Pseudapanteles gouleti Fernandez-Triana

Fernandez-Triana, Jose L., 2010, Eight new species and an annotated checklist of Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) from Canada and Alaska, ZooKeys 63, pp. 1-53 : 18-21

Pseudapanteles gouleti Fernandez-Triana sp. n. Figs 17-18

Type locality.

Canada, Ontario, Ottawa, 45°21.365'N, 75°42.416'W.

Type material.

Holotype. Female (CNC), with labels as follows: CANADA: ON, Ottawa, 45°21.365'N, 75°42.416'W, 13-23.vii.2007, H. Goulet, malaise trap, city garden; second label with Specimen ID: CAM 0253. CNC TYPE 23941.

Paratypes (CNC): 1 ♀ and 6 ♂ same data than holotype except for collecting dates as follow: 13-23.vii.2007 (2 ♂), 30.vii-10.viii.2007 (3 ♂), 10.viii-1.ix.2007 (1 ♀, 1♂) [Specimens ID: CAM 0251, 0252, 0254-0258]; 1 ♀ Quebec, Hull, Malaise Trap, 10.viii.1965; 5 ♂ Quebec, Hull, Malaise Trap, 31.viii.1965; 2 ♀ Quebec, Old Chelsea, Summit King Mountain, 350 m, 22 and 27.viii.1965; 1 ♀ Ontario, Twp. Nepean, 25.viii.1949, H. A. Tripp col., reared from an immature case of Paraclemensia acerifoliella collected 10.v.1949; 1 ♀ Ontario, St. Lawrence Islands National Park, McDonald Island, 5.viii.1976; 4 ♂ Ontario, St. Lawrence Islands National Park, Thwartway Island, 1.viii.1976 (1 ♂), 2.viii.1976 (2 ♂), 12.ix.1976 (1 ♂); 1 ♀ Ontario, Innisville, 6.viii.1963, W. R. Mason.

Diagnosis.

Pseudapanteles gouleti is recognized by its more sculptured propodeum, with transverse carination all over its surface in addition to the median carina (the rest of the Nearctic species have the propodeum mostly smooth with only a median carina and at most a few, small transverse ridges radiating from base of median carina); the uniformly brown veins and stigma in the forewing (veins mostly hyaline and stigma hyaline centrally with margins light brown in the other species); mediotergite 1 fully sculptured, its basal 0.6 parallel-sided and then narrowing towards apex, its basal width about 1.2 –1.3× its apical width (mediotergite 1 partially or fully smooth; barrel-shaped in Pseudapanteles nigrovariatus and Pseudapanteles sesiae or strongly narrowing from base to apex in Pseudapanteles dignus ).

Description.

Female

Antenna length 2.2 mm (2.0-2.2 mm), slightly shorter than body length (2.6 mm, range: 2.2-2.7 mm) and forewing (2.7 mm, range: 2.3-2.7 mm). Head with glossa bilobate and long. Face with shallow and sparse punctures and sparse, uniformly distributed setae. Face width at antennal base/face width at clypeus edge: 1.2 ×; intertentorial pit distance/face width at clypeus edge: 0.5 ×; compound eye height/head height: 0.7 ×; head height/width: 0.9 ×; face width at antennal base/head maximum width: 0.6 ×; malar space/basal width of mandible 1.1 ×. Clypeus transversely narrow, its width/height: 4.5 ×. Length/width of flagellomeres: 1st (2.3 ×), 2nd (2.7 ×), 3rd (2.3 ×), 8th (2.0 ×), 14th (1.0 ×), 15th (1.0 ×), 16th (1.0 ×). Ocelo-ocular distance/posterior ocelli diameter: 2.5 ×; distance betwen posterior ocelli/ocelli diameter: 1.6 ×.

