Aleiodes speciosus Townsend, 2009

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 : 63

Aleiodes speciosus Townsend, 2009 Figures 101-103

Diagnosis.

Body length 4.9 mm; antenna with 42 segments; head color honey brown with black mark covering most of occiput, frons and vertex, and face medially; malar space 1.3 × basal width of mandible; ocellus large, ocell–ocular distance 0.6 × width of lateral ocellus; occipital carina shortly interrupted at vertex; mesopleuron mostly smooth, rugose on anter-dorsal corner; apex of hind tibia without comb of flattened setae; propodeum granulate anteriorly and rugose posteriorlly, longitudinal carina complete; metasomal tergite 1 white constrasting with most dark-brown–brow reminder terga, except terga 5-6 yellow.

Additional characters.

Last flagellomere with short pointed tip; mesoscutum with carina at posterior margin almost complete but weakly defined; scutellar sulcus shallow, with incomplete median carina; wings moderately infuscate; fore wing vein 1M moderately curved at base; hind wing vein 2-1A present, vein m-cu absent.

Type material examined. (UWIM)

Biology.

Aleiodes speciosus has been reared from unidentified Lepidoptera caterpillar on Miconia sp. ( Melastomataceae ).

Distribution.

Known only from the type locality, Camino a Loreto, Napo province, ECUADOR, at 1,383 meters elevation.

Discussion.

Aleiodes speciosus is known only by the male holotype. This species belongs to the circumscriptus/gastritor species-group. Aleiodes speciosus is similar to Aleiodes kingmani sp. n. mainly by color pattern, but also in having relatively large ocelli. These two species have a white metasomal tergite 1, contrasting with the reminder dark brown terga; however the mesosoma laterally and ventrally, and hind coxa of Aleiodes speciosus is mostly yellowish, compared with being almost entirely black in Aleiodes kingmani sp. n. The mummy produced by Aleiodes speciosus , although decapitated, is noticeably distinct from the ventrally bent “J-shaped” mummy of Aleiodes kingmani sp. n.