Aleiodes napo, Shimbori, Eduardo Mitio & Shaw, Scott Richard, 2014

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 : 52-54

Aleiodes napo sp. n. Figures 77-81

Description of holotype.

Female. Body length 5.0 mm; antenna length 6.3 mm; fore wing length 5.3 mm.

Color. Mostly black. Head with a small brown stain on temples, just behind eyes; palp, fore and mid coxa, trochanter and trochantellus pale yellowish. Metasomal tergite 1 white, with a black oval spot medially spanning from just behind basal carina to posterior edges of the tergite; remainder terga mostly black, white laterally; metasoma ventrally white with a pair of latero-basal spots on each sternite, the spots larger on the second sternite; ovipositor sheaths black, ovipositor yellow.

Head. 47 antennomeres; most flagellomeres about 1.5 × longer than wide, apical flagellomere with small pointed tip; malar space moderate, about 1.5 × times basal width of mandible, and 0.5 × eye height; temple wide, in dorsal view slightly shorter than eye; occipital carina absent dorsally, running toward vertex, ventrally almost meeting hypostomal carina; oral space small and circular, diameter about equal to basal width of mandible; clypeus with distinct line separating dorsal and ventral surfaces, dorsally coriaceous, ventrally convex and smooth; ocelli very small, ocell–ocular distance about 2.5 × diameter of lateral ocellus; head, including frons, granulate.

Mesosoma. Mesoscutum and scutellum granular coriaceous; pronotum dorsally and laterally on anterior half granular with scrobiculate sulcus, reminder lateral pronotum smooth except for the posterior corner coarsely rugose; propleuron granular–coriaceous; mesopleuron mostly smooth centrally to finely coriaceous, antero-dorsal corner weakly rugose–punctate; metapleuron and propodeum coarsely granular; longitudinal carina on propodeum almost complete; notauli present only anteriorly, narrow and crenulate, mid-posterior area of mesoscutum not depressed and granulate; entire posterior margin of mesoscutum bordered by carina; scutellar sulcus with median carina plus two pairs of lateral carina.

Wings. Fore wing: stigma 4.4 × longer than high; vein r 0.65 × length of 2RS, 0.7 × length of m-cu, and 0.85 × vein RS+Mb; vein 3RSa 0.3 × vein 3RSb, and 0.93 × vein 2M; vein 1CUa 1.4 × vein 1cu-a; 1CUb 2.8 × length of 1CUa; vein 1M almost straight. Hind wing: vein RS curved at middle, marginal cell narrowest point at middle; vein 1M 2.2 × longer than vein r-m; vein M+CU 0.68 × vein 1M; vein m-cu absent; vein 2-1A present.

Legs. Apex of hind tibia without comb of modified setae; tarsal claws simple, not pectinate; hind basitarsus about 3 × inner apical spur of hind tibia; hind coxa granulate basally.

Metasoma. T1 striate–rugose; T2 striated on basal 2/3; apical 1/3 of T2 and basal half of T3 coriaceous; longitudinal carina present along with the striated sculpturing on T1 and T2; T1 0.87 × longer than its apical width; ovipositor sheaths about as long as hind tarsomere II.

Male unknown.

Mummy. Length 12.0 mm, head honey yellow, thorax pale brown, abdomen dark reddish brown, almost tubular in shape, exit hole located postero dorsally.

Type material.

Type-locality: ECUADOR, Napo Province, Yanayacu Biological Station, YY-48553, S00°35.9', W77°53.4', 2163 m, cloud forest, July 14, 2010.

Type-specimen: Holotype female and mummy, point mounted separately. Top label: "ECUADOR: Napo Province / Yanayacu Biological Station / S00°35.9', W77°53.4' 2163m / CAPEA - NSF-BSI-07-17458 / REARED / 2010 (hand written) May 48553"; back (hand written): “14-Jul-2010”. (UWIM)

Biology.

Reared from a Noctuidae caterpillar (common name "raya roja a los lados chusquea") collected on Chusquea scandens ( Poaceae ). The parasitoid took six weeks from host mummification until emergence.

Discussion.

This species belongs to circumscriptus/gastritor species-group. The color pattern of Aleiodes napo sp. n. is similar to those of Aleiodes capillosus ; however, it does not belong to the Aleiodes gressitti species group because of the sculpturing on metasomal tergite 3, which is granular coriaceous on basal half. Aleiodes napo sp. n. differs from Aleiodes capillosus also in the presence of both occipital and epicnemial carina, though the former is incomplete dorsally, the presence of a complete longitudinal carina on metasomal terga 1 and 2, body sculpturing mostly granular–coriaceous, and longitudinal carina on propodeum almost complete (in Aleiodes capillosus all the above mentioned carina are absent, and the body sculpturing mostly smooth). Within the circumscriptus/gastritor group, Aleiodes napo sp. n. is similar to Aleiodes mirandae sp. n. in having a smooth central disc of mesopleuron and hind wing vein M+CU shorter than 1M, but differs from it in the almost entirely black head and thorax, mostly orangish yellow in Aleiodes mirandae sp. n., and the posterior central region of mesoscutum flat and granular, depressed and rugose in Aleiodes mirandae sp. n.

Etymology.

This species is named after the indigenous inhabitants of the eastern Ecuador, for whom the Province (locality of the type) is also named: the Napo Runas.