Aulacus confusus 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 : 31

Aulacus confusus Jennings & Parslow , sp. nov.

Figs 14 , 58 .

Material examined. Holotype. ♀, “Port Phillip [Victoria] “ Coll Smith, 1879 ( OUMNH). Museum label identifies the specimen as A. signatus Shk. Right antenna missing flagellomeres 6 onwards, left fore leg missing tibia and tarsus, right mid leg missing tarsomeres 4–5 and claws, left hind leg missing tarsus, left ovipositor sheath missing.

Other Material examined. ♀, Victoria, no other data ( MVMA) .

Description. FEMALE. Length. 9.45 (9.4–9.5) mm, excluding ovipositor.

Colour. Head and mesosoma dark blackish brown, lateral face, gena, scape and pedicel, propleura, pronotum, fore and mid legs orange, mesoscutellum, scutellum and axillae black, hind leg orange, except coxae brown, metasoma orange except T1 dark brown basally, ovipositor sheaths dark brown, ovipositor dark orange. Wings hyaline except for brown infuscation apically on the marginal and (less so) third submarginal cells of fore wings ( Figs 14A, B ).

Head. 1.15 (1.13–1.18)× wider than long when viewed dorsally ( Fig. 14C ); face rugose, pubescence long, shorter near eye margin; with sub-antennal groove; frons without lateral medial carina above toruli, rugose, with scattered short setae; vertex and gena punctulate, with a few strigations posteriorly, large scattered punctures, scattered short setae; posterior margin of head slightly concave in dorsal view; occipital carina absent; malar space 0.33× height eye; clypeus 3.5× as wide as high, margin sinuate, with medial process; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 0.86× distance between lateral ocelli; scape 1.6 (1.5–1.7)× length pedicel; first flagellomere 1.0× as long as scape, 0.6× as long as second flagellomere.

Mesosoma. Propleuron rugose, scattered long setae, denser laterally, ventro-lateral carina present; pronotum largely strigate-rugose; mesoscutum in lateral view more-or-less angular antero-dorsally ( Fig. 14D ), medial and lateral lobes strigate-rugose, scattered short setae, admedial lines present; notauli distinct, carinate, broad and deep; scutellum and axillae strigate-rugose, scutellum with two deep depressions, separated by a weak median carina; metapostnotum broad, carinate, posterior margin convex; mesopleuron strigate-rugose dorsally, areolate ventrally, pubescence long, denser ventrally; mesepimeron broad, carinate; metapleuron rugose to strigate-rugose dorsally, strigate-areolate ventrally, patch anteriorly before spiracle smooth, with short pubescence; propodeum areolate, posterior margin rugose; hind coxa strigate-rugose, pubescence short, ovipositor guide somewhat medial, oblique (largely hidden on specimen); hind trochanter imbricate, short pubescence; prefemur on hind leg present; hind femur imbricate, with scattered short setae; hind tibia imbricate, pubescence short, with scattered stout emergent setae; hind femur 0.7× 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, 2.9× length tarsomere 2; tarsomere 2, 1.5× length tarsomere 3; tarsomere 3, 1.7× length tarsomere 4; tarsomere 4, 0.7× length tarsomere 5; hind tarsal claw 0.33× length tarsomere 5; fore wing veins 2r-m and 3r-m largely spectral; hind wing venation complete, M+Cu, Cu (slightly pigmented), r-m and 2-M spectral, with 3 hamuli, basal hamulus separate from other two.

Metasoma. Ovate, 1.55 (1.5–1.6)× length of mesosoma ( Fig. 14A ); T1 and T2 broad, T1 rugose near insertion of metasoma, remainder of T1 smooth, glabrous, T2 tending to imbricate posteriorly, T3–T8 imbricate, setae becoming denser posteriorly; ovipositor 12.5 (12.0–13.0) mm.

MALE. Unknown.

Etymology. We have named this new species from confusio, Latin for confused, referring to the misidentification of the specimen in OUMNH.

Distribution. This species is known from the type locality Port Phillip, Victoria ( Fig. 58 ).

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

Comments. The specimen in OUMNH has a locality label of Port Phillip [Victoria, Australia] and a separate identification label “ A. signatus Shk. ” It is not known who placed the identification label on the pin, but it is clearly a very old label. Pristaulacus signatus ( Shuckard, 1841) was originally described (as Aulacus signatus ) from Ceylon [ Sri Lanka] (see also Smith 2001, p. 297). However, this specimen clearly belongs to Aulacus as it has, inter alia, non-pectinate hind claws.

Two species, A. confusus and A. mareebaensis , both share the following: mesoscutum angular in lateral view, medial carina above the toruli lacking, metasoma ovate, ovipositor guide on hind coxa oblique and medial, and fore wing with brown infuscation apically on the marginal and third submarginal cells. They can be readily distinguished by the ovipositor being longer than the body in A. confusus and ovipositor shorter than the body in A. mareebaensis (see key for further details).

Figures

FIGURE 14. Aulacus confusus sp. nov., holotype female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) dorsal head and mesosoma; (D) lateral head and mesosoma.

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