Liphanthus molavi Mir Sharifi & Packer, 2019

Sharifi, Negar Mir, Graham, Liam & Packer, Laurence, 2019, Fifteen new species of Liphanthus Reed (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) with two submarginal cells, Zootaxa 4645 (1), pp. 1-80 : 24-31

Liphanthus molavi Mir Sharifi & Packer , sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B38DB2C9-7F35-4E27-B614-6C2FCF96C3C0

Figs. 52–61 , 130, 132 , 141 , 142, 144, 146 , 179–180 , 188–190 .

Diagnosis: Males of this species can be differentiated from all others of the genus by the combination of two submarginal cells and S2 with short and truncate process ( Fig. 54 ). Other species with two submarginal cells have a transverse posterior margin to S2 (as in Fig. 44 ) with the exception of L. bicellularis which has a long sharp process ( Fig. 140 ). Females of this species can be differentiated from all others of the genus except L. bicellularis by the combination of two submarginal cells and the clypeus black with yellow medial band ( Fig. 59 ; this band is variable, often T-shaped, in L. bicellularis ). Females can be differentiated from those of L. bicellularis by the yellow lower subantennal sclerite ( Fig 59 —below midlength of the outer subantennal suture) and mesosoma strongly imbricate and dull ( Fig. 60 , see also Fig. 180 ); in L. bicellularis the subantennal sclerite is black ( Fig. 177 ) and the mesosoma is weakly imbricate and shiny (see Figs. 178 & 187 ).

Description: Holotype Male: Dimensions: Approximate body length: 3.83mm; head width: 1.21mm, wing length: 1.40mm, intertegular width: 0.71mm.

Coloration: Black to dark brown with following parts pale yellow: labrum, mandible (except apex reddish), clypeus (brown marked along epistomal suture), lower paraocular area, pronotal lobe, anterior spot on tegula, apical ring on all femora, basal and dorsal rings on all tibiae, dorsal and anterior surfaces of pro- and mesotibiae, most of all basitarsi, most of disc of T2. Marks on all basitarsi yellow-brown, tarsomeres 2–5 of all legs orange-brown to red-brown. T7 orange-brown.

Sculpture: Clypeus, supraclypeal area and yellow portion of paraocular area with at most very weak imbrication, shiny; rest of face strongly imbricate, dull; clypeus sparsely and obscurely punctate on disc, i>2d; lower paraocular area punctures variable in size and spacing, small and dense ventrally, i<d, larger and sparser elsewhere, i≥d,epistomal lobe impunctate; upper paraocular and frontal areas punctures difficult to detect among imbrication, shallow and sparse, i>2d; vertexal area punctures large, shallow and somewhat sparse, i>d; genal and hypostomal areas moderately imbricate, somewhat shiny, sparsely and irregularly punctate, i>2d. Mesosoma strongly imbricate, dull; mesoscutum and scutellum punctures shallow, sparse, i>4d, somewhat denser posteriorly on scutellum i≥2d; metanotum irregularly punctate, i=.5–3d; metapostnotum rugoso-striate; hypoepimeral area irregularly punctate, i=1–4d, mesopleuron shallowly punctate, i–=0.3–2d; metapleuron impunctate; propodeum rugulose laterally. Metasomal terga increasingly weakly imbricate from T1 to T6, T1 coarsely imbricate, dull, punctures difficult to detect amongst microsculpture; T2–T5 increasingly sparsely punctate, i=0.5–2d on T2, i=2–8d on T4; [T5 punctures moderately large, variable in spacing; T6 punctures large, shallow, moderately dense posteriorly, i=1–1.5d]; apical impressed areas weakly imbricate, somewhat shiny, punctures minute to imperceptible; metasomal sterna moderately imbricate, somewhat shiny, punctures sparse and minute on S1–S4, more distinct on S5–S6, i=1–2d.

Pubescence: Generally white, sparse with short branches; <2 MOD on head and thorax, except as follows: <1.5 MOD on vertexal area and mesoscutum, up to 2.5 MOD on mesopleuron, ≤1 MOD on metasomal terga, longest towards sides. Minute, <0.5 MOD on dorsal surface of metapostnotum and metasomal sterna.

