Heterospilus ratzeburgi Marsh

Marsh, Paul M., Wild, Alexander L. & Whitfield, James B., 2013, The Doryctinae (Braconidae) of Costa Rica: genera and species of the tribe Heterospilini, ZooKeys 347, pp. 1-474 : 147-148

Heterospilus ratzeburgi Marsh sp. n. Figure 99

Female.

Body size: 4.0 mm. Color: head bicolored, vertex and frons dark brown, face and eye orbits honey yellow; scape light brown, without lateral longitudinal brown stripe, flagellum brown, apical 7 flagellomeres white; mesosoma dark brown; metasoma dark brown, terga 5-7 yellow; legs yellow, hind tibia brown at extreme apex, hind tarsus brown; wing veins brown, stigma bicolored brown with yellow base and apex. Head: vertex weakly transversely costate; frons weakly transversely costate; face smooth; temple in dorsal view narrow and sloping behind eye, width about equal to 1/2 eye width; malar space greater than 1/4 eye height; ocell-ocular distance about 3 times diameter of lateral ocellus; 30 flagellomeres. Mesosoma: mesoscutal lobes smooth, median lobe with transverse costae at apical corners; notauli scrobiculate, meeting at scutellum in triangular costate area; scutellum smooth; prescutellar furrow with 3 cross carinae; mesopleuron smooth; precoxal sulcus smooth, shorter than mesopleuron; venter smooth; propodeum with basal median areas weakly margined, smooth, basal median carina absent, areola not margined, areolar area areolate-rugose, lateral areas entirely rugose. Wings: fore wing vein r shorter than vein 3RSa, vein 1cu-a beyond vein 1M; hind wing vein SC+R present, vein M+CU shorter than vein 1M. Metasoma: first tergum longitudinally costate, length greater than apical width; second tergum longitudinally costate, width about 4 times length; anterior transverse groove present, straight; posterior transverse groove present; third tergum costate at base, smooth apically; terga 4-7 smooth; ovipositor equal in length to metasoma.

Holotype female.

Top label (white, printed) - Costa Rica: Puntarenas [;] R. F. Golfo Dulce, 3km [;] SW Rincon. 10m [;] Malaise-primary forest [;] viii.1991. P. Hanson; second label (red, partially printed and hand written) - HOLOTYPE [;] Heterospilus [;] ratzeburgi [;] P. Marsh. Deposited in ESUW.

Paratypes.

Known only from the holotype.

Comments.

The smooth mesoscutal lobes and narrow metasomal tergum 2 are distinctive for this species.

Etymology.

Named for the German entomologist, J. T. C. Ratzeburg who described many parasitic wasps in forest situations.