Aulacus tiernyi Jennings & Austin, 2018

Jennings, John T., Parslow, Ben A. & Austin, Andrew D., 2018, Systematics of the parasitoid wasp genus Aulacus Jurine (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Aulacidae) from Australia, Zootaxa 4538 (1), pp. 1-113 : 85-87

Aulacus tiernyi Jennings & Austin , sp. nov.

Figs 47 , 66 .

Material examined. Holotype. ♀, “ Mallee District Vic ( MVMA). Two specimens glued to card . Holotype is the left-hand specimen. Left antenna missing, right fore leg, last two tarsomeres and claw missing, last half of ovipositor missing. Paratypes. Victoria: 3♀, Mallee District , same data as holotype ( MVMA) ; ♀, Melb, 2.[19]13, Dixon ( MVMA) .

Description. FEMALE. Length. 7.6 (6.5–8.25) mm, excluding ovipositor.

Colour. Head and metasoma orange, flagellomeres 2 to tip dark brown, mesosoma brown, with variable amounts of lighter orange-brown, ovipositor darker and sheaths dark brown. Wings hyaline.

Head. 1.14 (1.06–1.23)× wider than long when viewed dorsally ( Fig. 47C ); face rugose, scattered short setae, distinct sub-antennal groove; frons without lateral medial carina above toruli, rugose, with a few scattered deep punctures, scattered short setae; vertex and gena strigulate-rugulose, with scattered deep punctures, with scattered short setae ( Fig. 47C ); posterior margin of head slightly concave in dorsal view; occipital carina absent; malar space 0.23 (0.22–0.25)× height eye; clypeus 3.35 (3.2–3.5)× as wide as high, margin sinuate, no medial process; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 0.83 (0.8–0.9)× distance between lateral ocelli; scape 2.2 (1.8–2.5)× length pedicel; first flagellomere 0.66 (0.6–0.8)× as long as scape, 0.77 (0.72–0.8)× as long as second flagellomere.

Mesosoma. Propleuron rugose, scattered short, ventro-lateral carina weak; pronotum rugose, a few scattered punctures ventrally, smooth and glabrous posteriorly, long scattered setae; mesoscutum in lateral view rounded antero-dorsally ( Fig. 47E ), medial and lateral lobes rugose, with scattered short setae, admedial lines indistinct; notauli distinct, carinate, narrow and deep ( Fig. 47D ); scutellum rugose, anteriorly with pair of deep depressions, separated by a median carina; axillae rugose; metapostnotum carinate, posterior margin straight; mesopleuron rugose dorsally, coarsely areolate ventrally, scattered short setae; mesepimeron broad, carinate; metapleuron coarsely areolate, smooth anteriorly of spiracle, scattered short setae; propodeum coarsely aerolate, median carina in ventral half, posterior margin smooth, with a few carinae; hind coxa strigate dorsally, rugose, with short setae laterally, ovipositor guide more or less medial, slightly oblique, distal fringe of long setae, long setae in groove ( Fig. 47F ); hind trochanter imbricate, short pubescence; prefemur on hind leg distinct; hind femur imbricate, short pubescence; hind tibia imbricate, short pubescence, with scattered stout emergent setae; hind femur 0.66 (0.6–0.7)× length hind tibia; hind tibia with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines; hind tarsomeres 1–4 with ventroapical pecten of short robust spines, tarsomere 1, 3.16 (3–3.5)× length tarsomere 2; tarsomere 2, 1.72 (1.5–2.0)× length tarsomere 3; tarsomere 3, 2.13 (2–2.4)× length tarsomere 4; tarsomere 4, 0.5× length tarsomere 5; hind tarsal claw 0.5× length tarsomere 5; fore wing veins 2r-m and 3r-m largely spectral; hind wing venation largely spectral, Cu and ~20% apex of 2-M slightly pigmented, 3 hamuli, apical two close together.

Metasoma. Ovate, 1.5× length of mesosoma ( Figs 47A, B ); T1 and T2 narrow, glabrous, imbricate microsculpturing, T3–T5 glabrous, imbricate micro-sculpturing, remainder of tergites imbricate micro-sculpturing, scattered short setae. Ovipositor 13.6 (13–14.2) mm.

MALE. Unknown.

Etymology. This species is named for our colleague Simon Tierny, an evolutionary ecologist.

Distribution. This species is known only from the Mallee District and Melbourne, Victoria ( Fig. 66 ).

Biology. Nothing is known of the biology of this species.

Comments. Aulacus tiernyi is similar to A. pallidus . See under A. pallidus for differences.

Figures

FIGURE 47. Aulacus tiernyi sp. nov., paratype female, except A holotype (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) dorsal head; (D) dorsal mesoscutum; (E) lateral mesosoma; (F) dorsal hind coxae.

FIGURE 66. Distribution of Aulacus tasmanicus sp. nov., A. tiernyi sp. nov., A. umbackae sp. nov., and A. vespiformis (Kieffer).