Elampus bicolor, Rosa, 2023

Rosa, Paolo, 2023, New records for the Indian cuckoo wasp fauna (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae) with description of two new species and remarks on types of Smith and Cameron, Journal of Natural History 57 (29 - 32), pp. 1396-1433 : 1401-1403

Elampus bicolor sp. n.

LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:9BE355A3-864C-4096-A67A-8C88F6E06874

( Figs 2A–2F )

Material examined

Holotype male: Kurnool Dt., Kodumur, 8 Aug.-5 Sept [19]14 Y.R. Coll. ( NHMUK).

Diagnosis

Elampus bicolor sp. n. can be readily separated from other Elampus species of the Old World based on the unusual body colour pattern with flame red head, pronotum, mesoscutum and metasoma, making a striking contrast with the dark blue colour of the rest of the mesosoma. Elampus bicolor sp. n. is separated from all the species with red parts on the mesosoma (see Remarks) by the following morphological characters: subrectangular metanotal projection; spiny posterior propodeal projections; T3 apical process relatively broad and circular, with ventral border slightly incised medially; lateral margin of the third tergum before the apical truncation straight. The combination of body colour pattern and morphological characters makes Elampus bicolor sp. n. one of the most iconic and recognisable species of this genus.

Description

Holotype, male. Body length 5.3 mm. Fore wing length 3.2 mm.

Head. Punctures on vertex and brow sparse, with medium-sized (up to 0.5 × MOD) punctures, and wide polished interspaces, with broad impunctate area lateral to posterior ocelli; scapal basin smooth and polished, with scattered small punctures laterally, and fine, dense dots between torulus and lower margin of scapal basin ( Figure 2B ); subantennal space shorter than 1.0 × MOD; apical margin of clypeus slightly convex medially; setae of genal fringe sparse, whitish, decreasing in length from temple to malar space; genal carina discrete; post-ocellar line faint. OOL 2.3 × MOD; POL 3.0 × MOD; MS 0.1 × MOD. Antennae missing, only the left scape remains.

Mesosoma. Pronotum elongate, as long as mesoscutum, with a slight transverse antero-median depression ( Figure 2C ); punctures shallow and sparse dorsally, denser, becoming larger and deeper laterally, with polished interspaces; lateral pronotal depression faintly striate; mesoscutum similarly sculptured, with sparse, small and shallow punctures; larger punctures on central area basally and between parapsidal line and tegula; notauli deep, as fine lines; parapsidal line deep, ending before the anterior margin of the segment; mesoscutellum with an antero-median polished area; punctures larger, deeper and denser than on mesoscutum; metanotal projection large and elongate, subrectangular ( Figure 2D ), with curved angles; posterior propodeal projections spiny, divergent; mesopleuron ventrally angulated and carinate with large, contiguous foveate punctures ( Figure 7A ); profemur unmodified, not angled or carinate. Wings hyaline, light brown veins.

Metasoma. Punctures on T1 even, small and sparse, with wide polished areas; denser on T2; apical margin of T2 non-metallic and impunctate; punctures on T3 deeper and larger laterally; apical snout-like projection discretely extended, with lateral margin straight and non-metallic brown ( Figure 2A ); apical truncation circular, only slightly incised ventrally ( Figure 2F ).

Colouration. Dorsum of head, pronotum, mesoscutum and metasoma with distinctly red; lower face, clypeus, pronotal collar and lateral pronotal depression with green to light blue reflections; remaining mesosoma blue, mesoscutellum medially and metanotal projection largely black; metasomal sterna greenish. Scape green; mandible largely non-metallic light-brown, brown distally. Legs mostly green with light brown tarsi; tegula light brown.

Vestiture. Body with whitish, short setae, about 1.0 × MOD long.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution

India (Andhra Pradesh).

Etymology

The specific name bicolor (adjective) is related to the unique colouration of this species, with contrasting red and blue on mesosoma.

Remarks

Elampus species are usually entirely green to blue, or green to blue on head and mesosoma and red to golden on metasoma. Only four species known so far have mesosoma fully or partially red: Elampus pyrosomus (Förster, 1853) ; E. turcmenicus (Linsenmaier, 1968) ; E. rufirostris (Linsenmaier, 1999) , whose mesosoma is entirely red, in some specimens with greenishgolden colouration; and E. coloratus Rosa, 2017 , known from Russia and Mongolia, whose male has red face, head dorsally and mesosoma green with extensive golden-red colour (probably red on living specimens) on pronotum,mesonotum, metanotum, mesopleuron and legs. Elampus bicolor sp. n. can be differentiated by these species based on the diagnostic characters mentioned in the diagnosis.

Figures

Figure 2. Elampus bicolor sp. n., holotype, J. A. Habitus, lateral view. B. Habitus, ventral view. C. Head and mesosoma, dorsal view. D. Head and mesosoma, dorsal view. E. Metasoma, dorso-lateral view. F. Metasoma, ventral view. Scale bar: 1 mm.

Figure 7. Elampus kashmirensis (Nurse, 1902), lectotype J. A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Habitus, lateral view. C. Head, frontal view. D. Mesosoma, dorsal view. E. Metasoma, lateral view. F. Third metasomal tergum, posterior view. Scale bars: 1 mm.