Mesosoma. Pronotum XX. Mesoscutum uniformly sculptured by dense and well impressed punctures (distance between punctures about half their diameter). Mesoscutum 1.5 × wider than long. Mesoscutum and scutellum uniformly covered by dense, silvered-coloured pilosity. Scutellum similarly sculptured than mesoscutum, though punctures slightly shallower and sparser. Scutellum length/width at base 1.2 ×. Scutellar suture thin and shallow, with 8-9 costulae. Posterior band of scutellum polished. Scutellar lateral face with polished area about 1/2 the face height. Except for a few punctures on the upper anterior margin, mesopleuron smooth and glabrous, setae over all of mesopleuron margins. Crenulated sulcus separating meso and metapleura. Metapleuron smooth in basal half, apical half punctate and with setae, metapleuron with a crenulated, longitudinal sulcus running from lower margin near metacoxa through spiracle. Metapleural carina with short lamella. Propodeum with median carina well defined and raised over its entire length; propodeum fully sculptured with transverse carinae, some radiating from the median carina.

Metasoma. Mediotergite 1 parallel sided for the basal 0.6 × of its length, then narrowing towards apex, basal width/apical width 1.3 × (1.2 –1.3×); length/apical width 3.1 ×; mediotergite 1 with deep medial groove over its basal half, fully sculptured with longitudinal to transverse striae (except for a very small basal area surrounding the beginning of the groove and a small, polished apical knob). Mediotergite 2 transverse, subtriangular to trapezoidal in shape; basal width/apical width 0.4 ×; length/apical width 0.4 ×; fine, longitudinal striae covering most of the surface (sometimes apical third smooth). Mediotergite 3 more than twice the length of mediotergite 2. Mediotergite 3 and following unsculptured, polished and uniformly covered by sparse setae. Hypopygium striate, with acute tip protruding beyond apical tergites. Ovipositor sheaths fully setose, 1.0 –1.2× as long as metatibia length.

Legs. Metatibial inner spur 1.4 × the length of outer spur, and 0.47 × the length of metatarsomere 1. Metafemur 3.2 –3.5× as long as wide.

Wings. Vein R1a 1.2 –1.3× as long as stigma length. Length of R1a about 6.0 × as long as the distance between its end and the end of 3RSb. Vein r X the maximum width of stigma. Vein r and 2RS evenly curved to very slightly arched, with no clear limits between the two veins. Vein 2M about twice as long as vein (RS+M)b. Edge of vannal lobe of hindwing medially straight to slightly convex and with uniform length setae shorter than those at base and apex of lobe.

Colour: Labrum, mandibles (except for black tips), scape and pedicel yellow; maxillary and labial palps light yellow; clypeus orange-brown; rest of antenna and head brown. Mesosoma, basal half of metacoxa and mediotergite 1 dark brown to black; mediotergite 2 completely, mediotergite 3 and following centrally, apical half of metacoxae dorsally, metatarsi and apex of metatibia, light brown; tegula, rest of legs, tergites 3 and following laterally, and all sterna, yellow to light yellow almost white; stigma and veins in forewing brown.

Male

Males have mediotergite 3 and following almost completely brown, clypeus, scape and pedicel darker, and metacoxa fully brown. The flagellomeres are longer than those of females.

Variation.

Some specimens have lighter body coloration.

Molecular data.

Eleven specimens rendered full barcodes, with four haplotypes showing up to 0.3% of variation (1-2 bp). Those specimens were compared with one unauthenticated specimen of Pseudapanteles dignus , the only Nearctic species with data available in GenBank. Pseudapanteles gouleti is very distinctive, with more than 18% of base pairs different from the other species (Fig. 23).

Distribution and biology.

All specimens have been collected in an area bounded by the St Lawrence and Ottawa rivers (44 º-46º N and 74 º-75º W) near Canada’s capital. This is the northernmost known record of the genus Pseudapanteles . I studied 8 ♀ and 15 ♂ captured between mid July to mid September. One specimen was reared from the Maple Leafcutter, Paraclemensia acerifoliella (Fitch, 1856) ( Incurvariidae ). This is the third record of Braconidae parasitizing an incurvariid Lepidoptera ; the other two being another Microgastrinae , Pholetesor ornigis (Weed, 1887), and a Braconinae , Bracon montowesei (Viereck, 1917); in all cases attacking the same incurvariid species ( Marsh 1979; Yu et al. 2005; Whitfield 2006).

Etymology.

I dedicate this species to Henri Goulet (CNC) in whose backyard (a biodiversity gem in Ottawa, fondly called by CNC researchers as "Goulet National Park") the holotype and several paratypes were collected. Henri wisely encouraged me to study the Microgastrinae and during four years has kindly given me access to his lab, collections and great expertise on many insect topics.