Liphanthus fritzi Mir Sharifi and 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 : 38-42

Liphanthus fritzi Mir Sharifi and Packer , sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:86FF8AC2-0836-44F2-99AF-D81C1A95DD25

Figs. 79–89 , 126 , 153–154 , 164 , 192 , 197–198, 201–202.

Diagnosis: Males of this species can be differentiated from others of the genus except L. cochabambensis by the combination of two submarginal cells, metatibial spurs relatively straight, pronotal lobe black and S7 apical lobe with dense apicomedially oriented hairs ( Fig. 83 ). Males can be differentiated from L. cochabambensis by the degree of ventral recurvature of the clypeal apex, which forms an angle that is clearly greater than a right angle in L. fritzi ( Figs. 81 & 151 ), but less than a right angle in L. cochabambensis ( Figs. 70 & 153 ). Females of this species can be differentiated from all other species except L. amblayensis by the combination of two submarginal cells, pronotal lobe black, metatibial spurs straight, mesoscutum and scutellum with distinct but weak imbrication, somewhat shiny ( Fig. 89 ). Females can be differentiated from those of L. amblayensis by facial fovea ~ 4X as long as wide ( Fig. 88 ); while for L. amblayensis the facial fovea is more than 5.5 X as long as its maximum width.

Description: Holotype Male: Dimensions: approximate body length: 4.7mm, head width 1.65mm, wing length, 3.75mm, intertegular width: 0.9mm.

Coloration: Black to dark brown with following parts pale yellow: mandible (except extreme base brown and apex red), clypeus (except extreme lateral portion brown). Ventral surface of F1–F11 dark orange-brown. Tegula and apical impressed areas of metasomal terga translucent brown.

Sculpture: Face below antennae moderately imbricate, somewhat shiny except lower paraocular area towards compound eye lacking microsculpture, shiny; clypeus with scattered weak punctures, i=0.5–4d, medial ¼ impunctate; lower paraocular area punctures distinct i~d; subantennal sclerite punctures small, i=1–2d; supraclypeal area with small punctures, i=1–4d; upper paraocular and frontal areas punctures crowded, sharp-edged; vertexal area more sparsely punctate i<d; genal area largely lacking microsculpture, shiny, punctures small, distinct, i>d; [hypostomal area not visible in holotype, in paratype male weakly imbricate, shiny with scattered punctures]. Meso- scutum lacking microsculpture but largely dull due to crowded, sharp-edged punctures except interspaces present lateral of parapsidal line, i≤0.5d; scutellum very weakly imbricate, shiny, densely punctate, i≤ 0.5d; metanotum with minute, crowded punctures; metapostnotum imbricate with weak longitudinal striae, not approaching posterior margin; mesopleuron, metapleuron and propodeum imbricate, somewhat shiny; mesopleuron punctures shallow, irregularly spaced, i≥d, metapleuron and propodeum impunctate. Metasomal terga very weakly imbricate to lacking imbrication, shiny; T1 horizontal portion punctures small, i=1–3d; T2 punctures smaller, i=1–2d; [discs of T3–T5 not visible on holotype, on paratype T3–T4 punctures minute, i=2–4d; T5 punctures larger, i≤1.5d]; T6 lacking pygidial plate, narrowly bare medially; T1 apical impressed area minutely, shallowly and densely punctate, T2–T4 microsculpture gradually becoming less punctate and more imbricate, increasingly weakly on subsequent terga. [Metasomal sterna weakly imbricate, somewhat shiny; with scattered minute punctures, i>2d]; S6 apicomedially broadly, obtusely concave, with medially interrupted band of posteromedially oriented robust hairs this area produced into rounded lobes on each side.

Pubescence: Generally white, sparse and with short branches; longest on apical margin of clypeus, posteriorly on scutellum and dorsolateral area of propodeum ≤1.7 MOD, <1.5 MOD on vertexal area, pronotum, anterior mar- gin of mesoscutum and sides of mesosoma ; metanotum hairs dense, ~1 MOD. Somewhat plumose, short ≤0.5 MOD along admedian line, posterolaterally on mesoscutum and laterally on dorsal surface of metapostnotum. Metatibia with robust hairs, longest subapically on dorsal surface, <3 MOD Metasoma with minute sparse hairs except long on anterior declivitous surface and towards sides of T1, and at junction of disc and apical impressed area of T4–T6 ~1.7 MOD. Sterna with minute hairs except S5 with sparse subapical fringe of pale brown hairs <0.75 MOD.

