very long and narrow, lateral sides nearly parallel, its length (total length) 1.6 times as long as hind tibia. Hypopygium largely sclerotized, only near median line membranous and tightly folded along the middle line, with widely longitudinal creases laterally and acute apically.

Colour. Head black. Labrum, clypeus and mandibles yellowish brown. Face black. Eyes largely brown and the area near face black. Scape and pedicel mainly yellowish brown but dark brown laterally. Flagellum dark brown. Mesosoma black except that pronotum yellowish brown medially and propleuron pale yellow. Wing membrane weakly brownish and pterostigma dark brown. Veins of fore wing brown except r-m weakly pigmented. Veins of hind wing weakly pigmented. Fore and middle legs all yellow except tarsal claws black. Hind coxa yellowish and a small area at the apex brown. Trochanter and trochantellus yellow. Hind femur slightly yellowish brown but a small area at the apex brown. Hind tibia largely yellowish brown, but dark brown apically and basally 0.2 respectively. Hind tarsus dark brown. Tibial spurs yellow. Tergite I pale yellow. Tergite II largely dark brown but yellow apically. Tergite III and IV yellow. Remaining tergites yellow with indefinite black streaks. Ovipositor reddish brown, its sheath dark yellowish brown.

Variation. Body length 3.4–4.1 mm. Fore wing length 4.0– 4.8 mm. And every individuals slightly different in colour pattern of tergites and wings.

Male. Unknown.

Biology. Unknown.

Material examined. Holotype, ♀, China, Zhejiang Prov., Gutianshan, 2005. VII. 3, Zhang Hongying, No. 200617210 ( ZJUH). Paratypes (both in ZJUH): 1♀, China, Fujian Prov., Nanjing, Letu, 1988. VIII.14, Huang Jian, No. 20005948; 1♀, China, Fujian Prov., Jiangle, longqishan, 1991. VII. 2, Liu Changming, No. 20006624.

Distribution. China (Zhejiang, Fujian) ( Fig. 21 ).

Remark. The new species is similar to Apanteles (Choeras) compressifemur ( Chen & Song, 2004) , but can be distinguished by length of ovipositor sheath (total length) about 1.5 times as long as hind tibia (the latter about 0.8 times); the tergite II distinctly pentagonal (the latter triangular); and the vein 1-R1 6.4 times as long as the distance from it to the top of marginal cell (the latter about 4.1 times).

Etymology. The specific name “ longus ” derives from the Latin adjective “long-”, referring to the ovipositor sheath very long, its length (total length) 1.6 times as long as hind tibia.

Figures

FIGURE 21. Distribution map of Choeras species in China II. ●: Apanteles (Choeras) flavicorpus Song & Chen, sp. n.; ■: Apanteles (Choeras) fujianensis Song & Chen, sp. n.; ▲: Apanteles (Choeras) grammatitergitus Song & Chen, sp. n.; Δ: Apanteles (Choeras) infirmicarinatus Song & Chen, sp. n.; ┼: Apanteles (Choeras) longitergitus Song & Chen, sp. n.; ○: Apanteles (Choeras) longus Song & Chen, sp. n..

FIGURE 10. a – j. Apanteles (Choeras) longus Song & Chen, sp. n. a, habitus, lateral view; b, antenna; c, fore wing; d, hind wing; e, head, dorsal view; f, head, frontal view; g, mesosoma, dorsal view; h, T 1 – T 3, dorsal view; i, mesosoma, lateral view; j, metasoma, lateral view.