Aulacus pallidus 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 : 73-74

Aulacus pallidus Jennings & Austin , sp. nov.

Figs 39 , 64 .

Material examined. Holotype. ♀, " Mt Dandenong , Victoria, 300 m, 13-29.ii", year unknown, collector unknown ( ANIC). Left flagellomeres 9-12, right flagellomeres 10-12, and right fore tarsus missing.

Description. FEMALE. Length. 6.8 mm, excluding ovipositor.

Colour. Head dark brown ( Fig. 39D ), meso- and metasoma pale orange ( Figs 39A, B ), mandibles orange, except teeth dark brown, flagellomeres 6–11 cream. Wings hyaline except for fuscous brown band apically on the marginal and submarginal cells of fore wing ( Fig. 39B ).

Head. 1.36× wider than long when viewed dorsally ( Fig. 39C ); face imbricate, pubescence short; shallow subantennal groove; frons without lateral medial carina above toruli, rugose, with short pubescence; vertex and gena rugulose-imbricate with scattered punctures with scattered short setae; posterior margin of head slightly concave in dorsal view; occipital carina absent; malar space 0.32× height eye; clypeus 3.6× as wide as high, margin sinuate, with short medial process; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 0.7× distance between lateral ocelli; scape 1.34× length pedicel; first flagellomere 1.37× as long as scape, 0.56× as long as second flagellomere.

Mesosoma. Propleuron rugulose-punctate, pubescence long, ventro-lateral carina present; pronotum rugose; mesoscutum in lateral view rounded antero-dorsally ( Figs 39D,F ), medial and lateral lobes strigate with underlying imbricate microsculpturing, with scattered short setae, admedial lines weak; notauli distinct, carinate, narrow and deep; scutellum strigate with underlying imbricate microsculpturing, scutellum anteriorly with pair of deep depressions, separated by a weak median carina; axillae rugose; metapostnotum scrobiculate, posterior margin slightly curved; mesopleuron rugose dorsally, areolate ventrally, with long pubescence; mesepimeron broad, carinate; metapleuron rugose, with short pubescence; propodeum areolate, posterior margin scrobiculate; hind coxa weakly strigate dorsally, pubescence short laterally, ovipositor guide medial, oblique ( Fig. 39E ), long setae on distal margin, no setae in groove; hind trochanter imbricate, with scattered short setae; prefemur on hind leg present; hind femur imbricate, with scattered short setae; hind tibia imbricate, pubescence short, with scattered stout emergent setae; hind femur 0.72× length hind tibia; hind tibia with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines; hind tarsomeres 1–4 with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines, tarsomere 1, 2.4× length tarsomere 2; tarsomere 2, 1.7× length tarsomere 3; tarsomere 3, 2.0× length tarsomere 4; tarsomere 4, 0.6× length tarsomere 5; hind tarsal claw 0.5× length tarsomere 5; fore wing veins 2r-m and 3r-m largely spectral; hind wing venation incomplete, R+Rs, M+Cu, Cu, r-m and 2-M absent, with 3 hamuli.

Metasoma. Ovate, 1.4× length of mesosoma ( Fig. 39B ); T1 and T2 narrow, glabrous; ovipositor 6.1 mm.

MALE. Unknown.

Etymology. The name pallidus refers to the pale body of this new species.

Distribution. This species is known only from the type locality, Mt Dandenong, Victoria ( Fig. 64 ).

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

Comments. Aulacus pallidus is similar to A. tiernyi , but differs in colour, with head dark brown and meso- and metasoma pale orange in the former species, whereas the head and metasoma are orange and the mesosoma brown in the latter species. Also, A. pallidus has the ovipositor slightly shorter than the body (ovipositor length 6.1 mm and body length 6.8 mm) whereas the ovipositor is much longer than the body in A. tiernyi (ovipositor 13.6 (13– 14.2) mm and body 7.6 (6.5–8.25) mm).

Figures

FIGURE 39. Aulacus pallidus sp. nov., holotype female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) dorsal head; (D) lateral head; (E) dorsal hind coxae; (F) lateral mesosoma.

FIGURE 64. Distribution of Aulacus obcordellus sp. nov., A. pallidicaudis (Cameron), A. pallidus sp. nov., and A. planiceps (Szépligeti).