Structure: Head: ~1.2 X as wide as long (89:75). Mandible 3X as long as basal depth (69:23). [Labrum rectangular, 2 X as broad as long (51:26)]. Clypeus 2.25X as wide as long (90:40), apicolateral margin slightly convex in frontal view, apicomedial margin straight, strongly convex in profile. Outer subantennal suture almost straight, inner suture outwardly strongly concave, thus subantennal sclerite slightly wider just below midlength; epistomal suture weakly biconcave between inner subantennal sutures. Anterior tentorial pit just below junction of outer subantennal and epistomal sutures. Frontal line raised below, flat above. IAD> AOD (18:16). Inner margin of compound eyes strongly convergent below, UOD:LOD 73:50. Facial fovea oval, slightly wider above, length to width: 14:5, weakly converging towards compound eye below. IOC < OOC 21:35. Scape more than 2X as long as greatest width (35:15), longer than pedicel and F1 combined (26); pedicel as long as wide (11:11), F1 longer than wide (15:11); F2 shorter than wide (10:13), remaining flagellomeres wider than long except F11 1.5 X as long as wide (22:13).

Mesosoma: Mesoscutum >1.1 X as wide as long (75:65); length of scutellum: metanotum: metapostnotum: 27:16:14. Marginal cell length shorter than distance between its apex to wing tip (60:70); metatibial spurs straight and posterior one longer than anterior spur. Pro- and mesotarsal claws briefly narrowly cleft, metatarsal claws deeply cleft.

Metasoma: Broadest near midlength of T2; terga not strongly ventromedially reflexed towards sides; pygidial plate absent; S1–S5 unmodified; S6 apex angularly concave, sides to concavity concave, medial angle ~110˚, re- sulting lateral lobes densely punctate, i≤2d, bearing apicomedially oriented hairs. S7 Apodemes moderately long and broad, anterior margin forming obtuse angle; apical lobe short, broader at base than medial length, apex truncate, space between lobes deeply U-shaped, with long dense apicomedially oriented hairs, hairs almost as long as width of lobe. S8 Apodeme anterior margin concave, anterior portion with greatest width subequal to length, lateral margins diverging anteriorly; lateral lobe large, broadly rounded; apical lobe subtriangular with weakly rounded apex, covered in long posterolaterally oriented hairs. Gonocoxa anterodorsally weakly convex, sides weakly convex, abruptly narrowed towards base of gonostylus, medial margins approximately straight; gonostylus fused to gonocoxa, apex obliquely truncate, longer laterally, basal width subequal to medial length, apex with dense mostly ventrally oriented, hairs; penis valve somewhat narrow, narrowing to pointed apex, with posterolaterally oriented hairs. Endophallus not elaborated.

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

Dimensions: Approximate body length: 6.1mm; head width: 1.98mm, wing length: 4.35mm, intertegular width: 1.22mm.

Coloration: Black to dark brown except: mandible orange for middle 1/3; ventral surface of F6–F10 and tegula dark red-brown; apical orange-brown ring on tarsomeres 2–4 of all legs; metasomal terga apical impressed areas brown.

Sculpture: Lower paraocular area and apical ¼ of clypeus lacking imbrication, shiny; rest of face increasingly imbricate and dull dorsally; clypeus punctures distinct, variable in size and spacing, i=0.5–2d; lower paraocular area punctures small, irregularly spaced, i=1–4d below, larger, somewhat effaced and i=0.5–1.5d above; subantennal sclerite and supraclypeal punctures small, i=1–3d; upper paraocular and frontal areas punctures crowded, sharpedged; vertexal area densely punctate i<0.5d; genal and hypostomal areas lacking microsculpture, shiny, genal area punctures small, dense, i~d, near compound eye, sparser elsewhere, i~2d; hypostomal area punctures distinct sparse, i>3d. Mesoscutum lacking microsculpture but largely dull due to dense punctures, i≤0.5d; scutellum imbricate pos- teriorly, shiny, densely punctate, i≤d; metanotum imbricate with small punctures, i~0.5d; mesopleuron punctures sparse, i≥2d. Metasomal terga increasingly imbricate and weakly and minutely punctate from T1–T4, imbrication absent, i~d on T1, i>2d on T4, T5 punctures larger, i=1–2d. Metasomal sterna weakly imbricate, somewhat shiny; punctures irregularly spaced i=1–5d, except deeper and denser on S 5 i =0.5–2d.

Pubescence: White, somewhat woolly, longest on tibial scopa ≤~3 MOD; ~2 MOD on clypeus, dorsolateral area of propodeum and sides of T5; ~1 MOD on vertexal area. Pale brown on junction of disc and apical impressed area of T4, ~1.3 MOD; prepygidial fimbria dense, branched, brown ~1.7 MOD.

