Aulacus scitulus Jennings & Parslow, 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 : 79-80

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4538.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E4D8D897-3CBE-4FA6-95C3-143A945229A4
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3798356
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/3E4187A0-171D-4E46-FF54-FD23FC05FEAC
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Aulacus scitulus Jennings & Parslow
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Aulacus scitulus Jennings & Parslow , sp. nov.

Figs 43 View FIGURE 43 , 65 View FIGURE 65 .

Material examined. Holotype. ♀, “ ex Malaise trap, 16km Davies Ck Rd Mareeba NEQ, 6Nov -2Dec 1984, Storey & Halfpapp ( ASCU). Right flagellomeres 9 to tip, right hind tarsus, and right ovipositor sheath missing.

Description. FEMALE. Length. 7.5 mm, excluding ovipositor.

Colour. Meso- and metasoma orange, head black, scape, pedicel and flagellomeres 1-3 and 8-12 black, 4-7 cream, hind femora and tibia darker orange, ovipositor sheaths brown ( Figs 43A, B View FIGURE 43 ). Wings hyaline.

Head. 1.1× wider than long when viewed dorsally ( Fig. 43C View FIGURE 43 ); face punctate-rugose, pubescence long; subantennal groove present; frons with distinct lateral medial carina above toruli ( Fig. 43F View FIGURE 43 ), rugulose-reticulate, with scattered punctures, with scattered short setae; vertex and gena rugulose-reticulate with scattered short setae; posterior margin of head concave and more or less sinuate in dorsal view; occipital carina absent; malar space 0.3× height eye; clypeus 3.8× as wide as high, margin sinuate, with medial process; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 1.47× distance between lateral ocelli; scape 2.7× length pedicel; first flagellomere 1.0× as long as scape, 0.52× as long as second flagellomere.

Mesosoma. Propleuron rugose, pubescence long, ventro-lateral carina present; pronotum dorsal part of pronotum raised, rugose-carinate, ventro-laterally with deep, smooth depression, ventrally smooth with a few scattered punctures; mesoscutum in lateral view angular antero-dorsally, medial and lateral lobes strigate ( Figs 43C, D View FIGURE 43 ), with scattered short setae, admedial lines indistinct; notauli distinct, carinate, narrow and deep; scutellum and axillae strigate, scutellum with a single shallow depression; metapostnotum broad, scrobiculate, posterior margin convex; mesopleuron rugose, long pubescence; mesepimeron broad, carinate; metapleuron rugose, with short pubescence, smooth patch on anterior margin of spiracle; propodeum areolate, posterior margin smooth, with a few carinae; hind coxa rugose dorsally, strigate-rugose laterally, pubescence longer laterally, ovipositor guide absent ( Fig. 43E View FIGURE 43 ); hind trochanter imbricate, long pubescence; prefemur on hind leg present; hind femur imbricate, short pubescence; hind tibia imbricate, pubescence short, with scattered stout emergent setae; hind femur 0.86× 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, 3.38× length tarsomere 2; tarsomere 2, 1.48× length tarsomere 3; tarsomere 3, 2.1× length tarsomere 4; tarsomere 4, 0.48× length tarsomere 5; hind tarsal claw 0.3× length tarsomere 5; fore wing veins 2r-m and 3r-m largely spectral; hind wing venation complete, M+Cu, Cu, r-m and 2-M spectral, with 3 hamuli, first hamulus separate from other 2.

Metasoma. Ovate, 1.3× length of mesosoma ( Fig. 43B View FIGURE 43 ); T1 and T2 narrow, glabrous, smooth tending to imbricate with scattered, small punctures posteriorly, T3–T8 imbricate, with scattered small punctures, short setae progressively denser on each tergite; ovipositor 7.5 mm.

MALE. Unknown.

Etymology. This species is named from the Latin scitulus , beautiful, handsome, pretty, elegant, neat.

Distribution. This species is known only from the type locality, Mareeba, Queensland ( Fig. 65 View FIGURE 65 ).

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

Comments. Aulacus scitulus keys out with A. obcordellus . Although very similar in appearance, they can be separated by the sculpturing on the face, which is punctate-rugose in A. scitulus and punctate-reticulate in A. obcordellus . See additional comments under A. obcordellus (above).