Aulacus dandenongensis 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 : 32-34

Aulacus dandenongensis Jennings & Austin , sp. nov.

Figs 15 , 58 .

Material examined. Holotype. ♀, " Mt. Dandenong Vict. 300m II. 13-29." No collector. ( ANIC). Right hind leg missing . Paratypes. Victoria: 3♀, same data as holotype ( AEI) .

Description. FEMALE. Length. 8.6 (8.0–9.5) mm, excluding ovipositor.

Colour. Head and mesosoma black, scape and pedicel dark brown, fore and mid legs dark brown except tarsomeres 1–4 pale, hind legs black except tarsomeres 1–2 cream, metasoma dark brown, ovipositor orange. Wings hyaline except for an indistinct brown spot apically on the marginal and submarginal cells of fore wing ( Fig. 15B ).

Head. 1.40 (1.37–1.45)× wider than long when viewed dorsally ( Fig. 15C ); face reticulate, with long sparse pubescence; without sub-antennal groove; frons with slightly raised lateral medial carina above toruli, reticulate, with short pubescence; vertex and gena reticulate, with scattered short setae; posterior margin of head concave in dorsal view; occipital carina absent ( Fig. 15E ); malar space 0.26 (0.25–0.27)× height eye; clypeus 3.2× as wide as high, margin sinuate, with medial process; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 1.30 (1.09–1.53)× distance between lateral ocelli; scape 1.3 (1.2–1.5)× length pedicel; first flagellomere 1.5× as long as scape, 0.65 (0.60– 0.67)× as long as second flagellomere.

Mesosoma. Propleuron rugose, pubescence long, ventro-lateral carina distinct; pronotum rugose; mesoscutum in lateral view rounded antero-dorsally ( Fig. 15D ), medial and lateral lobes rugose, with some strigation ( Fig. 15E ), with scattered short setae, admedial lines present; notauli distinct, carinate, narrow and deep ( Fig. 15E ); scutellum and axillae rugose, with some strigation, scutellum anteriorly with pair of oblique shallow depressions, separated by a weak median carina; metapostnotum deeply depressed, scrobiculate, posterior margin sinuate; mesopleuron coarsely rugose, with long pubescence; mesepimeron broad, carinate; metapleuron coarsely rugose, with short pubescence; propodeum coarsely rugose, posterior margin smooth; hind coxa strigate dorsally, pubescence short laterally, ovipositor guide absent ( Fig. 15F ); 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 0.66 (0.64–0.68)× 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, 3.1 (3.0–3.3)× length tarsomere 2; tarsomere 2, 1.64 (1.55–1.73)× length tarsomere 3; tarsomere 3, 2.1 (1.8–2.2)× 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, M+Cu, Cu, r-m and 2-M absent, with 3 hamuli.

Metasoma. Clavate, 1.80 (1.60–1.92)× length of mesosoma ( Fig. 15B ); T1 and T2 narrow, glabrous; ovipositor 6.3 (6.0–6.5) mm. MALE. Unknown. Etymology. The new species is named after the type locality, Mt. Dandenong, Victoria. Distribution. This species is known only from the type locality ( Fig. 58 ). Biology. Nothing is known of the biology of this species. Comments. Aulacus dandenongensis keys out with A. kittelae . Both species have a mesoscutum which is rounded in lateral view, clavate metasoma, fore wing with brown spot on apex, and hind wing venation incomplete.

The two species can be readily distinguished by the absence of an ovipositor guide in A. dandenongensis whereas A. kittelae has a medial, oblique ovipositor guide.

Figures

FIGURE 15. Aulacus dandenongensis sp. nov., paratype female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) dorsal head; (D) lateral head and mesosoma; (E) dorsal propleuron and mesosoma. Aulacus dandenongensis sp. nov., holotype female, (F) inner left hind coxa.

FIGURE 58. Distribution of Aulacus confusus sp. nov., A. dandenongensis sp. nov., A. deansi sp. nov., and A. doddi sp. nov.