Structure: Head 1.25 X as wide as long (70:56). Mandible ~ 2.7 X longer than basal depth (72:27). Labrum rectangular, 1.5 X as broad as long (42:28). Clypeus 2.1 X as wide as long (80:38). IAD<AOD (22:25). Compound eyes convergent below, UOD:LOD 67:62. Facial fovea deep, slightly wider above, length to width: 28:5. IOC approximately half OOC 21:40. Scape 3 X as long as greatest width (42:14), longer than pedicel and F1 combined (30); pedicel length subequal to width (13:11), F1~1.5 X as long as wide (16:12), F2 shorter than wide (13:8), remaining flagellomeres ~1.5 X wider than long; F10 1.6 X as long as wide (21:13).

Mesosoma: Mesoscutum 1.2 X as wide as long (58:48); length of scutellum:metanotum:metapostnotum: 26:17:14. Marginal cell 0.85 X as long as its apex to wing tip (63:74). Metatibial spurs straight, posterior one longer than anterior spur. Tarsal claws with long teeth, broader on protarsus.

Metasoma. Broadest near posterior of T2.

Material studied. Holotype male, allotype female and paratype male as follows: Holotype male: ARGEN- TINA, Salta, Rosario Lerma, Fritz , xi.1994; allotype female same data as holotype except x.1994. All specimens will be returned to the AMNH following completion of revisionary studies of the genus .

Etymology. This species is named after the late Manuel Fritz who collected the only known specimens.

Comments. Like the previous two species, when treated as having three submarginal cells, males of L. fritzi fail at couplet 10 which contrasts different forms of process on S2 and this species has no such process. The female fails at couplet 33 as it is not smooth and shiny above the antennal sockets (required to go to couplet 34) and lacks a yellow marking on the pronotal lobe (required to go to couplet 35).

Figures

FIGURES 79–85. Liphanthus fritzi sp. nov., holotype male: 79: lateral habitus, 80: face, frontal view, 81: face lateral view to show curvature of clypeus, 82: mesosoma to show surface sculpture, 83: S7, 84: S8, 85: genital capsule. Scale bars Figs. 79–80 & 82 1mm, Fig. 81 & 83–85 0.25mm.

FIGURES 86–89. Liphanthus fritzi sp. nov., allotype female: 86: lateral habitus, 87: face, frontal view, 88: frontal area to show facial fovea, length in red, width in blue lines, 89: mesosoma, dorsal view, to show surface sculpture. Scale bars Figs. 86–87 & 89 1mm, Fig. 88 100μm.

FIGURES 124–127. 124: Liphanthus jenamro to show pale pronotal lobe, 125: L. jenamro head, frontal view to show pale lower paraocular area, 126: L. amblayensis to show dark pronotal lobe, 127: L. ancashensis head, frontal view to show dark lower paraocular area. Scale bars 0.5mm.

FIGURES 153–156. 153: L. fritzi head lateral view to show curvature of clypeus in profile of>90˚, 154: L. fritzi head, frontal view to show absence of brown at base of clypeus, 155: L. cochabambensis head lateral view to show curvature of clypeus in profile of <90˚, partly hidden by base of hairs, 156: L. cochabambensis head, frontal view to show brown marking on base of clypeus (red arrow). Scale bars 0.5mm.

FIGURES 163–164. Liphanthus sp. Side of mesosoma to show colour of pronotal lobe. 163: L. jenamro with pale pronotal lobe, 164: L. amblayensis with dark pronotal lobe. Scale bars 0.5mm.

FIGURES 191–192. Liphanthus sp. Forebody to show protibial colouration. 191: L. yrigoyeni with pale spot, 192: L. fritzi entirely dark. Scale bars 0.5mm.

FIGURES 148–152. 148: L. ancashensis metasoma, dorsal view to show mostly orange-red colour, 149: L. amblayensis metasoma dorsal view to show dark colour, 150: L. ancashensis to show extensive pale markings on metatibia, lack of very long hairs apicodorsally on metatibia (line at bottom right is 2MOD) and absence of brush of hairs basoventrally on metabasitarsus (red arrow), 151 & 152: L. amblayensis and L. cochabambensis respectively to show absence of pale markings on metatibia, presence of very long apicodorsal hairs (lines at bottom right are 3MOD) and presence of brush of hairs basoventrally on metabasitarsus (red arrows). Scale bars Figs. 148–149 1mm, Figs. 150–152 0.5mm.

FIGURES 68–74. Liphanthus cochabambensis sp. nov. holotype male: 68, lateral habitus; 69: face frontal view, 70: face, lateral view to show clypeal profile, 71: metasoma dorsal view to show somewhat shiny surface, 72: S7, 73: S8, 74, genital capsule. Scale bars Figs. 68–69 & 71 1mm, Figs. 70 & 72–74 0.25mm.