Aleiodes longikeros, 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 : 42-44

Aleiodes longikeros sp. n. Figures 54-57

Description of holotype.

Female (holotype). Body length 7.3 mm; antenna length 12.0 mm; fore wing length 7.0 mm.

Color. Head honey yellow, ocellar triangle brown; antenna dark brown, scape and pedicel honey brown with darker outer side. Mesosoma honey yellow, dorso-anterior corner of mesopeluron infuscate; metapeluron and propodeum black, posterior 1/5 of metapleuron white. Fore and mid leg whitish, tarsi darkening gradually, 5th tarsomeres brown. Hind leg: coxa mostly dark brown, basal third white; trochanter and trochantellus white; femur white with dorso-subapical dark brown stain; tibia and tarsi dark brown except for sub-basal white band on tibia which is larger ventrally; tibial spurs white. Metasoma black dorsally, with white spots mid-apically on T1 and medially from T2 to T4; ventrally white. Wings weakly hyaline; veins dark brown.

Head. Antenna with 60 antennomeres, about 1.6 × as long as body, flagellomeres narrower than in other species, most flagellomeres 2.5 × longer than wide, apical flagellomere with long “bottle-nipple” -shaped apex; malar space 1.1 × longer than basal width of mandible, 0.4 × longer than eye height; in dorsal view eyes 3 × longer than temples; occipital carina barely incomplete, almost meeting dorsally and directed toward vertex, well defined laterally and meeting hypostomal carina; oral space small and circular, maximum width 0.8 × basal width of mandible; clypeus not swollen; ocell-ocular distance about as long as diameter of lateral ocellus; maxillary palp not swollen; head surface sculpturing shining granulate, occiput smooth and shining; higher face with a small longitudinal ridge and transverse rugosity directed to it; frons only shallowly excavated.

Mesosoma. Sculpturing shining granulate; pronotum smooth laterally, dorsally granulate and foveate; mesopleuron with central elevated area smooth, antero-dorsal corner rugose; propodeum coarsely shining granular with complete mid-longitudinal carina; notauli very shallow anteriorly, virtually absent. Mesoscutum with some transverse wrinkles on anterior region of notauli, mid-posterior depressed area with few longitudinal wrinkles; posterior margin of mesoscutum with complete carina; scutellar sulcus with median carina plus two pairs of complete lateral carina.

Wings. Fore wing: stigma 5.7 × longer than high; vein r as long as vein 2RS, slightly longer than vein RS+Mb, and 0.75 × vein m-cu; vein 3RSa 0.55 × vein 3RSb, and as long as vein 2M; vein 1CUa 1.8 × vein 1cu-a; vein 1CUb 2 × vein 1CUa; vein 1M strongly curved in its basal portion. Hind wing: m-cu absent; vein M+CU 0.8 × vein 1M; 1M about 2.4 × longer than r-m; vein RS smoothly curved at middle; vein M straight dark brown, well pigmented; vein 2-1A present.

Legs. Hind tibia with comb of modified setae at apex; tarsal claw simple, not pectinate, with a comb of relatively long thin setae basally. Hind tibial spurs relatively short, hind basitarsus 3 × longer than inner spur.

Metasoma. T1, T2 and basal 2/5 of T3 granulose striate, longitudinal carina present along this sculpturing; remainder visible terga granular coriaceous; ovipositor sheaths about 0.85 × hind tarsomere II; apex of ovipositor sheaths truncate; T1 length 1.4 × its apical width, strongly widening posteriorly, its apical width about 2 × basal width.

Male unknown.

Mummy. Length 12.5 mm, light reddish brown, head and prolegs light yellow, head with two longitudinal brownish stripes, thorax compact and wrinkled, posterior apex withered, glue hole located ventrally on the thorax, exit hole irregular, located postero-dorsally, posterior to hind abdominal prolegs.

Type material.

Type-locality: ECUADOR, Napo Province, Yanayacu Biological Station, YY-57074, S00°35.9', W77°53.4', 2163 m, cloud forest, April 12, 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 / (hand written) March 2010 / 46444"; back (hand written): "em. 12 April 2010". (UWIM)

Biology.

Reared from mummified Geometridae caterpillar (YY-46444), on Chusquea scandens ( Poaceae ). The host was collected as mummy.

Discussion.

Aleiodes longikeros sp. n. belongs to the seriatus species-group. This species has the longest antenna of any of these 24 newly described species, even though this is a medium sized species. Its antenna is about 1.6 × longer than body, as compared with at most 1.3 × in other species. The fore wing vein 1M strongly curved basally is also seen in Aleiodes townsendi sp. n. and Aleiodes shakirae sp. n., both belonging to circumscriptus/gastritor species-group, therefore both distinct from Aleiodes longikeros sp. n. by the absence of apical comb of flattened setae on hind tibia. Aleiodes longikeros sp. n. is similar to Aleiodes dyeri sp. n. (distinguishing features are discussed on diagnosis section on Aleiodes dyeri sp. n.). It also resembles Aleiodes greeneyi because of the dorsally incomplete occipital carina, from which it can be distinguished by the honey yellow mesosoma (dorsally black in Aleiodes greeneyi ), and white mid-apical spots on metasomal terga 1-4 (mostly black to dark brown in Aleiodes greeneyi ); mesopleuron smooth on dorsal elevated area (granulate in Aleiodes greeneyi ). Aleiodes longikeros sp. n. can be distinguished from all New World species by the following combination of characters: fore wing second submarginal cell long and narrow, vein 2RS 0.35 × longer than vein 2M; the long antenna; and strongly curved vein 1M on fore wing. In the key to Nearctic species of the Aleiodes seriatus group ( Marsh and Shaw 1998), Aleiodes longikeros sp. n. runs to Aleiodes preclarus . The new species differs from Aleiodes preclarus by the above mentioned character combination, and also by the entirely yellowish head and mesosoma, with several dark spots in Aleiodes preclarus , and the smooth frons, as compared with porcate frontal sculpturing in Aleiodes preclarus .

Etymology.

From the Latin, meaning "long horned," being a reference to the unusually long antenna of this species.