Thaumatogelis lichtensteini (Pfankuch, 1913)

Riedel, Matthias, Ameri, Ali, Talebi, Ali Asghar & Ebrahimi, Ebrahim, 2019, Contribution to the Ɨchneumonidae (Hymenoptera) oI Ɨran, with descriptions oI seven new species, Linzer biologische Beiträge 51 (1), pp. 361-390 : 379-380

Thaumatogelis lichtensteini (PFANKUCH, 1913)

M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: Markazisite 4: 1♀ 6-10.v.2018, leg. M. Parachami-Araghi.

D e s c r i p t i o n: ♀: Body length 5.5 mm. Antenna filiform, with 22 flagellomeres; 1 st flagellomere 1.7x longer than wide and 0.7x as long as the 2 nd flagellomere; 5 th flagellomere 1.3x longer than wide. Temple moderately and roundly narrowed behind eye, seen dorsally temple 0.7x as long as eye. Distance of lateral ocellus to eye 1.6x ocellar diameter. Frons and face granulate and superficially punctate, matte. Clypeus shining, with scattered coarse punctures. Genal carina narrow, hypostomal carina lamelliform elevated.

Mesoscutum and pronotum fused, sides of pronotum with coarse striae in ventral half. Mesoscutum finely rugose-punctate, ± shining. Scutellum not present. Mesopleuron and metapleuron with coarse transversal striae. Propodeum finely rugose-punctate. Area petiolaris with coarse transverse striae, transversal carina only sublaterally present. Hind femur c.3.1x longer than wide.

1 st metasomal tergite 1.9x longer than apically wide, postpetiolus with coarse longitudinal rugose-punctation; 2 nd and 3 rd tergites completely fused, but margin between them distinct. 2 nd tergite with fine rather dense setiferous punctures (distance 1-2x their diameter); 3 rd tergite with very scattered fine setiferous punctures, distance between them c.2x length of hairs. Ovipositor sheath c.0.7x as long as hind tibia. Ovipositor bent below glued body, tip of ovipositor therefore not visible.

Color: Head black. Mandible except teeth, apical margin of clypeus and antenna completely red. Mesosoma with red and black pattern. 1 st tergite mainly red; 2 nd to 5 th tergites black, 6 th and 7 th tergites reddish-brown. Legs including coxae and trochanters reddish brown; fore and mid femora with brown dorsal stripes; hind femur dark reddish-brown; all tibiae cream-yellow basally, hind tibia infuscate apically.

Remark: The description and figures were seen by Martin Schwarz (Linz/ Austria) who identified this specimen as Th. lichtensteini (PFANKUCH) but quoted that this taxon is very diverse and might be an aggregate of separate taxa. Therefore, we give a detailed description of the Iranian specimen here.

D i s t r i b u t i o n: Western Palaearctic region, known from Egypt and Turkey, new record for Iran.