Rhacontsira haeselbarthi, Belokobylskij & Zaldívar-Riverón, 2021

Belokobylskij, Sergey A. & Zaldívar-Riverón, Alejandro, 2021, Reclassification of the doryctine tribe Rhaconotini (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 741, pp. 1-168 : 141-144

Rhacontsira haeselbarthi sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D2A46876-0B35-4BDE-B49F-FB7927B69864

Fig. 51

Etymology

Named after Dr E. Haeselbarth, well-known German hymenopterist and collector of the holotype specimen.

Material examined

Holotype REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA • ♀; “ Entabeni Forest , Soutpansberg, Tvl. [Transvaal], 4–5000’, 3.– 7.6.[19]64, E. Haeselbarth ”; SSMG.

Description

Female

MEASUREMENTS. Body length 1.8 mm; fore wing length 1.7 mm.

HEAD. Width 1.4 times its median length, 1.2 times width of mesoscutum. Head behind eyes (dorsal view) roundly narrowed. Transverse diameter of eye 1.6 times as long as temple (dorsal view). Ocelli small, arranged in triangle with base 1.2 times its sides. POL 1.5 times OD, 0.5 times OOL. Eye glabrous, very weakly emarginated opposite antennal sockets, 1.25 times as high as broad. Malar space 0.45 times height of eye and 0.9 times basal width of mandible. Face width 1.1 times height of eye and 1.3 times height of face and clypeus combined. Clypeal suture distinct and complete. Hypoclypeal depression round, its width almost equal to distance from edge of depression to eye, 0.4 times width of face. Occipital carina complete dorsally, fused below with hypostomal carina above base of mandible. Hypostomal flange distinct. Vertex distinctly convex. Head below eyes distinctly and roundly narrowed (front view). Antennae slender, filiform, 19-segmented, 1.3 times as long as body. Scapus 1.8 times as long as maximum width. First flagellar segment 4.5 times as long as its apical width, 0.85 times as long as second segment. Penultimate segment 4.0 times as long as width, as long as first flagellar and apical segments; the latter distinctly pointed.

MESOSOMA. Mesosoma not depressed. Length almost twice its height. Pronotum with distinct pronotal carina situated more closely to mesoscutum, but not fused with it. Mesoscutum highly and almost perpendicularly raising above pronotum (lateral view), almost as long as maximum width. Median lobe of mesoscutum not protruding forward. Notauli deep anteriorly, shallow posteriorly, narrow, crenulategranulate. Prescutellar depression rather deep and long, weakly curved postero-laterally, with distinct median carina, finely rugulose, about 0.5 times as long as weakly convex scutellum. Subalar depression shallow, wide, rugose-granulate. Sternaulus (precoxal furrow) distinct, rather deep, finely crenulategranulate, connected with prepectal carina anteriorly, running along entire length of lower part of mesopleuron, weakly curved medially. Metanotum without dorsal tooth (lateral view). Metapleural lobe short, widened, rounded apically, with sparse pubescence.

WING. Fore wing 3.2 times as long as its maximum width. Pterostigma 4.5 times as long as wide. Metacarpus (1-R1) 1.3 times as long as pterostigma. Radial vein (r) arising almost from middle of pterostigma. First radial abscissa (r) forming obtuse angle with second abscissa (3-SR). Second radial abscissa (3-SR) 2.4 times first abscissa (r), 0.4 times the straight third abscissa (SR1), 1.1 times first radiomedial vein (2-SR). Second radiomedial (submarginal) cell not narrowed distally, about 3.0 times as long as maximum width, 1.4 times as long as the narrow brachial (subdiscal) cell. First medial abscissa (1-SR+M) weakly sinuate. Recurrent vein (m-cu) about 4.0 times as long as second medial abscissa, 0.6 times as long as first radiomedial vein (2-SR). Mediocubital vein (M+CU1) almost straight. Distance from nervulus (cu-a) to basal (1-M) vein almost equal to nervulus (cu-a) length. Hind wing 5.6 times as long as wide. First costal abscissa (C+SC+R) 0.6 times as long as second abscissa (1-SC+R). First abscissa of mediocubital vein (M+CU) 0.7 times as long as second abscissa (1-M). Recurrent vein (mcu) weakly curved, strongly oblique, strongly antefurcal.

