Apanteles flavicapus Liu & Chen

Liu, Zhen, He, Jun-Hua & Chen, Xue-Xin, 2014, The grandiculus- and metacarpalis - group of the genus Apanteles Foerster, 1862 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from China, with descriptions of eight new species, Zootaxa 3765 (5), pp. 435-457 : 437

Apanteles flavicapus Liu & Chen , sp. n.

Figure 1

Description. Female. Body length ca. 3.6 mm, fore wing length ca.4.0 mm.

Head. Less transverse in dorsal view, 1.8× as wide as long (33.0:18.0) and almost as wide as mesoscutum. Temple shiny, shallowly punctate, rather constricted. Face rather transverse, 0.6× as high as wide, shiny, with shallow punctation, less pubescent, inner margin of eyes parallel. Posterior tangent to the anterior ocellus hardly touching the posterior pair, POL:OD:OOL=5.0:2.5:5.0. Antenna almost as long as body length, penultimate antennomere 2.4× longer than wide.

Mesosoma. Length to breadth and height 58.5:33.5:42.5. Disc of mesonotum shiny, finely punctate, interspaces not smaller than diameter of punctures and sparser posteriorly. Scutellar sulcus arc-shaped, foveate groove. Scutellum shiny with sparse indistinct punctuation. Propodeum polished, with mere trace of punctuation anteriorly, indistinct U-shaped and extremely short arms arising from orifice. Mesopleuron highly polished, its anterior half with hair punctuation of even size.

Legs. Hind coxa distinctly longer than T1–2. Inner spur of hind tibia longer than the outer one, nearly 1/3 length of basitarsus, while outer spur is 1/6. Basitarsus of hind leg as long as tarsal segments 2–4.

Wings. Pterostigma 3.0× as long as its widest part. Vein 1-R1 (metacarp) 1/4 longer than pterostigma, it is 5.2× as long as its distance from the apex of the marginal cell. Vein r arising from apex side of pterostigma, longer than width of pterostigma, almost 1.2× as long as vein 2-SR, distinctly angled at their meeting, vein 2-M shorter than vein 2-SR. 1st discal cell a little wider than high. First submarginal cell of hind wing nearly as high as wide. Vannal lobe of hind wing beyond its widest part concave and acuminate distally, its concave edge completely without hairfringe, vein cu-a incurved and distinctly longer than vein 1-1A, no obvious trace of vein 2-1A.

Metasoma. 1.3× longer than thorax (77.0:58.5). T1 narrowed posteriorly, concave at basal two-fifth, basal width 1.8× hind width, shiny, smooth mostly, except sparsely, shallowly punctate along sides, subrugulose transversely before the shiny posterior part. T3 2.2× as long as T2 (14.0:6.5), T2 subtriangular, curves into T3 deeply, tergites after T1 highly polished, and shiny. Ovipositor sheath almost 2.6× as long as hind tibia (18.0:7.0), thinner, parallel-sided. Hypopygium pointed, and distinctly longer than abdomen.

Colour. Body black, except hind 1/4 of tergites posterior to T2 semitransparent. Palpi, tegulae and spurs whitish yellow. Scape and pedicel yellowish. Flagellum and ovipositor sheath evenly dark brown. Labrum and mandible bright reddish yellow. Legs bright reddish yellow, coxae black. Wing membrane hyaline, vein C+SC+R, 1-R1, r, 2-SR, 2-M, and border of pterostigma brownish, other veins pale, most of pterostigma paler than A. parvus .

Male. Unknown.

Host. Unknown.

Material examined. Holotype: ♀, Mt. Guanyin, Fogang, Guangdong, 2007. IX.15–16, Xu zaifu, No. 200711505.

Distribution. China (Guangdong) ( Fig. 11 ).

Etymology. The specific name “ flavicapus ” derives from the Latin adjective “flavus”, and noun “capus”, referring to yellow scape.

Remarks. This species is very similar to A. parvus , but can be separated from the latter by the following: ovipositor sheath distinctly longer; penultimate antennomere 2.4× longer than wide; and scape and pedicel yellowish.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Apanteles flavicapus Liu & Chen, sp. n. a head, dorsal view b propodeum and T 1 – 3, dorsal view c habitus, lateral view d hind wing e head, frontal view f antennae g fore wing h mesosoma, dorsal view. Scale line = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 11. Distribution map of grandiculus - group of Apanteles species in China. ★: Apanteles conopiae Watanabe, 1934; •: Apanteles flavicapus Liu & Chen, sp. n.; •: Apanteles grandiculus Wilkinson, 1929; ˔: Apanteles longicaudatus You & Zhou, 1991; ♥: Apanteles muticiculus Liu & Chen, sp. n.; ■: Apanteles parvus Liu & Chen, sp. n.; ˑ: Apanteles spiciculus Chen & Song, 2004.