Blacometeorus sinicus Chai & Chen

Chai, Hong-fei, He, Jun-hua & Chen, Xue-xin, 2010, Discovery of the rare genus Blacometeorus Tobias, 1976 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Blacinae) in the Oriental part of China, with description of a new species, ZooKeys 65, pp. 63-67 : 64-66

Blacometeorus sinicus Chai & Chen sp. n. Figs 1-10

Female.

Length of body 3.0 mm, of fore wing 2.8 mm.

Head (Figs 1-3). Head distinctly and roundly narrowed below eyes; frons and occiput weakly concave; face largely rugose; length of maxillary palp subequal to height of head; POL equal to Od, 0.5 times OOL; Ocelli almost in equilateral triangle; length of eye in dorsal view equal to temple; malar space 1.2 times as long as basal width of mandible; tentorial pits large, distance between pits 1.3 times distance from pit to eye; width of clypeus 2.5 times its median height.

Antenna slender, 17-segmented; scapus twice as long as pedicellus; third segment 1.2 times as long as fourth segment; third, fourth and penultimate segments 4.7, 4.2, and 1.7 times as long as their width, respectively; penultimate segment 0.7 times as long as the apical segment; sixth and seventh segments normal.

Mesosoma (Figs 4, 9, 10). Length of mesosoma 1.5 times its height; pronotum largely with rugae; scutellar sulcus deep, rugose, with a distinct medio-longitudinal carina, almost 0.7 times as long as scutellum; scutellum with fine lateral carinae, not protruding dorsally; surface of propodeum largely reticulate-rugose, anteriorly narrowly smooth, its medial area absent.

Wings (Figs 7, 8). Fore wing: Length of fore wing 3 times its width; pterostigma narrow, its length 5 times maximum width; first discal cell narrowly truncated; 1-CU1: 2-CU1 = 6:21. Hind wing: 1r-m 0.9 times 1-M.

Legs (Figs 5, 6). Hind coxa with distinct curved dorsal keel; length of femur, tibia, and basitarsus of hind leg 4.6, 8.8 and 9.0 times their width, respectively; hind tarsus 1.1 times as long as hind tibia, its second segment 0.5 times as long as first segment.

Metasoma (Figs 4, 10). First tergite long, parallel-sided, with large spiracular tubercles in basal 0.35; first tergite 2.6 times as long as its apical width, largely coarsely reticulate, dorsal carinae distinct in basal half; second tergite weakly sculptured basally; ovipositor sheath 1.7 times as long as first tergite, 0.33 times as long as fore wing.

Colour. Dark brown; palpi and legs brownish yellow, but hind coxa, apex of hind tibia and tarsus darkened; tegulae and hypopygium brown; wing membrane subhyaline; pterostigma light brown; veins brown.

Male.

Unknown.

Type material.

Holotype, ♀ (ZJUH): China, Yunnan, Baoshan, Lujiangba, Gaoligong Mountain Natural Park, 24°49′44″N, 98°46′04″E, 2181m elev., 11.v.2009, coll. Wang Man-man, no.200904565.

Diagnosis.

The new species is similar to Blacometeorus konishii Belokobylskij, 2000, but can be separated from the latter by having the parallel-sided first metasomal tergite with big spiracular tubercles in basal 0.35, the second tergite weakly sculptured basally, the length of ovipositor sheath 0.33 times as long as fore wing, the length of scapus 2 times length of pedicellus, and the vein r-m of fore wing pigmented.

Biological notes.

Nothing is known about the host of this species.

Etymology.

From Latin “sinicus” (Chinese), referring to the first discovery in China.