Aleiodes atripileatus Townsend, 2009

Shimbori, Eduardo Mitio & Shaw, Scott Richard, 2014, Twenty-four new species of Aleiodes Wesmael from the eastern Andes of Ecuador with associated biological information (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Rogadinae), ZooKeys 405, pp. 1-81 : 17-18

Aleiodes atripileatus Townsend, 2009 Figures 13-17, 21

Diagnosis.

Body length 4.1-4.8 mm; antenna with 36-39 segments; head color black dorsally, light orangish brown ventrally; malar space 1.5 × basal width of mandible, ocelli small, ocell–ocular distance 1.7 × width of lateral ocellus; occipital carina interrupted at vertex; mesopleuron granulate; apex of hind tibia without comb of flattened setae; propodeum mostly rugulose-granulate, with complete median carina; metasomal terga 1-4 entirely dark brown to black; ovipositor sheaths about 2/3 of the hind basitarsus length.

Additional characters.

Last flagellomere with short “bottle-nipple” -like tip; mesoscutum posterior margin with carina only in front of scutellar sulcus; scutellar sulcus with a median plus two or three pairs lateral carina well defined and almost complete; fore wing vein 1M only slightly and evenly curved; hind wing vein 2-1A absent, vein m-cu absent; ovipositor sheaths about 2/3 length of hind basitarsus, one specimen in type series have 2.5/3, and another 1.8/3 proportions for this character.

Material.

Type material examined. (UWIM)

Non-type material: 3 females and 2 undetermined sex (?), ECUADOR, Napo, Yanayacu Biological Station, Napo Province, S00°35.9', W77°53.4', 2163 m; voucher numbers: ♀, YY-28538: prob. Noctuidae ( Hypena sp2) on Phenax rugosus ( Urticaceae ); ♀, YY-29079: Hypena sp2 ( Noctuidae ) on Boehmeria ulmifolia ( Urticaceae ); ♀, YY-37062: Noctuidae on Phenax rugosus ( Urticaceae );?, YY-58626: Noctuidae on Phenax rugosus ( Urticaceae );?, YY-63838: Noctuidae on Phenax rugosus ( Urticaceae ). (UWIM)

Biology.

Aleiodes atripileatus has been reared from a species of Hypena Schrank ( Noctuidae ) caterpillars feeding on Urticaceae , including Phenax rugosus , Boemeria bullata , Miriocarpa sp., and three other unidentified urticaceous plants. Other noctuids on the same host plants might be utilized as hosts.

Distribution.

Known only from the YBS, Napo province, ECUADOR, at 2,163 meters elevation.

Discussion.

Aleiodes atripileatus is one of the most commonly reared Aleiodes species in YBS. The species belongs to the circumscriptus/gastritor species-group. It is very similar to Aleiodes nubicola sp. n. and Aleiodes cacuangoi sp. n., differing from these two species in having the occipital carina distinctly interrupted at vertex. This character is shared with Aleiodes onyx sp. n., from which it differs by having a black vertex, a thinner metasoma, and the vein m-cu of hind wing absent. Different than originally described, the true sternaulus is absent.