Aulacus burnsi 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 : 29-30

Aulacus burnsi Jennings & Austin , sp. nov.

Figs 13 , 57 .

Material examined. Holotype. ♀, " Dunk Is., 5.i.1950, G.B." " A.N. Burns Collection. " ( MVMA) . Paratypes. Queensland: 1♀, Bushley , 3.xi.1924, no collector ( MVMA) ; 1♀, Greenbank , 13.xii.1962, G. Monteith ( QM) ; 1♀, Brisbane , xii.1973, J. Sedlacek ( AEI) ; 1♀, Bribie Is , 22.xii-10-24.i.2011, G. Monteith ( QM) ; 1♀, Mt. Cootha , xixii.no year, no collector ( AEI) .

Description. FEMALE. 8.7 (8.0–9.5) mm, excluding ovipositor.

Colour. Head and mesosoma black except propleuron and ventral half of pronotum orange, mandibles brown, scape and pedicel orange, flagellomere 1 brown, 2–5 and 10–14 black, 6–9 cream, fore and mid legs orange except tarsomeres 1–4 cream and tarsomere 5 brown, hind legs brown except coxae paler, tarsomeres cream except basal half of tarsomere 1 and tarsomere 5 brown, metasomal T1 and T2 orange, remainder dark brown, ovipositor orange and sheaths dark brown. Wings hyaline except for brown spot apically on the marginal and submarginal cells of fore wing ( Fig. 13B ).

Head. 1.39 (1.33–1.47)× wider than long when viewed dorsally ( Fig. 13C ); face rugulose, pubescence long; weak sub-antennal groove; frons without lateral medial carina above toruli, rugulose, with short pubescence; vertex rugulose, with scattered short setae; gena weakly rugulose, with scattered short setae; posterior margin of head not concave in dorsal view; occipital carina absent; malar space 0.21 (0.20–0.25)× height eye; clypeus 3.1 (3.0–3.3)× as wide as high, margin sinuate, with medial process; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 0.71 (0.67–0.75)× distance between lateral ocelli; scape 1.66 (1.45–2.00)× length pedicel; first flagellomere 1.20 (0.93–1.38)× as long as scape, 0.54 (0.49–0.60)× as long as second flagellomere.

Mesosoma. Propleuron imbricate, almost glabrous dorsally, pubescence long laterally ventro-lateral carina distinct; pronotum rugose; mesoscutum in lateral view rounded antero-dorsally, medial and lateral lobes strigate ( Fig. 13E ), with underlying reticulate sculpturing, with scattered short setae, admedial lines distinct; notauli distinct, carinate, narrow and deep ( Fig. 13E ); scutellum and axillae strigate with underlying reticulate sculpturing, scutellum anteriorly with pair of deep depressions, separated by a median carina; metapostnotum scrobiculate, posterior margin slightly curved; mesopleuron rugose, with long pubescence; mesepimeron broad, carinate; metapleuron rugose, with short pubescence; propodeum areolate, posterior margin scrobiculate; hind coxa strigate dorsally, pubescence long laterally, ovipositor guide medial, somewhat oblique ( Fig. 13F ), long setae on distal margin, long 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 1.33 (1.28–1.39)× 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, 2.73 (2.47–3.16)× length tarsomere 2; tarsomere 2, 1.45 (1.27–1.69)× length tarsomere 3; tarsomere 3, 2.41 (2.17–2.80)× length tarsomere 4; tarsomere 4, 0.57 (0.55–0.60)× length tarsomere 5; hind tarsal claw 0.60 (0.46–0.67)× length tarsomere 5 (claw sometimes worn); fore wing veins 2r-m and 3r-m spectral in posterior half, hind wing venation complete, R+Rs, M+Cu, Cu, r-m and 2-M entirely spectral (and difficult to see), with 3 hamuli.

Metasoma. More or less clavate, 1.63 (1.41–1.81)× length of mesosoma ( Fig. 13B ); T1 and T2 narrow, glabrous; ovipositor 7.4 (6.2–8.3) mm.

MALE. Unknown.

Etymology. This species is named after the entomologist and collector Alexander Noble Burns.

Distribution. This species is known from several widely separated localities in Queensland ( Fig. 57 ).

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

Comments. Aulacus burnsi keys out together with A. albimanus . See under A. albimanus (above) for a comparison of the two species.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Aulacus burnsi sp. nov., paratype female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) dorsal head; (D) lateral head; (E) dorsal mesosoma, holotype, (F) dorsal hind coxae.

FIGURE 57. Distribution of Aulacus boonanghiensis sp. nov., A. brabyi sp. nov., A. broadi sp. nov., and A. burnsi sp. nov.