Goncharovtilla oblomovi Williams, Bartholomay & Lopez, 2024

Williams, Kevin A., Cambra, Roberto. A., Bartholomay, Pedro R., Lopez, Vinicius M., Brothers, Denis J., Martins, Herbeson O. J., Ferreira, Vinina S., Koroiva, Ricardo & Guillermo-Ferreira, Rhainer, 2024, Two new genera of Neotropical Dasymutillini (Hymenoptera, Mutillidae, Sphaeropthalminae): Goncharovtilla gen. nov. from Brazil and Dasyphuta gen. nov. from Panama, Zootaxa 5538 (2), pp. 127-152 : 130-132

Goncharovtilla oblomovi Williams, Bartholomay & Lopez , sp. nov.

( Figs 1–16 , 18–20 )

Diagnosis. As for genus.

Description. FEMALE. Body length. 6.5mm in holotype (4.0– 9.5 mm). Head. Posterior margin shallowly concave in dorsal view. Vertex width 0.8 × pronotal width. Eye height in frontal view 1.2 × distance from its ventral margin to mandibular condyle. Head surface entirely concealed by dense setation, except gena basally with sparse fine punctures. Mandible with small subapical tooth. Dorsal and lateral scrobal carinae absent. Antennal tubercle mostly asetose, shallowly and irregularly rugose. F1 1.6 × pedicel length; F2 1.3 × pedicel length. Genal carina present, ending before hypostomal carina. Occipital area concave. Dorsal and posterior surfaces of vertex separated by sharp transversely arcuate carina. Mesosoma. As long as wide. Surface completely concealed by dense setation dorsally. Anterior face of pronotum densely and conspicuously covered with longitudinal striae. Humeral carina present, narrowly separated from low inconspicuous epaulet, antero-lateral corner of pronotum rounded in dorsal view. Pronotal spiracle virtually flat against lateral margin of pronotum. Ratios of widths at humeral angles, pronotal spiracles, widest point of mesonotum, narrowest point of mesonotum and propodeum posterior to propodeal spiracles 1.00:1.05:1.15:0.91:0.94. Lateral margin of mesosoma slightly diverging anterad towards pronotal spiracle and converging slightly towards humeral angle after pronotal spiracle. Scutellar scale present, well-developed, wide, more than twice width of poorly defined anterolateral carinae, separated from the latter. Posterior and dorsal faces of propodeum undefined, propodeum almost vertical in lateral view. Propodeal spiracle virtually flat against lateral margin of mesosoma; no post-spiracular area. Metasoma. Dorsal sculpture, except pygidium and laterally on T2, completely concealed by dense setation; T2 densely and coarsely foveolate-punctate laterally. T1 0.3 × as wide as T2. T2 length 0.9 × its width. T2 maximum width anterior to midlength. S1 with conspicuous short longitudinal carina, terminating in short tooth-like projection posteriorly; S2–6 densely and coarsely foveolate-punctate. Pygidium subrounded, almost as broad as long, broadest nearer base; defined by strong arcuate lateral carina throughout its extension; surface with widely spaced longitudinal striations; interstices finely granulose. Coloration and variations. Body and appendages black to reddish-brown, except mandible, antennal tubercle, and flagellum partially yellowish-brown. Head setae silvery-white, dense, predominantly appressed and decumbent, with few sparse brownish erect setae, and dense decumbent brownish setae below occipital carina. Mesosomal dorsum with silvery-white setae laterally and black to brownish-black setae medially; mostly dense decumbent and appressed setae interspersed with sparse erect setae throughout; lateral face of pronotum, mesopleuron, metapleuron, and lateral face of propodeum silvery-white. Metasoma with interspersed appressed, decumbent, and erect silvery-white setae, except anterior half of T2 disc, posteromedial margin of T2 and medially on T3–6 with interspersed appressed, decumbent and erect brownish-black setae. Three different patterns for white setae distribution on the metasoma have been observed in this species: the holotype has a complete band of silvery-white setae on the posterior margin reaching the fringe only laterally, thus the fringe is black medially; one variant has both the silvery-white band and silvery-white fringe narrowly interrupted medially with black; a third form has both the silvery-white band and silvery-white fringe more widely interrupted medially.

