Opius filiflagellatus Fischer

Wharton, Robert, Daniels, Sophia, Shirley, Xanthe & Restuccia, Danielle, 2013, An opiine Braconidae (Hymenoptera) reared from Richardiidae (Diptera) and recognition of a new species group of Opius s. l., ZooKeys 289, pp. 65-101 : 78-80

Opius filiflagellatus Fischer Fig. 32

Opius filicornis Fischer, 1963: 387-389.Holotype female in CAS (examined).

Opius filicornis : Fischer 1964: 3-12 (key); Fischer 1965c: 236 (comparison with Opius ingenticornis ).

Opius filiflagellatus Fischer, 1965d: 420, 426 (key, new name); Fischer 1968a: 77-78 (key); Fischer 1971: 59 (catalog).

Opius (Merotrachys) filiflagellatus : Fischer 1977: 655-656, 673-675 (key, redescription); Fischer 1979a: 264-265 (key); Yu et al. 2005, 2012 (electronic catalogs).

Type locality.

Peru, Monson Valley, Tingo Maria.

Type material.

Holotype. Female (CAS), first label, first line: PERU: second line: Monson Valley third line: Tingo Maria fourth line: X–9– 1954 second label, first line: E.I. Schlinger second line: & E. S. Ross third line: collectors

Diagnosis.

Face mostly faintly punctate and finely shagreened, more strongly shagreened along eye margin. Eye in lateral view 3.0-3.1 × longer than temple; temples in dorsal view very weakly receding. Female antenna with 50 flagellomeres (original description); setae on basal flagellomeres thick, dark. Mesoscutum anteriorly on nearly same plane as pronotum, without distinct anterior declivity; notaulus extending laterally towards tegula as groove bordered by distinct supramarginal carina. Propodeum coarsely, carinately rugose, with short median trough anteriorly, areola largely obscured by sculpture posteriorly. Fore wing 3RSa very weakly curved, nearly straight, 1.5 × longer than 2RS; m-cu distinctly antefurcal. T1 sharply declivitous anteriorly, pit delimited posterior-medially; surface very intensely shagreened throughout and rugulose posterior-medially, the sculpture partly obscuring dorsal carinae; dorsal carinae weakly converging, nearly parallel-sided for most of their length. T2 intensely shagreened, T3 more finely shagreened. Ovipositor broken; ovipositor sheath apparently missing (broken). Head, body, hind coxa and femur orange; antenna without pale subapical ring; wing infumate.

Remarks.

This species, known only from the poorly preserved holotype, was originally described as Opius filicornis by Fischer (1963) but the name was preoccupied by Opius filicornis Thomson, 1895. Fischer (1965d) subsequently renamed the species as Opius filiflagellatus . Both antennae are broken on the holotype, with 42 flagellomeres remaining on the longest one. The metasoma is glued to the point separately from the remainder of the specimen, and the ovipositor is broken and its full length is thus unknown. The original description states half as long as metasoma, but it is unclear if this was meant to be the total length or just the visible portion. The right fore wing is missing, as are most of the legs.

This species most closely resembles Opius rojam and Opius ingenticornis in overall appearance. The color and propodeal sculpture are the same, and Opius filiflagellatus similarly has T2+3 distinctly shagreened. However, the setal pattern on the basal flagellomeres would seem to remove Opius filiflagellatus from the subgroup of species discussed below under Opius gabrieli . The mesoscutum is also not quite as flattened anteriorly and the temples in dorsal view are somewhat weakly receding relative to Opius rojam and Opius ingenticornis . In existing keys to species of Merotrachys ( Fischer 1977, 1979a), Opius filiflagellatus is distantly removed from Opius ingenticornis because of the antefurcal position of fore wing m-cu. This latter character is somewhat unreliable amongst members of the ingenticornis species group given variation we have seen both within series and between wings of single individuals.