Opius antennatus 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 : 75-76

Opius antennatus Fischer Figs 1445-46

Opius antennatus Fischer, 1965a: 65-67.Holotype male in AEIC (examined).

Opius antennatus : Fischer 1971: 43 (catalog).

Opius (Merotrachys) antennatus : Fischer 1977: 655-659 (key, redescription); Fischer 1979a: 264-266 (key); Yu et al. 2005, 2012 (electronic catalogs).

Type locality.

USA, South Carolina, Cleveland.

Type material.

Holotype. Male (AEIC), first label, first line: Cleveland SC second line: VIII 2. 1952 third line: G. & L. Townes

Paratype.

One male (not seen), USA, South Carolina, Greenville, 12.vii.1952, G. & L. Townes.

Diagnosis.

Face faintly punctate, nearly smooth except shagreened adjacent eye margin. Eye in lateral view 2.5-3.0 × longer than temple; temples in dorsal view weakly receding. Male antenna with 48 flagellomeres; setae on basal flagellomeres thin, pale. Mesoscutum anteriorly with shallow but distinct declivity; notaulus extending laterally towards tegula as groove bordered by distinct supramarginal carina. Propodeum rugose to rugulose, median areola absent, median trough anteriorly shallow. Fore wing 3RSa very weakly curved, 1.35-1.4 × longer than 2RS; m-cu very weakly postfurcal. T1 sharply declivitous anteriorly, basal pit delimited posterior-medially; surface smooth to rugulose; dorsal carinae parallel-sided throughout, not sinuate, very weakly transversely carinate between dorsal carinae. T2+3 uniformly, distinctly shagreened. Head and mesosoma largely pale orange, mostly brownish orange dorsally; T1 orange, T2-4 pale medially, dark brown laterally, T5-6 dark brown; hind coxa and femur whitish; antenna without subapical pale ring; wing hyaline.

Remarks.

Known only from holotype and one paratype, both males. This species, described from South Carolina, USA, has the northernmost distribution of those treated here, and is the only species of the ingenticornis species group thus far recorded from outside of the Neotropical Region. It is also the smallest of the included species, with body length about 2.1 mm. The color pattern is distinctive, dorsally infumate on the head and mesosoma, yellow-orange below (Figs 45-46). Opius antennatus is closest to Opius michaeli in color pattern, though Opius michaeli has a dark mesopleuron and somewhat darker legs. The mesoscutum has a weak anterior declivity in both, but T2+3 is more distinctly shagreened in Opius antennatus than in Opius michaeli .