MALE. Body length. 9.9 in allotype (6.0–10.0) mm. Head. Transverse, subrectangular in dorsal view; posterolateral angles rounded; vertex width 0.85 × pronotal width. Eye almost circular. Ocelli small; OOD 3.7 × DLO, IOD 5.0 × DLO. Occipital carina distinct. Sculpture predominantly concealed by dense setation, coarsely and densely foveolate-punctate where visible. Gena ecarinate. Antennal scrobe concave to eye margin, with narrow transverse dorsal scrobal carina. Clypeus concave sublaterally, elevating slightly laterad and, especially, mediad; with conspicuous elevated longitudinal crest medially; ventral margin strongly acuminate, terminating medially in subacute projection; coarsely and sparsely punctate throughout, punctures slightly dense lateromedially. Scape bicarinate. F1 2.1 × pedicel length; F2 1.7 × pedicel length. Mandible slightly tapering apicad, smoothly curved medially; with low inconspicuous carina anterodorsally terminating before apical third; inconspicuously bidentate apically, subapical tooth minute; lacking ventral notch and projections. Mesosoma. Epaulets poorly defined, broadly disconnected from humeral carina, virtually flat against anterior margin of pronotum. Anterior face of pronotum mostly asetose, short, poorly and coarsely distinguished from dorsal face, indistinctly sculptured, with medial longitudinal slightly concave area. Tegula convex, mostly glabrous and impunctate except for dense punctures anteriorly and along inner margin. Dorsal sculpture of pronotum, mesoscutellum, and metanotum concealed by dense setation. Mesoscutellum flat, sloping posterad in lateral view. Axilla projected posterolaterally as truncate/ rounded lobe broadly connected to mesoscutellum; with oblique longitudinal lamella connecting its ventral surface to mesoscutellum; dorsal surface of axilla smooth. Metanotum equally long throughout. Propodeum convex, dorsal sculpture concealed by dense setation at dorsal third, densely areolate where visible; posterolateral margin smoothly rounded; dorsal face indistinguishable from posterior face. Lateral face of pronotum simply punctate. Mesopleuron mostly concealed by dense setation, densely and coarsely micropunctate where visible; smoothly elevated medially, without any conspicuous projections. Metapleuron mostly concealed by dense setation, sparsely micropunctate to smooth where visible.Lateral face of propodeum smooth to sparsely and shallowly foveolate to areolate posterodorsad. Wings. Fore wing with moderate elongate sclerotized pterostigma; length of pterostigma approximately twice its width; marginal cell elongated, its length approximately twice its width, truncate apically; three submarginal cells, apical veins of third cell vestigial. Legs. Densely setose, setae shorter and denser on tibiae and tarsi; lateral margin of spurs finely serrate. Metasoma. T1 0.1 × as wide as T2. T2 length 1.0 × its width. T1 densely and coarsely foveolate-punctate.T2 densely and finely foveolate-punctate. Sculpture of T3–7, except pygidium, concealed by dense setation. S1 densely and finely foveolate-punctate. S2 densely and coarsely foveolate-punctate, sculpture sparser posterad. S3–6 densely foveolate-punctate to punctate. S8 punctate, longer than broad, apical margin strongly acuminate. Genitalia. Ratios of free length of paramere, cuspis and digitus, 1.0:0.3:0.2. Parameres strongly convergent and broad in dorsal view, except at apical fourth where parallel and abruptly narrowed; dorsoventrally flattened, except subcylindrical apical third; in lateral view slightly curved ventrally, abruptly and strongly upcurved at apical fourth; with dense tuft of long setae on basal half, setae abruptly shorter and sparser, almost absent, on apical half. Cuspis short, stout, “clavate”, obscured by base of paramere in dorsal view, only partially visible in ventral view due to strong setation of paramere; slightly wider apicad, subparallel elsewhere; with dense long setae apicoventrally. Paracuspis short, about ¼ length of cuspis, subrounded, with few sparse setae. Digitus slightly elongate, weakly curved inward in dorsal view and slightly up-curved in lateral view, laterally compressed; apparently asetose. Penis valve concave on internal surface, with pair of acute teeth apicoventrally; without lateral pocket, asetose; apical distance between teeth 0.2 × length of valve. Coloration and variations. Body setae silvery-white, except area between posterior margin of ocellar triangle and posterior head margin, mesonotum, posterior half of T2 disc, and T5–7 with brownish-black setae. No significant variations were observed in the specimens examined.

Distribution. Brazil (Pernambuco, Ceará, and Maranhão).

Etymology. Named after the fictional character Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, the particularly lazy main character of the novel Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov. The first recorded specimen was collected in Russas, Ceará in 2010 and was almost immediately recognized by KAW as a new species. In a phylogenetic analysis of Dasymutillini ( Williams 2012), it was recognized to be a new genus. It took 50 pages for Oblomov to even rise from his bed, and it has taken 14 years for KAW to get around to naming and describing this spectacular wasp.

