Aleiodes (Hemigyroneuron) apicale (Brues) Areekul-Butcher & Quicke, 2011

Areekul-Butcher, Buntika & Quicke, Donald L. J., 2011, Revision of Aleiodes (Hemigyroneuron) parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Rogadinae) with reappraisal of subgeneric limits, descriptions of new species and phylogenetic analysis, Journal of Natural History 45 (21 - 24), pp. 1403-1476 : 1414-1417

Aleiodes (Hemigyroneuron) apicale (Brues) stat. nov.

( Figure 3 )

Hemigyroneuron apicale Brues, 1926: 256 .

Material examined

Holotype. Female , South Africa, Natal (DH: photographed and examined by Kirstin Williams).

Additional material. One female, “ SOUTH AFRICA, Tvl [Transvaal], Mogol Nature Reserve, Ellisras Dist., 23.58 S 27.45 E, 3–5.xii.1985, J.S. Donaldson” ( SANC) ; 1 male, Transvaal , Lapalala Wilderness Area, 25.51 S 28.17 E, 11.i.1991, BF0887 collected at light, I.M. Millar ( SANC) ; 1 male, Transvaal , Fanie Botha Nature Reserve nr Tzaneen, 23.50 S 30.10 E. 2–6.iii.1986, collected at light, B. Grobbelaar ( SANC) .

Morphology

Length of body 7.1–8.8 mm, and of fore wing 7.8 mm. Head. Antenna with 55 flagellomeres; terminal flagellomere strongly acuminate; head transverse, 1.75 times wider than maximally long in dorsal view; width of head 3.0 times shortest distance between eyes; height of eye 2.05 times shortest distance between eyes; frons shiny with fine aciculate sculpture and without obvious midlongitudinal groove; with pit in front of anterior ocellus; with carinate ridge along edge next to and almost touching eye; posterior ocellar line: transverse diameter of posterior ocellus: shortest distance between posterior ocellus and eye = 3.6: 8.2: 1.0; occiput with granulate sculpture; occipital carina more or less complete though weaker medially.

Mesosoma . Mesoscutum coriaceous-rugulose and densely short- setose; notauli weakly impressed, indicated by line of larger fovea and margined on inner side by fine carina; mesopleuron smooth and shiny and densely punctate, with a slightly depressed area indicating precoxal suture, with some very fine dorso-ventral to radian striation; precoxal suture complete though weaker dorsally; scutellar sulcus with four to six carinae between the outer ones, though the medial one (of these) is rather weak; scutellum entirely finely coriaceous with superimposed fine longitudinal striation, and with lateral carinae (as extensions of lateral carinae of scutellar sulcus) largely complete; median area of metanotum with some longitudinal ridges; propodeum largely foveaterugose superimposed on aciculate ground sculpture, with complete mid-longitudinal carina.

Fore wing. Subbasal cell with oval expansion distally, sparsely setose on basal half, largely glabrous in expanded region, with a pair of small, pale yellow scleromes; vein 1-CU1 approximately 2 times length of 2-CU1; vein cu-a strongly curved and strongly swollen medially; length of veins r: 3-SR: SR1 = 1.0: 1.8: 4.0; vein 2-M 2.5 times length of r-m; vein m-cu 1.8 times length of 2-SR+M, forming angle of 120 ◦ with 3-CU1.

Hind wing. Vein M+CU 1.3 times length of vein 1-M; vein 2-SC+ R longitudinal; subbasal cell narrowly glabrous anteriorly, otherwise basal cells of hind wing with only slightly reduced setosity.

Claws. With well-developed pecten extending to middle of concavity between claw and basal lobe.

Metasoma. Tergites 1 and 2 somewhat irregularly longitudinally striate with punctures between striae; tergite 3 largely sculptured, basally similarly to 2nd tergite becoming punctate-rugulose posteriorly; 2nd tergite 1.67 times wider than medially long, 1.15 times longer than 3rd. Males with small gland-opening pore close to mid-posterior margin of metasomal tergites 4–6.

Colouration

Almost entirely yellow except antennae and top of head largely black, frons and face largely brown; occiput and back of head variable. Wings pale yellow basally and grey distally from approximately apex of pterostigma; venation yellow in basal part, brown in apical part.

Notes

This is the only known mainly yellow species with head marked blackish dorsally and with upper part of face largely dark red-brown, the mark being distinctly bilobed ventrally. The specimen from Lapalala Wilderness was included in the molecular phylogenetic analysis of Zaldivar-Riverón et al. (2009) and its 28S D2-D3 region gene sequence is available on GenBank (accession number EU854383 ).

Figures

Figure 3. Aleiodes (Hemigyroneuron) apicale (Brues), CellD® light micrographs. (A) Habitus of holotype; (B, C) head, frontal aspect, holotype and second specimen respectively; (D) scutellum, metanotum and propodeum; (E) detail of fore wing venation.