Furcidentia, Zettel, 1990

Kittel, Rebecca N., 2018, A taxonomic review of the parasitoid wasp genera Furcidentia Zettel and Pseudophanerotoma Zettel (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Cheloninae) from the Neotropics with the description of four new species, Zootaxa 4486 (2), pp. 146-160 : 147-148

Genus Furcidentia

( Figs 1–3 , 9 )

Pseudophanerotoma (Furcidentia) Zettel, 1990: 174 .

Type species: Pseudophanerotoma (Furcidentia) clypeata Zettel, 1990 by original designation (CNC), [examined]. Furcidentia Zettel : stat. rev. Kittel et al. 2016: 231.

Pseudophanerotoma (Furcidentia) Shaw, 1997 ; Yu et al., 2012.

Diagnosis. Eyes round and glabrous; ocelli as an equilateral triangle; hypostomal carina reaching occipital carina; teeth on clypeus absent or two teeth present; malar suture absent; occipital carina complete; antenna with more than 25 antennomeres; notauli present, short; scutellar sulcus present; blister on mid tibia present; fore wing with 1- SR+M present, emanating from parastigma; 2-R1 present; R extending to apex of wing; 1-cu1 postfurcal, 2-SR+M antefurcal, with three radial abscissae present; 3-SR postfurcal; subdiscal cell closed (cu1b present); cua postfurcal; lateral propodeal tubercles absent; metasomal carapace with transverse sutures; with lobes on posterior end of carapace.

As is the case for the type species of the genus F. clypeata , none of the species described here possess clypeal teeth. Although the presence or absence of clypeal teeth has been used to distinguish chelonine genera ( Zettel, 1990), there are a growing number of instances to indicate that this is a character of species-level importance only, e.g. species of Ascogaster , Phanerotomella , and Wushenia ( Huddleston, 1984; Kittel & Austin, 2013; Kittel et al., 2015). This also appears to be the case for Furcidentia , in that F. pulchra and F. sharkeyi possess two clypeal teeth, but otherwise can be easily accommodated within this genus.

Distribution. Previously known from Costa Rica and Ecuador. The new species described below extend the distribution of the genus to the north ( Guatemala) and east ( French Guiana) within the Neotropics.

Biology. The hosts of Furcidentia are unknown.

Remark. Zettel (1990) described three species of Furcidentia , all of which were based only on males. The three new species described here are all based on females, none of which are likely to be conspecific with Zettel’s (1990) species given differences in their sculpturing and colour patterns (see the identification key and diagnosis of species).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Furcidentia jenningsi sp. nov., holotype, female, a—habitus lateral; b—head frontal; c—fore wing; scale bars a = 1.0 mm, b = 0.25 mm, c = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 2. Furcidentia llama sp. nov., holotype, female, a—head frontal; b—habitus lateral; c—habitus dorsal; scale bars a = 0.5 mm, b, c = 1.0 mm.

FIGURE 3. Furcidentia tikalensis sp. nov., holotype, female, a—habitus lateral; b—habitus dorsal, c—fore wing; d head frontal; scale bars a, b = 1.0 mm, c, d = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 9. Distribution map of the three new species of Furcidentia. F. jenningsi sp. nov. (red square), F. llama sp. nov. (blue square), and F. tikalensis sp. nov. (yellow triangle).