Aulacus mareebaensis 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 : 60-62

Aulacus mareebaensis Jennings & Austin , sp. nov.

Figs 32 , 62 .

Material examined. Holotype. ♀, “ ex Malaise Trap, 16km Davies Ck, Rd Mareeba NEQ, 6Nov -2Dec 1984, Storey & Halfpapp ( ASCU). Left fore leg missing tarsomeres 3–5, right leg missing tarsi, left mid leg missing femora, tibia and tarsus.

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

Colour. Orange ( Figs 32A, B ), except darker dorsally on most surfaces, scape and pedicel orange, antennal flagellomeres 1–5 brown, 6–12 cream, basal 5 th of metasomal T1 dark brown dorsally, ovipositor sheath brown, with cream band from about 50–80% of length of sheaths. Wings hyaline except for broad band of brown infuscation apically on the marginal and third submarginal cells of fore wings ( Fig. 32B ).

Head. 1.1× wider than long when viewed dorsally ( Fig. 32C ); face rugose, scattered short setae, distinct subantennal groove; frons without lateral medial carinae above toruli, rugose, punctures laterally, scattered short setae; vertex and gena, scattered punctures and a few strigations medially, imbricate microsculpturing, scattered short setae; gena becoming smoother ventrally; posterior margin of head concave in dorsal view; occipital carina absent; malar space 0.24× height eye; clypeus 3.5× as wide as high, margin sinuate, medial process present; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 0.83× distance between lateral ocelli; scape 1.6× length pedicel; first flagellomere 1.06× as long as scape, 0.4× as long as second flagellomere.

Mesosoma. Propleuron rugose, long scattered setae ventro-lateral carina present; pronotum rugose; mesoscutum in lateral view angular antero-dorsally, medial and lateral lobes coarsely strigate, with scattered short setae ( Figs 32C,E ), admedial lines present; notauli distinct, carinate, narrow and deep ( Fig. 32D ); scutellum and axillae coarsely strigate, scutellum with two deep depressions, separated by a weak median carina; metapostnotum broad, carinate, posterior margin convex; mesopleuron rugose dorsally, areolate ventrally, pubescence long; mesepimeron broad, carinate; metapleuron areolate, scattered short setae, patch anteriorly before spiracle smooth; propodeum areolate, posterior margin rugose medially, smoother with several carinae laterally; hind coxa strigate dorsally and laterally, scattered short setae, ovipositor guide somewhat medial, oblique, long setae on posterior margin ( Fig. 32F ); hind trochanter imbricate, pubescence short; prefemur on hind leg distinct; hind femur imbricate, pubescence short; 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, 2.6× length tarsomere 2; tarsomere 2, 1.7× length tarsomere 3; tarsomere 3, 2.1× length tarsomere 4; tarsomere 4, 1.0× length tarsomere 5; hind tarsal claw 0.57× 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 equidistant hamuli.

Metasoma. Ovate, 1.5× length of mesosoma ( Fig. 32B ); T1 and T2 narrow, T1 smooth, glabrous, T2–T8 imbricate, short setae, become denser towards T8; ovipositor 5.7 mm.

MALE. Unknown.

Etymology. This new species is named after the type locality, Mareeba, Queensland.

Distribution. This species is known only from Mareeba, Queensland ( Fig. 62 ).

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

Comments. This species keys out in together with A. confusus . See comments above under the latter species.

Figures

FIGURE 32. Aulacus mareebaensis sp. nov., holotype female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) dorsal head, lateral propodeum and frontal mesosoma; (D) lateral head and dorsal mesoscutum; (E) lateral mesosoma; (F) dorsal hind coxae.

FIGURE 62. Distribution of Aulacus leai sp. nov., A. longiventris (Kieffer), and A. mareebaensis sp. nov.