Pristonesia parcetil Azevedo & Colombo, 2022

Azevedo, Celso O. & Colombo, Wesley D., 2022, Revision of Pristonesia (Hymenoptera, Bethylidae, Pristocerinae), an endemic Afrotropical genus, Zootaxa 5124 (3), pp. 321-340 : 327-328

Pristonesia parcetil Azevedo & Colombo , sp. nov.

Figs 1G–I , 4G–I

Diagnosis. This species differs from the others of the genus by having the apical set of setae of the aedeagus very sparse, with only two setae each side.

Description. Male. Body 4.0– 4.5 mm long. Forewing 3.2–3.5 mm long.Antenna 1.7–2.0 mm long. Color. Head and mesosoma dark castaneous almost black; clypeus dark castaneous; antenna dark castaneous; palpi castaneous; mandible dark castaneous; legs castaneous to dark castaneous; metasoma dark castaneous; wings hyaline, veins light castaneous, pterostigma darker.

Head. Heptagonal, longer than wide. Mandible with four teeth, ventral most sharpened and larger, otherwise somewhat rounded and short. Clypeus with median lobe angulate; median carina complete, somewhat high and slightly outcurved in lateral.Antenna with dense suberect pubescence, with some outstanding erect setae on first five flagellomeres, about as long as half flagellomeral diameter; first four antennomeres in a ratio of about 15:4.5:8:7. Vertex crest mostly straight. Temple evenly little outcurved, progressively divergent anterad. Antennal rim about as long as wide, inter-torular space about 1.5 × torular diameter. Frons polished, with conspicuous sparse punctures. Ocellar triangle with frontal angle acute, anterior ocellus far posterior to supra-ocular line. Occipital carina partially visible on dorsal view.

Mesosoma . Dorsal pronotal area polished, with few irregularly sized small punctures, shorter than anteromesoscutum, posterior area much wider than anterior one, surface very depressed anterad, transverse pronotal carina crossing all anterior border, ill-defined and slightly arched; cervical pronotal area short, vertical, polished. Notauli well impressed, reaching anterior margin of anteromesoscutum and almost reaching posterior one, straight, almost evenly wide, slightly converging posterad. Parapsidal signums well impressed, but missing anteriorly, almost straight, slightly converging posterad. Mesoscutum-mesoscutellar sulcus arched, slightly narrower medially. Metascutellum polished anteriorly, lateral margin incurved, surface flat and subvertical posteriorly; metascutellar foveae fused, anterior margin straight and posterior one irregular, metanotal fovea semicircular, carinae of metanotal trough weak. Metapectal-propodeal disc striate-rugulose on metapostnotal area, and polished on propodeal area, except extreme posterior corner weakly rugulose, 1.0–1.25 × as long as wide, metapostnotal median undefined, lateral marginal carina weak, transverse posterior carina absent. Propodeal declivity mostly polished, except dorsolateral corner somewhat foveolate. Lateral surface of metapectal-propodeal complex mostly alveolate-coriaceous, except strigulate on extreme anterior. Mesopleuron mostly polished, except foveolate anteriorly, callus smooth, posterior oblique sulcus subvertical, occupying only median third of mesopleural height and not well-delimited. Mesodiscrimen with surface concave. Metasternum with somewhat high posterior margin and with median pair of dentiform projection, with median longitudinal carina.

Wings and legs. Forewing with poststigmal abscissa of radial 1 fully absent, 2r-rs&Rs vein evenly arched, and not notched where 2r-rs sector connects to Rs sector; anterior medial flexion line long and posterior medial 1 flexion line short, m-cu flexion line straight, cubital flexion line absent, claval flexion line weak, r-m flexion line almost straight. Hind wing with two basal hamuli, and four equidistant distal hamuli. Claws simple, but with tiny median callus, tooth sharp and curved.

Metasoma. Opening of spiracle of metasomal segment I drop-shaped and subdorsal. Tergum I slightly longer than tergum II. Sternum II longitudinally striate. Epipygium wide apically so that its lateral margins almost touch each other ventrally, posterior margin almost straight, without median emargination, not excavated where epipygium folds ventrad. Hypopygium with spiculum long and tip sharp, anteromedial apodeme absent, anterolateral apodeme progressively narrowing apicad into sharp tip, anterior margin double u-shaped, posterior margin strongly excavated forming two round lobes without any spine, excavation about one fourth as long as hypopygeal plate, thick median area of inner surface large and almost evenly wide.

Genitalia. Harpe with apical margin with two conical expansions, dorsal one longer than ventral one, dorsal margin evenly incurved, wide basally, ventral poorly S-shaped; inner margin of ventral side of gonostipes with inconspicuous median callus, and with few medioapical setae; apical basivolsellar expansion absent; cuspis angled medially, very wide basally, cross-section flat, outer surface convex and smooth, apex slightly dilated and blunt, without any membranous extension; digitus cross-section flat, not cylindrical, mostly straight, base smoothly curved, apex rounded, apex squamate and not membranous; aedeagus triangular with not so wide base in dorsal profile, ventral valve membranous, short, apex aligned with base of cuspis, apical margin rounded, dorsal valve much longer ventral one, its apical membranous extension conspicuously longer than wide, cat whisker-shaped set of setae long and sparse; aedeagal apodeme not arched, ergot short as stub and sharp; genital ring strongly incurved ventrally.

Material examined. Holotype, ♂, South Africa, Tvl , Entabeni For., Res. 33.00S 30.16E, 7-11.i.1987, C.D. Eardley, National Coll. of Insects, Pretoria, S. Afr. ( SANC) . Paratypes: South Africa, 1♂, Kwazulu-Natal, Itala Game Reserve, Ngubhu House , 27º32.99’S 31º13.34’E, 720m, 30.xi-7.xii 1999, S. van Noort, KW99-M02, Malaise trap, Closed Euclea-Acacia Natal Lowveld Bushveld, SAM-HYM-A026840 ( SAMC) .

Remarks. The metapectal-propodeal disc of the paratype is much shorter (1.0 × as long as wide) than in the holotype (1.25 × as long as wide).

Distribution. South Africa.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A–C. Pristonesia nyamuragira Benoit; D–F. Pristonesia oracil sp. nov.; G–I. Pristonesia parcetil sp. nov.. A, D, G. Habitus, lateral view; B, E, H. Head, dorsal view; C, F, I. Mesosoma dorsal view. Scale bars = 100 µm.

FIGURE 4. A–C. Pristonesia nyamuragira Benoit; D–F. Pristonesia oracil sp. nov.; G–I. Pristonesia parcetil sp. nov., J-L. Pristonesia querfil sp. nov.. A, D, G, J. Hypopygium, external view; B, E, H, K. Genitalia, dorsal view; C, F, I, L. Genitalia, ventral view. Black = cupula; dark grey = ventral valvae; light grey = apical membranous bubble. Scale bars = 100 µm.