Bassettia archboldi, Melika & Abrahamson, 2007

Melika, G & Abrahamson, WG, 2007, Review Of The Nearctic Gallwasp Species Of The Genus Bassettia Ashmead, 1887, With Description Of New Species (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 53 (2), pp. 131-148 : 136-138

Bassettia archboldi sp. n.

(Figs 9, 17–19)

Description – Male. Head black, except dark brown lower face, clypeus, mandibles and mouthparts; as broad as high in front view; 2.0 times as broad as long from above; vertex, frons, and gena finely coriaceous; lower face much rougher, with dense short white setae; clypeus small rounded, gena only very slightly broadened behind eye; eyes gradually converging inward anteriorly; POD nearly 2.0 times as long as OOD; malar space 4.0–5.0 times as short as eye height. Antenna 16-segmented, filiform, pedicel and scape flattened and broadened, both nearly equal in length and as broad as long; F1 longer than pedicel and scape together, subsequent flagellomeres gradually shortened (Fig. 9). Mesosoma flattened dorso-ventrally, 1.4 times as long as high ( Fig. 18 ), black or anterior half of mesoscutum, mesepisternum, and propodeum dark brown to brown. Mesoscutum and mesoscutellum elongated, longer than broad, transversely finely coriaceous; mesoscutellum not overhanging metascutellum. Notauli very weak, hardly traceable in posterior 1/2 to 1/3, in some specimens absent; parapsidal lines distinct ( Fig. 19 ); scutellar foveae narrow and shallow, with smooth shiny bottom, separated by indistinct narrow carina, which in some specimens is hardly traceable; mesopleuron finely coriaceous, with slightly traceable transverse sculpturing on lower half. Fore wing slightly longer than body, margin with cilia; veins pale brown, areolet present, small, triangular, radial cell elongated, 3.0 times as long as broad ( Fig. 17 ). Legs uniformly yellowish brown. Central area of propodeum smooth, bare, delimited by two lateral carinae, slightly curved outward in the middle, without or with fragmented and indistinct median longitudinal carina, with or without indistinct striae; width of central area nearly equal to distance between lateral carina and side of propodeum; sides of propodeum with short dense white setae. In some specimens, lateral carina is indistinct, hardly traceable. Nucha long, shiny, smooth, without striae. Metasoma shorter than mesosoma, nearly as high as long, with sparse white setae laterally at the base of 2nd tergite, which occupies slightly more than half length of metasoma ( Fig. 18 ). Length 2.0– 3.3 mm.

Females unknown.

Gall. Unknown.

* In some examined specimens of the asexual females of B. pallida the longitudinal depression and longitudinal carina on the vertex indistinct, hardly traceable and, thus to avoid misidentification, this species is keyed out twice.

Figs 9–16. 9–10 = male antenna: 9 = Bassettia archboldi , 10 = Plagiotrochus australis. 11 = Bassettia floridana , mesosoma, lateral view. 12–13 = scutum and scutellum, dorsal view: 12 = B. pallida , 13 = B. floridana . 14 = Callirhytis glandium, head, front view. 15–16 = Bassettia floridana :

15 = female antenna, 16 = metasoma, lateral view

Etymology – Named in honor of Mr. RICHARD ARCHBOLD, founder of the Archbold Biological

Station.

Type material – Holotype male and 3 paratype males “ USA, FL, Highlands Co., Lake Placid , Archbold Bio Sta, 1995.10.11. MT. leg. G. Melika ” . Holotype and one paratype deposited in the USNM, two paratypes in the collection of the Systematic Parasitoid Laboratory , Tanakajd, Hungary .

Diagnosis – Similar to B. ligni , however, the mesoscutum is longer than broad in dorsal view; the scutellar foveae very narrow, the median carina narrow, indistinct or absent ( Fig. 19 ). In B. ligni , the mesoscutum is rounded, nearly as long as broad; the scutellar foveae rounded, separated by broad distinct carina.

Biology – Only the male is known. Adults were caught in Malaise trap in November. Distribution – USA: Florida (Archbold Biological Station, Lake Placid, Highlands Co.).

Figures

Figs 17–23. 17–19 = Bassettia archboldi: 17 = fore wing, 18 = body, lateral view, 19 = scutum and scutellum, dorsal view. 20–21 = female antenna: 20 = B. virginiana, 21 = B. pallida. 22–23 = scutum