Syntretus brevidentatus Gupta & van Achterberg, 2024

Gupta, Ankita, Achterberg, Cornelis Van, Pattar, Rohit, Ajaykumara, K. M. & Sushil, S. N., 2024, New braconid species of the Euphorinae genus Syntretus Foerster and a first report of the Alysiinae genus Heratemis Walker from India, Zootaxa 5437 (1), pp. 131-138 : 131-134

Syntretus brevidentatus Gupta & van Achterberg , sp. nov.

( Figs 1–3 )

Type material. Holotype. Female on card; India: Karnataka: Bengaluru ; Malaise trap; March 2004; coll. NBAIR; codeNIM/ NBAIR /Hym/Brac/Syn/100304-H (NIM) . Paratype: one female on card; same data as holotype; code- NIM/ NBAIR / Hym/Brac/Syn/100304-P1 .

Holotype. Body length 4.3 mm; antenna 24 antennomeres; fore wing 3.2 mm long (1.2 mm wide).

Colour: Body brownish yellow, except for light grey eyes and dark brown outer margins of ocelli; antenna light brown, but scape and pedicel yellowish; mandibles off white to pale yellow with dark apical margins, mid basal and lateral sides of mesoscutum yellowish brown remaining dark brown, scutellum brown; propodeum dark brown; pterostigma brown, M+CU1 of fore wing reduced except for pigmented apical 0.2; vein cu-a of hind wing only vaguely pigmented and nearly interstitial with vein 1r-m; dark brown ovipositor sheath.

Head: Width of head in dorsal view 1.8 × its length; 24 antennomeres, antenna 0.7 × as long as length of body, length of first flagellomere 1.1 × as long as second flagellomere, length of first, second, third and penultimate flagellomeres 3.4, 2.9, 2.5 and 2.0 × their width, respectively; OOL: OD: POL (relative)= 1.8: 1.1: 1.7; length of eye in dorsal view 1.5 × as long as temple; temple roundly narrowed behind eyes; temple and vertex punctate; face with a distinct medio-longitudinal groove; punctate, sparsely setose, inter-tentorial line subequal to tentorio-ocular line ( Fig. 3A ); clypeus convex, less punctate, its width 1.9 × its height; clypeus narrower than face; length of malar space 1.1 × basal width of mandible.

Mesosoma: Length of mesosoma 1.3 × its height; pronotum dorsally crenulate; notauli crenulate-rugose, complete; mesoscutum with mid-longitudinal carina, more prominent in apical half ( Fig. 3F ); scutellum comparatively smoother; propleuron with rugae, mesopleuron smooth in middle, surrounding rugose, metapleuron reticulate-rugose; propodeum areolate, with prominent large median areola and few coarse irregular transverse carinae, enclosed areas smooth and shiny; region posterior to areola with a depression and transverse curved closely placed carinae.

Wings: Fore wing subhyaline and 2.7 × longer than wide; pterostigma 3.7 × as long as wide; length of vein 1- R 1 1.2 × as long as length of pterostigma; vein 3-SR+SR1 slightly curved, 12.2 × longer than r; r issued from middle of pterostigma, wider than vein 2-SR ( Fig. 3G ), 0.4 × width of pterostigma; vein 3-SR+SR1 curved, ending before apex; r:2- SR:SR1+3-SR (relative) = 0.9:2.2:10.9; l-CU1:2-CU1 (relative) = 0.6:3.3; 2-1A absent; basal and subbasal cells densely setose. Hind wing: veins 1-SC+ R, SC+ R 1, 2-SC+ R and 1r-m largely unsclerotised and more or less pigmented; vein cu-a weakly pigmented and subinterstitial.

Legs: Hind coxa rugose dorsally; length of hind femur, tibia and basitarsus 5.0, 13 and 16.3 × their width, respectively; length of inner hind tibial spur 0.30 × as long as hind basitarsus length; hind tarsus slender and almost equal to hind tibial length, second tarsomere almost half length of basitarsus; all tarsal claws (including hind ( Fig. 3K )) with inner tooth shorter than outer tooth.

Metasoma: Length of first tergite 4.2 × as long as its apical width, first tergite with longitudinal striae, but basally and apically smooth ( Fig. 3H ), laterope absent; from second tergite onwards smooth; ovipositor sheath shorter than apical height of metasoma ( Fig. 3J ) and 0.7 × as long as first tergite length (lateral view); apical half of ovipositor narrow and decurved.

Etymology: Named after the short inner tooth of the tarsal claws; “brevis” is Latin for short and “dens” is Latin for tooth.

Comments: The new species belong to the subgenus Parasyntretus Belokobylskij, 1993 (type species: Syntretus amoenus Belokobylskij, 1993 ) because the inner tooth of the tarsal claws is shorter than the apical tooth (equal in Syntretus s.str.), the metasoma of ♀ is distinctly compressed (depressed Syntretus s.str.), veins 2-SC+ R and 1r-m of the hind wing partially sclerotized ( Fig. 1 ) (sclerotized in Syntretus s.str.), metapleuron coarsely reticulate-rugose (smooth in Syntretus s.str., but rarely rugose) and notauli present anteriorly, often sculptured, but smooth and shallowly impressed in S. curvatus (usually absent or shallowly impressed and smooth in Syntretus s.str.). The new species comes close to S. setosus Chen & van Achterberg in the key by Chen & van Achterberg (1997) in having temple, vertex, frons, face, and mesoscutum punctate; first metasomal tergite with longitudinal rugae, spiracles not protruding; and mesosoma brownish yellow. However, it differs as follows (in addition to the characters mentioned above for Parasyntretus ): inter-tentorial line subequal to tentorio-ocular line (vs 2.5 × in S. setosus ); notauli prominent and crenulate (vs notauli absent); r issued from middle of pterostigma (vs r issued distinctly behind middle of pterostigma in S. setosus ); length of hind basitarsus 16.3 × their width (vs 8.3 × in S. setosus ); first tergite brown (vs black) and metapleuron coarsely reticulate (vs smooth).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Syntretus brevidentatus sp. nov. Female in dorsal aspect (holotype).

FIGURE 2. Syntretus brevidentatus sp. nov. Female in lateral aspect (paratype).

FIGURE 3. Syntretus brevidentatus sp. nov. A—Head in anterioraspect; B—Vertex;C—Head in lateral aspect; D—Mesosoma in lateral aspect; E—Antenna; F—Mesosoma in dorsal aspect; G—Wings; H—First tergite; I—Metasoma in part; J—Metasoma in lateral aspect; K—Hind tarsal claw.