Parastephanellus binoyi Amal, Girish Kumar, & van Achterberg, 2024

Amal, S., Kumar, P. Girish & Achterberg, Cornelis Van, 2024, Description of a new species of Parastephanellus Enderlein, 1906 (Hymenoptera: Stephanidae) from Western Ghats, India, Zootaxa 5481 (2), pp. 290-296 : 291-294

Parastephanellus binoyi Amal, Girish Kumar, & van Achterberg sp. nov.

( Figs 1–9 )

Type material. Holotype female, India: Kerala, Palakkad district, Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, Ezhupatham Palam , Muthuvarachal Section (10.379370° N 76.655765° E 528 m), 15.ii.2024, coll. P. Girish Kumar & Party, ( ZSIK) Regd. No. ZSI/ WGRC /I. R.-INV.26527.

Diagnosis. Frons glossy with irregular striations forming somewhat rugose towards antennal scrobe; temple smooth and shiny with scattered setigerous punctures; occipital carina not complete, disappearing towards the mandibles; neck short, forming a cavity medially, with few strong striations laterally; pronotum irregularly striated, sparsely setose, posterior margin emarginated; fore wing hyaline, 1-M 2.9 × 1-SR, almost straight; vein r reaching pterostigma almost medially; sdc1 2.4 × as long as its maximum width, vein 2-1A obsolete or absent; hind tibia coriaceous with moderate pubescence, 1.13 × as long as hind femur, apical inflated part 2.7 × as wide as narrow basal part, narrow part about half as long as widened part, widened part with weak oblique inverted obsolete V shaped carinae; first tergite 8 × as long as its maximum width, 2.3 × as long as second tergite; visible part of seventh and eighth tergite micro coriaceous, no pygidial protuberance present apically; ovipositor sheath 0.93 × as long as body and 1.66 × as long as fore wing.

Description. Holotype, ♀. Body length 6.15 mm, ovipositor sheath length 5.8 mm, fore wing length 3.5 mm.

Colour. Blackish brown; apex of temple, middle of mandible, antennal segments, extreme base of fore and mid femora, tarsal segments, and ovipositor predominantly yellowish brown; frontal region of head and metasoma except first metasomal segment blackish; wings hyaline, pterostigma blackish brown, its base hardly paler than remainder of pterostigma, and veins brown.

Head. Antenna with 20 antennomeres; frons glossy with irregular striations forming somewhat rugose towards antennal scrobe, with scattered setae; five anterior coronal teeth, antero-medial one largest, followed by two pairs of posterior arcuate ones, which are not connected by a transverse carina; third, fourth and fifth pairs of coronal teeth are weak and each pairs are connected by transverse carina ( Fig. 3 ); vertex beyond the lateral ocellus with somewhat regular transverse carinae except smooth apical one third; temple smooth and shiny with scattered setigerous punctures; occipital carina not complete, disappearing towards the mandibles.

Mesosoma . Neck short, forming a cavity medially, with few strong striations laterally; pronotum irregularly striated, sparsely setose, posterior margin emarginated; propleuron smooth and shiny, with few scattered setigerous punctures laterally; mesonotum glossy with few scattered setigerous punctures, median grove and notauli distinct with foveolate punctures; mesopleuron largely glossy with few weak irregular scattered striations and few scattered setigerous punctures; scutellum smooth and shiny, scutoscutellar sulcus foveolate, and with few scattered setigerous punctures; metapleuron anteriorly almost smooth, posteriorly with weak rugose punctures and few setae; propodeum almost entirely alutaceous, a narrow smooth area delimited by a transverse carina apically joining first metasomal tergite; fore wing hyaline, 1-M 2.9 × 1-SR, almost straight; vein r reaching pterostigma almost medially; sdc1 2.4 × as long as its maximum width, vain 2-1A obsolete or absent; hind coxa robust, without a dorsal teeth and with coriaceous sculpture; hind femur widened, smooth with coriaceous sculpturing and scattered sparse white setae, ventrally with 2 large teeth and few denticles in between; hind tibia coriaceous with moderate pubescence, 1.1 × as long as hind femur, apical inflated part 2.7 × as wide as narrow basal part, narrow part 0.46 × as long as widened part, widened part with weak oblique inverted obsolete V shaped carinae; hind tarsus with three tarsomeres, subparallelsided, first hind basitarsus 6 × as long as wide medially and 3.4 × as long as second tarsal segment.

Metasoma. First tergite 8.0 × as long as its maximum width, 2.3 × as long as second tergite, cylindrical (narrow at the apex and widened medially) with irregular moderately strong rugae throughout its length; second tergite smooth with micro-coriaceous sculpturing; third to sixth tergites finely strigulate except apex and lateral sides micro-coriaceous; visible part of seventh and eighth tergite micro-coriaceous, no pygidial protuberance present apically; ovipositor sheath 0.93 × as long as body and 1.66 × as long as fore wing.

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. Oriental: India (Kerala).

Biology. Unknown, presumably attacking wood boring beetles infesting fallen wood.

Etymology. The species is named after Dr C. Binoy for his contributions to our taxonomic knowledge of Indian Stephanidae .

Figures

FIGURES 1‒5. Parastephanellus binoyi Amal, Girish Kumar & Achterberg sp. nov., holotype female. 1, Habitus, lateral view; 2, Head, anterior view; 3, Head, dorsal view; 4, Head, lateral view; 5, Wings.

FIGURES 6‒9. Parastephanellus binoyi Amal, Girish Kumar, & Achterberg sp. nov., holotype female. 6, Mesosoma, lateral view; 7, Legs, lateral view; 8, Mesosoma, dorsal view; 9, Metasoma, last three segments with ovipositor.