Opius gabrieli Fischer

Wharton, Robert, Daniels, Sophia, Shirley, Xanthe & Restuccia, Danielle, 2013, An opiine Braconidae (Hymenoptera) reared from Richardiidae (Diptera) and recognition of a new species group of Opius s. l., ZooKeys 289, pp. 65-101 : 80-82

Opius gabrieli Fischer Fig. 16

Opius gabrieli Fischer, 1968a: 77-78 (key); 84-85 (description). Holotype female in AEIC (examined).

Opius gabrieli : Fischer 1971: 68 (catalog).

Opius (Merotrachys) gabrieli : Fischer 1977: 655-657, 675-676 (key, redescription); Fischer 1978: 166 (range expansion, allotype); Fischer 1979a: 264-266 (key); Yu et al. 2005, 2012 (electronic catalogs).

Type locality.

Brazil, Teresópolis.

Type material.

Holotype. Female (AEIC), first label, first line: Teresópolis second line: III–11– 66 Braz. third line: H. & M. Townes

Paratypes.

One female, one male (not seen), same data as holotype; one male (not seen), same data except 12.iii.1966.

Other specimens examined.

One female, Costa Rica, Cartago, Turrialba, 3-5.vi.1976, M. Wasbauer (TAMU).

Other material (not examined). Two males (one the allotype), Brazil, Carauru, iv.1972, M. Alvarenga.

Diagnosis.

Face finely but distinctly punctate, punctures separated by nearly 2 × their diameter, strongly shagreened adjacent eye margin, otherwise smooth between punctures. Eye in lateral view 2.0-2.5 × longer than temple; temples in dorsal view not or only weakly receding. Female antenna broken, male from original description with 50 flagellomeres, from subsequent description with 53 flagellomeres; setae on basal flagellomeres thin, pale. Mesoscutum very weakly declivitous, nearly on same plane as pronotum; notaulus extending laterally towards tegula as groove bordered by distinct supramarginal carina. Propodeum coarsely, carinately rugose, with short, deep median trough anteriorly separated from broad, irregular, ill-defined areola posteriorly. Fore wing 3RSa very weakly curved, nearly straight, 1.3-1.4 × longer than 2RS; m-cu interstitial to weakly antefurcal. T1 sharply declivitous anteriorly, pit delimited posterior-medially; surface shagreened; dorsal carinae weakly sinuate, nearly parallel-sided throughout, very weakly diverging subapically then weakly narrowing to apex, not distinctly transversely carinate between dorsal carinae. T2 mostly distinctly shagreened, smoother laterally, T3 faintly shagreened medially, smooth later ally. Ovipositor short; ovipositor sheath about 0.4 × length of mesosoma. Head, body, hind coxa and femur light orange except T3-6 infumate to completely black; wing lightly infumate.

Remarks.

This species was described from the female holotype plus one additional female and two male paratypes, all from the same locality in Brazil. Fischer (1978) recorded two additional males from “Carauru,” Brazil, designated one of these as the allotype, and incorrectly stated that the male was new (i.e. previously unknown). Carauru is an inadvertent misspelling of Caruaru.

Opius gabrieli is nearly identical to Opius ingenticornis , Opius melchioricus , and the newly described Opius rojam . All four species have very short ovipositors (Figs 13, 14, 16), heavily sculptured propodea (Fig. 28), thinner, pale setae on the basal flagellomeres (Fig. 39), and are predominantly orange. Opius antennatus , Opius matthaei , Opius petri , and Opius raphaeli are darker but otherwise share these features and together these eight species form a larger subgroup within the ingenticornis species group. Opius gabrieli is most readily recognized by the black apical metasomal terga relative to Opius ingenticornis, O. melchioricus , and Opius rojam . Opius ingenticornis and Opius rojam are more uniformly orange and the face is more completely shagreened than in the other two species whereas Opius melchioricus has the tegula black with dark transverse lines across the posterior margins of the meso- and metathorax. Opius filiflagellatus provides an interesting contrast since the propodeum is extensively carinately rugose and the metasoma is intensely shagreened anteriorly as in Opius ingenticornis , but the setal pattern on the basal flagellomeres does not match those of the subgroup delineated here.

The female specimen from Costa Rica listed above under other material examined is very similar to the holotype and we tentatively include it here. The most significant differences are in the color pattern and wing venation. The apex of the metasoma is dark in the specimen from Costa Rica, but not as contrastingly so as in the holotype. The position of the fore wing m-cu varies slightly between the two wings of the holotype, but is more distinctly postfurcal in the specimen from Costa Rica.