LEGS. Hind coxa 1.6 times as long as wide (with basoventral tubercle). Hind femur 3.7 times as long as wide. Hind tarsus 0.9 times as long as hind tibia. Hind basitarsus 0.75 times as long as second– fifth segments combined; second tarsal segment 0.4 times as long as basitarsus, almost as long as fifth segment (without pretarsus).

METASOMA. Length almost as long as mesosoma and head combined. First tergite with distinct pointed and directed downwards basolateral processes, without spiracular tubercles, distinctly and linearly widened from base to apex. Maximum width of first tergite 2.5 times minimum width; length 1.2 times its apical width, 1.1 times length of propodeum. Second tergite with rather distinct shallow and transverse furrow in posterior quarter separating rather short transverse apical area. Length of second tergite 0.7 times its basal width, almost twice length of third tergite. Second suture rather deep, almost straight, weakly curved laterally. Fourth tergite enlarged, weakly convex in posterior margin, without median emargination and postero-ventral lobes, 1.7 times as long as third tergite, 1.3 times as long as fifth tergite. Ovipositor sheath 1.1 times as long as metasoma, 1.3 times as long as mesosoma, 0.55 times as long as fore wing.

SCULPTURE AND PUBESCENCE. Vertex very finely transversely striate, almost smooth in posterior third; frons mostly smooth, finely rugulose-coriaceous in anterior third; face distinctly densely striate, smooth medially and below; temple smooth. Mesoscutum entirely densely granulate, without rugosity along notauli, rugose on its small medio-posterior area. Scutellum densely granulate. Mesopleuron finely coriaceous, granulate-coriaceous upper, very finely coriaceous to smooth near sternauli. Metapleuron densely rugose-reticulate, finer sculptured in anterior third. Propodeum with rugulose-granulate at most part and almost smooth basally basolateral areas distinctly delineated by carinae; with distinct median carina in its basal 0.5; remainder of propodeum rugose-reticulate with granulation; areola indistinct. Hind coxa granulate, finely coriaceous below. Hind femur finely and densely striate, smooth below. First and second tergites densely longitudinally striate with dense ground reticulation between striae; apical area of second tergite finer and irregularly striate. Third tergite laterally in basal two–thirds and fourth tergite laterally in basal half densely striate, these tergites medially very shortly striate or rugulose basally. Remaining parts of tergites smooth. Vertex with very sparse short semi-erect setae. Mesoscutum with sparse, rather short and semi-erect setae arranged along notauli and marginally. Mesopleuron glabrous on wide median area.Hind tibia with short and dense semi-erect setae; length of these setae about half maximum width of hind tibia.

COLOUR. Body black with reddish tint. Antenna mainly almost black, five basal segments yellow or light brown. Palpi yellow. Legs brownish yellow, coxae faintly infuscate. Ovipositor sheath brown, almost black apically. Fore wing faintly and evenly infuscate. Pterostigma brown, yellow in basal third.

Male

Unknown.

Diagnosis

This new species is morphologically very similar to the Eastern Palaearctic Rh. heterospiloides (Belokobylskij) , but differs from the latter by having the malar space 0.45 times height of eye and 0.9 times basal width of mandible (vs 0.3 and 0.55 times, correspondingly), pronotal carina situated more closely to mesoscutum (vs situated submedially), second radial abscissa (3-SR) of fore wing 1.1 times as long as first radiomedial vein (2-SR) (vs only 0.8 times), hind femur 3.7 times as long as wide (vs 3.2 times), ovipositor sheath 1.3 times as long as mesosoma and 0.55 times as long as fore wing (vs about 2.0 and 0.75 times, correspondingly), and it is also distributed in the Afrotropical region (vs the Eastern Palaearctic).

Distribution

Republic of South Africa.

Figures

Fig. 51. Rhacontsira haeselbarthi sp. nov., ♀, holotype, SSMG. A. Habitus, lateral view. B. Head and mesoscutum, front view. C. Mesosoma, dorsal view. D. Head, front view. E. Basal segments of antenna. F. Apical segments of antenna. G. Head and mesosoma, lateral view. H. Metasoma, dorsal view. I. Wings.