Structure: Head: ~ 1.1 X as wide as long (96:87). Mandible ~ 3X as long as basal depth (52:17), gradually narrowing towards rounded apex. Labrum rectangular ~1.5 X as broad as long (31:20). Clypeus>2.5X as wide as long (65:25); apicolateral margin weakly concave in frontal view, apicomedial margin straight. Outer subantennal suture weakly curved above, straight adjacent to yellow portion of lower paraocular area, inner suture straight, subantennal sclerite widest near base; epistomal suture straight between inner subantennal sutures. Anterior tentorial pit just above and lateral to junction of outer subantennal and epistomal sutures. Frontal line distinctly depressed on and briefly above supraclypeal area. AOD =IAD (15:15). Inner margins of compound eyes convergent below, UOD: LOD 68:62. Facial fovea shallow, narrowly linear, parallel to inner margin of compound eye, length to width: 18:2, IOC = OOC 18:18. Scape ~ 2.5 X as long as greatest width (22:9), shorter than pedicel and F1 combined (25); pedicel length subequal to width (8:9), F1 2.4 X as long as wide (17:7). F2 longer than wide (10:7), remaining flagellomeres slightly longer than wide except F 11 2 X as long as wide (18:9).

Mesosoma: Mesoscutum ~1.2 X as wide as long (54:44), length of scutellum: metanotum: metapostnotum: 22:12:14. Marginal cell 0.9 X as long as distance between its apex to wing tip (55:60). Metatibial spurs straight, posterior spur longer than anterior one. Posterior metatarsal claw with very broad tooth, anterior claw cleft like those of other tarsi.

Metasoma: Broadest at midlength of T2; terga not strongly ventromedially reflexed towards sides; pygidial plate absent; metasomal sterna unmodified except: S2 apicomedial process truncate, shorter than wide (7:9) and narrower than MOD (0.8 MOD); S3 apical margin weakly convex, area beneath S2 process swollen, convex in profile; S6 apicomedially narrowly, angularly concave, premarginal line irregular with few setae. S7. Apodeme moderately long and narrow, anterior margin weakly obtuse, anteriorly curved apically; apical lobe narrow. S8 Anterior margin concave and moderately broad, ~ 1.5 X wider than long, lateral margins concave; lateral lobe small, twice as broad as long, apex acute; apical lobe gradually narrowing to weakly rounded apex, lateral margins weakly concave, a few short spicules on dorsal surface posteriorly. Gonocoxa anterodorsal margin transverse, lateral margins diverging posteriorly, medial margin almost straight; gonostylus distinctly separated from gonocoxa by abrupt narrowing, digitiform, posteromedially weakly curved, long, branched hairs laterally, short hairs elsewhere; penis valve narrow, lateral margin sinuate. Endophallus very narrowly sclerotized basolaterally, membranous apical portion broadly rounded, not attaining apex of penis valve, apically strongly concave.

Allotype Female: As in male except for usual sexually dimorphic features and as follows:

Dimensions: Approximate body length: 4.75mm; head width: 1.35mm, wing length: 3.45mm, intertegular width: 0.85mm.

Coloration: Black to dark brown with following parts yellow: mandible (except apex red-brown), clypeus with longitudinal medial band width less than IAD, lower half of lower paraocular area, pronotal lobe, anterior spot on tegula, apical ring on pro- and mesofemora, dorsal surface of protibia and basal ring on mesotibia. Probasitarsis, second and third protarsomers, extreme apex of metafemur dorsally and S2 yellow-brown. Apical yellow-orange bands on T1 and T2, T3 and T4 (except lateral areas black).

Sculpture: Clypeus, supraclypeal area and yellow portion of paraocular area with at most very weak imbrication, shiny; rest of face strongly imbricate, dull; clypeus sparsely and obscurely punctate on disc, i>2d; lower paraocular area punctures variable in size and spacing, small and dense ventrally, i<d, larger and sparser elsewhere, i≥d,epistomal lobe impunctate; upper paraocular and frontal areas punctures difficult to detect among imbrication, shallow and sparse, i>2d; vertexal area punctures large, shallow and somewhat sparse, i>d; genal and hypostomal areas moderately imbricate, somewhat shiny, sparsely and irregularly punctate, i>2d. Mesosoma strongly imbricate, dull; mesoscutum and scutellum punctures shallow, sparse, i>4d, somewhat denser posteriorly on scutellum i≥2d; metanotum irregularly punctate, i=.5–3d, with some punctures fused; metapostnotum dorsal surface rugoso-striate, median striae attaining posterior margin of dorsal surface; sides of mesosoma imbricate, somewhat dull; mesopleuron anterior to episternal suture densely punctate, i<0.5d, rest with shallow punctures, i=0.5–2d; metapleuron impunctate; propodeum with small, weak punctures dorsolaterally. Metasomal terga increasingly weakly imbricate from T1 to T5, T1 coarsely imbricate, dull, punctures i=0.5–1.5d; T2–T4 punctures decreasing in size and spacing from i=0.5–1.5d on T2 to i=1–3d on T4; T5 with large, dense punctures i=0.5–1.5d; apical impressed areas weakly imbricate, somewhat shiny; metasomal sterna moderately imbricate, somewhat shiny, punctures largely restricted to apical ½ of sterna, increasing in size from S1–S4, small on S5, mostly i=1–2d.

