Terrylee peruensis, Broad & Sääksjärvi & Veijalainen & Notton, 2011

Broad, Gavin R., Sääksjärvi, Ilari E., Veijalainen, Anu & Notton, David G., 2011, Three new genera of Banchinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) from Central and South America, Journal of Natural History 45 (21 - 22), pp. 1311-1329 : 1315-1318

Terrylee peruensis sp. n. Broad, Sääksjärvi & Veijalainen

( Figures 1–3 )

Material examined

The trails below are illustrated on the maps in Erwin (1990) and Wilson and Sandoval (1996). The “ / number” refers to trail marker, e.g. “Trocha Tachigali / 47” means 47 × 50 m, or 2350 m, from the zero mark on the Trocha Tachigali trail.

Holotype (♀). Trocha Tachigali / 47, Pakitza, Río Manu, Madre de Dios, Peru, 6 October 1991, 345 m altitude, T. L. Erwin and M.G. Pogue collectors. Insecticidal

fogging of a medium-sized tree with lianas, dead leaves and vines 2–15 m up, green foliage to 10 metres with some draft up. Lot # 205 in Erwin’s database (USNM).

Paratypes (1 ♀, 2 ♂♂). One ♂ as in holotype ( USNM). One ♀ Trocha Cana Brava / 7, Pakitza, Río Manu, Madre de Dios, Peru, 9 October 1991, 330 m altitude, T . L. Erwin and M. G. Pogue collectors. Insecticidal fogging of Astrocaryum chambria Burret dry leaves (nine fronds) to 4.5 m height. Lot # 215 in Erwin’s database ( ZMUT) .

One ♂ Trocha Zungaro / 4.8, Pakitza, Río Manu, Madre de Dios, Peru, 26 September 1991, 330 m altitude, T. L. Erwin collector . Insecticidal fogging of the bamboo Guadua weberbaueri Pilger , green, at 4–5 m, open around. Lot # 114 in Erwin’s database ( BMNH) .

Female: whole insect, see Figure 1 ; head, mesosoma and first tergite, see Figure 2 ; fore wing length c. 3.8 mm. Antenna with 26–28 flagellomeres, first flagellomeres long. Tergite I c.1.6 times as long as apically wide, tergite II c.1.1 times as wide as long. Body almost entirely very polished and shiny with some long whitish hairs, mesopleurum more punctuate (with hairs), metapleurum with only a very few punctuates with hairs; mesopleurum, metapleurum and hind coxae partly very finely coriaceous. Other characters as in generic description.

Colour: head yellowish-orange, with mandibles (except for orange-brownish teeth) and clypeus white, frons, interocellar area, occipital area and occiput shiny black. Antennae dark brown. Mesosoma more or less entirely shiny black, with ventral corners of propleuron and pronotum, upper posterior corner of pronotum yellowishbrownish, tegula creamy white. Metasoma blackish-brown, with tergites I–II more or less black (with brownish hind rim), thyridia brownish, tergite III onwards fading from blackish to brown, sternites creamy whitish with some brownish areas. Subgenital plate creamy whitish. Ovipositor orange, ovipositor sheaths dark brown. Fore leg yellowish, with coxa, trochanter and trochantellus whitish. Mid leg yellowish, coxa whitish, trochanter black (yellowish distally), trochantellus brownish (with a small yellowish spot), distal tarsomeres fading into light brown. Hind leg brownish, coxa whitish (in lateral view with a large dark brown spot), trochanter black (yellowish distally), trochantellus brownish (with small yellowish spot), femur yellowish (brown distally), tibia with two yellowish longitudinal stripes. Wings hyaline, pterostigma and wing veins light brown.

Variation: scutellum and hind rim of metanotum vary from black to brown.

Male: whole insect, see Figure 3 . Similar to female in size, structure and colour; 28–29 flagellomeres.

Etymology

The specific name is derived from Peru.

Remarks

All the Terrylee peruensis specimens were collected by insecticidal canopy fogging in close proximity to the Pakitza Vigilante Station (11 ◦ 56 ′ 47 ′′ S, 71 ◦ 17 ′ 00 ′′ W), Río Manu, Madre de Dios, Peru, in September and October 1991. Two previous publications, Erwin (1990) and Wilson and Sandoval (1996), accurately detail the area, its climate, different forest types and other studies conducted there, as well as the study arrangements. In short, two distinct seasons with annual mean fluctuation in rainfall and temperature can be distinguished, and the tropical lowland rainforest vegetation is characterized by one or two canopy layers with several super-emergent trees and herbaceous or shrubby understory ( Erwin 1990).

The tropical lowland rainforests of the Río Manu region harbour one of the most biodiverse – and ecologically one of the most poorly known – faunas on earth ( Wilson and Sandoval 1996). As for arthropods, the ground beetle ( Coleoptera : Carabidae ; Erwin 1990), butterfly (Lepidoptera; Robbins et al. 1996) and spider (Araneae; Silva and Coddington 1996) communities are considered especially speciesrich. Undoubtedly, several peculiar undescribed arthropod taxa are yet to be found from Manu.

Figures

Figure 1. Terrylee peruensis holotype female, whole insect.

Figure 2. Terrylee peruensis holotype female, head, mesosoma and first tergite of metasoma, lateral.

Figure 3. Terrylee peruensis paratype male, whole insect.