Cryptopimpla zwarti Reynolds Berry & van Noort

Berry, Terry Reynolds & van Noort, Simon, 2016, Review of Afrotropical Cryptopimpla Taschenberg (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Banchinae), with description of nine new species, ZooKeys 640, pp. 103-137 : 130-133

Cryptopimpla zwarti Reynolds Berry & van Noort sp. n. Fig. 10

Type material.

HOLOTYPE ♀: South Africa, Eastern Cape, Grahamstown, Faraway Farm 33.19'S, 19°26.31'E, April 1990, I. Crampton, Malaise trap, SAM-HYM-P005220 (SAMC).

Description.

Body subpolished. Colour. Head black, clypeus and mouthparts brown. Mesosoma rufescent, small black spot on underside; mesoscutum black only at the wing bases. Front legs: mostly light brown; coxa, trochanter and trochantellus black. Middle and hind legs: coxa to femora mostly black with shades of light brown on the coxa; remaining parts of leg light brown. Metasoma black, terga 6-8 posteriorly white.

Head. Densely punctate. Frons unarmed. Clypeus profile weakly convex with a curved lip on the ventral margin. Clypeus edge convex. Upper tooth of mandible longer than the lower tooth. Setae on head and clypeus short and sparse. Tentorial pits small and indistinct. Eye in lateral view 0.71 times as wide as long, maximum width in anterior view 0.66 times shortest inter-ocular distance. Flagellum tapered to a slender apex.

Mesosoma. Mesosocutum moderately punctate. Broad scuto-scutellar groove with deep lateral indentations. Epicnemial carinae present ventrally and dorsally, dorsally converging toward anterior edge of mesopleuron. Propodeum without carinae, its anterior margin with a blunt median projection. Wings hyaline. Fore wing with two bul lae close together appearing as one; vein 2m-cu sinuate; areolet truncate-shaped. Hind wing with one basal hamulus and six distal hamuli.

Metasoma. Slightly compressed. Tergum 1 with dorsolateral carinae substituted with longitudinal wrinkles, densely punctate with posterior margin weakly convex; second tergum 1.25 times broader than long, spiracle situated at basal 0.3 of tergum, gastrocoeli elongate; tergum 6 half as wide as tergum 5; hypopygium strongly sclerotized. Ovipositor slightly upcurved; sheath striations present.

CT 2; ML 0.6; IO 2.2; OO 1.6 OT 0.6; Fl1 4.9; body length 8.3 mm; antenna length 9.4 mm; fore wing length 6.9 mm.

Differential diagnosis.

Cryptopimpla zwarti is distinguishable from all other Afrotropical Cryptopimpla species by having a malar space 0.6 times as long as the basal mandibular width, whereas all the other Afrotropical Cryptopimpla species have a ML index of 0.8 or more. A broad scuto-scutellar groove with deep lateral indentations distinguishes Cryptopimpla zwarti from closely-related species Cryptopimpla fernkloofensis , Cryptopimpla neili , Cryptopimpla hantami , and Cryptopimpla parslactis . The metasomal tergum 1 with dorsolateral carinae substituted with longitudinal wrinkles distinguishes Cryptopimpla zwarti from closely-related species Cryptopimpla fernkloofensis and Cryptopimpla neili . Gastrocoeli on tergum 2 are elongate separating the species from closely-related species Cryptopimpla fernkloofensis , Cryptopimpla elongatus , and Cryptopimpla hantami .

Etymology.

Named after the retired agricultural entomologist, K. W. Robert Zwart (Wageningen Agricultural University) who first recognized it as a potentially new species in 1994. Noun in the genitive case.

Distribution.

South Africa (Eastern Cape).

Comments.

By having a malar space much shorter than the basal mandibular width (malar index of 0.6), the shape of the head is more globular, which in combination with a second tergum that is broader than long, separates Cryptopimpla zwarti from its closely-related species Cryptopimpla rubrithorax , which have a malar space 0.91-1.3 times as long as the basal mandibular width, creating a more lenticular-shaped head, and a second tergum that is 0.92-1.2 times as long as broad (i.e. no more than 1.09 times broader than long).