Pubescence: <2 MOD on tibial scopa. Prepygidial fimbria pale brown, hairs ~1.5 MOD. Metasomal sterna with hairs ≤1 MOD.

Structure: Head: ~1.15 X as wide as long (88:75). Mandible ~3.2 X as long as basal depth (61:19). Labrum ~ 1.5 X as wide as long (35:24); sides of raised area convergent below, apex transverse. Clypeus ~ 3.5 X as wide as long (90:26). Outer subantennal suture curved; anterior tentorial pit above junction of subantennal and epistomal sutures by approximately the minimum diameter of F1. IAD<AOD (17:20). Inner margins of compound eyes subparallel, UOD:LOD 80:79. Facial fovea length to width: 23:3, widest below, lateral margin parallel to inner margin of compound eye. IOC < OOC 20:22. Scape ~ 3 X as long as greatest width (26:9), longer than pedicel and F1 combined (19); pedicel length subequal to width (9:8), F1 ~1.7 X as long as wide, (10:6), F2 shorter than wide (6:8), remaining flagellomeres length and width subequal or slightly longer than wide except F10 1.7 X as long as wide (19:11).

Mesosoma: Mesoscutum length:width 60:70; length of scutellum: metanotum: metapostnotum: 23:13:18. Marginal cell 0.7 X as long as distance between its apex to wing tip (56: 79). Protarsal claws with long tooth, meso- and metatarsal anterior claws without tooth, posterior claws with short teeth.

Metasoma: Metasomal terga and sterna unmodified. Pygidial plate triangular, sides slightly convex, forming angle of ~ 60˚, narrowly raised medially.

Material studied: Holotype male, allotype female and 13 male and 16 female paratypes as follows: Holotype male, allotype female and 4 male paratypes: CHILE, Region VII, Laguna del Maule, -36.00163, -70. 27328 {-36.000463 -70.455113}, 2227m, 5.i.2009, L. Packer Phacelia ; 4 female paratypes CHILE, Region VII, NW. of Laguna del Maule, -35.90163 -70.64261, 1359m, 6.i.-11.ii.2013, S. Monckton, J.V. Postlethwaite; One male, six female paratypes: CHILE, Region VII, NW Laguna del Maule, -35.95099 -70.59621, 1740m, 29.xi.2017, Droege and Packer , ex Primula ; one male and one female CCDB 30347 A09 and B02 respectively; 2 male and one female paratypes, same data except: 12.xii, 2017. One female paratype CHILE, {Region VII}, Canton, 35.0481S 70.6187W, 29.xi.2017, SW Droege 17647, USGS-DRO 506414 ; 4 male and 2 female paratypes as follows: CHILE, Curicó prov. EI, Planchón, -34.14939, -70.53033, 2400m, 1-5.ii.2003, A. Ugarte P. one male is CCDB 09984 F03; one male CHILE, {Region VII}, Curicó prov. Laguna de Teno , -35.158 -70.54, 2550m, A. Ugarte P., 5.ii.2003, CCDB 09984 H02; 3 females and one male CHILE, Region VII, Rd to Laguna Teno , -35.12498 -70.48891 1849m, 27.xi.2017, Droege and Packer, one female is CCDB 30386 B02. All material at PCYU except some paratypes which will be sent to AMNH, MNHN, BBSL, CTMI, PUCV and SMNH, the holotype and allotype will be sent to MNHN pending completion of ongoing research .

Etymology. This species is named in honour of Molavi (Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi) spiritual master and poet often known in the west as Rumi.

Variation. For males, clypeus colour varies from entirely yellow to apical 2/3 yellow. Black spots on apex of clypeus and lower paraocular area sometimes absent or larger than in holotype.

One female from Rd to Laguna Teno has three submarginal cells on the right wing ( Scarpulla, 2018).

DNA barcodes. Four full length and one almost full-length sequences are available for this species, which was listed in Packer and Ruz (2017) as “nsp 10” with fewer sequences available at that time. Its BIN is AAU 3663 and has genbank accession codes of KX820711 , KX820785 and KX820967 . The mean intraspecific divergence is 0.28%, the maximum is 0.46% and the distance to the nearest neighbor, L. chillanensis , is 5.69%. An additional specimen falls into this BIN but has differences in colouration and sculpture, it has 2 submarginal cells on the left wing and three on the right and is from Farellones.Pending discovery of additional material, we have not placed a name on this specimen.