Material examined. [5♀ 3♂] Type material. Holotype, ♀, BRAZIL, Pernambuco, Petrolina , 09°19’44.2”S 42°33’30”W, 17.V.2019, coleta manual, H.O.J. Martins leg, MZSPHYM0136464 ( MZSP; Fig. 18 ) . Paratypes: 1♀, same data as holotype except MZSPHYM0145123 ( MZSP) ; 1♂, allotype, same data as holotype except MZSPHYM0136463 ( MZSP) ; 1♂ same data as holotype except MZSPHYM0145122 ( MZSP) ; 1♀, same data as holotype except Hym–002/0051 , V.2018 ( LESTES) ; 1♂,same data as holotype except Hym–002/0048 , 24–28.III.2018 ( LESTES) ; 1♀, Ceará, BR116, 5 km SW Russas , 04°58.267’S 38°00.444’W, 30 m, 22.VI.2010, C. Waichert col. ( UFES; voucher JP1779 ) . Other material. BRAZIL: 1♀, Maranhão, Alto Parnaíba, Estação 8, 13.VIII.2013, L. P. Amaral-Neto ( DZUP #299378 ; Fig. 19 ); 1♀, Riachão, Fazenda Altos , 18–22.VIII.2009, Varrediura, F. Limeira-de-Oliveira leg. ( INPA; Fig. 20 ).

Remarks. In both sexes, this species closely resembles Traumatomutilla bifurca ( Klug, 1821) in coloration ( Bartholomay et al., 2019c) and many other mutillid species in the Brazilian Caatinga. The head structure of the female ( Figs 1–3 ) and genitalia of the male ( Figs 13–16 ) differentiate Goncharovtilla oblomovi sp. nov. from any other species in the Caatinga and any known Traumatomutilla species.

The sex association is based on collection of males and females at the same locality on the same date in Pernambuco, demonstrating similar morphology (e.g., size and coloration). This association was subsequently confirmed through DNA sequence comparisons. The Maximum Likelihood ( ML) phylogeny is illustrated in Fig. 17 , with posterior probability values and bootstrap values provided. The identical sequences of two females and one male corroborate the identification of a single species, G. oblomovi sp. nov. Additionally, morphological similarities between both sexes and related genera further validate the sex association (see remarks for the genus above).

The female specimens from Maranhão are not included as paratypes.They differ from the holotype and paratypes in setal coloration, having the white setal band of T2 widely interrupted by black setae ( Figs 18–20 ). They also differ slightly from one another in the shape and thickness of the white setal bands on T2–4. Future studies, particularly if males are associated with these forms, could reveal them to belong to a separate species but, with the limited material available, they appear to form an incomplete gradient with the type series. With a nod to Goncharov’s Oblomov, we here employ the “lazy” approach of treating them as variants of a single species.

Figures

FIGURE 17. Phylogenetic relationships of Goncharovtilla oblomovi sp. nov. based on the internal transcribed spacer 1 region (bootstrap values/posterior probabilities). PP826355 = Holotype; PP826356 = Allotype.

FIGURES 1–4. Goncharovtilla oblomovi sp. nov., ♀ (Paratype). 1. Dorsal habitus; 2. Lateral habitus; 3. Head, anterior view; 4. Apical terga and pygidium (T6). Scale bars= 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 5, 6. Goncharovtilla oblomovi sp. nov., ♂ (Paratype). 5. Lateral habitus; 6. Dorsal habitus. Scale bars =2 mm.

FIGURES 7–12. Goncharovtilla oblomovi sp. nov., ♂ (Paratype). 7. Head, dorsal view; 8. Head, anterior view; 9. Pygidium (T7); 10. Hypopygium (S8); 11. Left wing base and axilla, posterior view; 12. Schematic drawing in same view. Scale bars= 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 13–16. Goncharovtilla oblomovi sp. nov., male genitalia (Paratype). 13. Dorsal view; 14. Ventral view; 15. Right half, lateral view (penis valve removed); 16. Right penis valve in lateral view (image flipped horizontally). Scale bars: 13–15 = 0.5 mm, 16 = 0.2 mm.

FIGURES 18–20. Metasomal color pattern variations in females of Goncharovtilla oblomovi sp. nov. 18. Transversely continuous band of white pilosity not reaching apical fringe of T2 medially, typical of holotype and paratype series from Ceará and Pernambuco; 19. Transverse band of white pilosity on T2 narrowly interrupted medially, specimen from Alto Parnaiba, Maranhão; 20. Transverse band of white pilosity on T2 widely interrupted, specimen from Riachão, Maranhão.