Comments. If treated as a species with three submarginal cells when using the key of Ruz and Toro (1983), couplet 8 is problematic for males. This couplet separates species of the subgenus Melaliphanthus from those of Leptophanthus. It seems more similar to the former, in that F1 is ~2.5X as long as wide (~ 3X in the subgenus Melaliphanthus , <2X in Leptophanthus) and the clypeus is somewhat flattened towards the base in profile, although not as distinctly so as in the former subgenus. The female fails at couplet 39 as it has the yellow on the lower paraocular area of Liphanthus s.str., but the faint frontal line of Pseudoliphanthus .

This species looks quite similar to L. friesellus Ruz and Toro , known only from the male. It differs in numerous details of the genitalia but more obviously in the presence of the process on S2, which is absent in L. friesellus , and in the apically transverse and not downturned clypeus, this is apically weakly concave in frontal view and narrowly but distinctly downturned in L. friesellus . Liphanthus molavi is even more similar to L. unifasciatus Ruz & Toro with a similarly shaped clypeus, but this species also lacks a process on S2.

Figures

FIGURES 52–57. Liphanthus molavi sp. nov., holotype male: 52: lateral habitus, 53: face, frontal view, 54: metasoma ventral view, to show apicomedian process on S2, 55: S7, 56: S8, 57: genital capsule. Scale bars Figs. 52–54 1mm, Figs. 55–57 0.25mm.

FIGURES 58–60. Liphanthus molavi sp. nov., allotype female: 58: lateral habitus, 59: face, frontal view, 60: mesoscutum, dorsal view, to show surface sculpture. Scale bars Figs. 58–59 1mm, Fig. 60 0.5mm.

FIGURE 61. Type locality of L. molavi sp. nov., the east end of Laguna del Maule.

FIGURES 128–132. 128: L. sapos metasoma oblique ventral view to show yellow sterna and ventrally reflexed portions of terga, 129: L. discolor metasoma in ventral view to show sterna suffused with brown and pale marks on reflexed portions only on more apical terga (arrows), 130: L. molavi—metasoma in lateral view to show dark metasomal sterna and lateral margins of terga, 131: L. jenamro mandible to show tuft of specialized hairs where lamellate outer ridge (red arrow) meets ventral margin, 132: L. molavi mandible to show unmodified outer ridge (red arrow) and absence of tuft of specialized hairs. Scale bars Figs.128–130 0.5mm, Figs. 131–132 0.25mm.

FIGURES 139–141. Liphanthus sp. metasomal venters to show margin of S2:139: L. centralis, lacking apicomedian process (arrow), 140: L. bicellularis with acute, narrow apicomedian process (between arrows), 141: L. molavi with short, blunt and setose apicomedial process (between arrows). Scale bars 0.5mm.

FIGURES 142–147. 142: L. molavi head, frontal view to show black subantennal scerite and scape, 143: L. bicellularis head, frontal view to show mostly pale subantennal sclerite and anterior surface of scape, 144: L. molavi apex of head, side view to show evenly curved clypeal profile (red curve) and acute epistomal lob (black arrow)e, 145: L. bicellularis apex of head, side view to show angulate profile of clypeus (red curve) and right angular to obtuse epistomal lobe (black arrow), 146: L. molavi metasoma, dorsal view, to show yellow band on T2, 147: L. bicellularis metasoma, dorsal view to show absence of pale marking in T2. Scale bars Figs. 142–143 0.5mm, Figs. 144–145 0.25mm, Figs. 146–147 1mm.

FIGURES 177–180. 177: L. centralis head, frontal view to show absence of yellow marking on clypeus, 178: L. centralis dorsal view of posterior portion of mesosoma to show lack of surface sculpture on metapostnotum, 179: L. molavi head, frontal view to show yellow marking on clypeus, 180: L. molavi dorsal view of posterior portion of mesosoma to show surface sculpture on metapostnotum. Scale bars 0.5mm.

FIGURES 185–190. 185: L. bicellularis head frontal view to show absence of pale marking on lower paraocular area, 186: L. bicellularis dorsomedial portion of face to show relative length (red line) to width (blue line) of facial fovea, 187: L. bicellularis mesosomal dorsum to show weak microsculpture and shiny surface, 188: L. molavi head frontal view to show pale marking on lower paraocular area, 189: L. molavi dorsomedial portion of face to show relative length (red line) to width (blue line) of facial fovea, 190: L. molavi mesosomal dorsum to show strong microsculpture and dull surface. Scale bars Figs. 185, 187–188 & 190 0.5mm, Figs. 186 & 189 0.25mm.

FIGURES 41–47. Liphanthus centralis sp. nov., male paratype: 41: lateral habitus, 42: head frontal view, 43: upper portion of face to show facial fovea (red arrow), 44: metasoma ventral surface to show straight posterior margins of S2 and S3, 45: S7, 46: S8, 47: genital capsule. Scale bars Figs. 41–42 & 44 1mm, Fig. 43 0.25mm, Figs. 45–47 0.125mm.