Ammoplanellus smithi Tessy, Girish Kumar & Sureshan, 2024

Rajan, Tessy, Kumar, P. Girish, Sureshan, P. M. & Hegde, V. D., 2024, A review of the genus Ammoplanellus Gussakovskij (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae: Pemphredoninae) from India with the description of two new species, Zootaxa 5477 (1), pp. 73-80 : 77-79

2. Ammoplanellus smithi Tessy, Girish Kumar & Sureshan sp. nov.

( Figs 9–16 )

Type material: Holotype, f#, India: Rajasthan, Bikaner district, Thar Desert, Bikaner (28°8’28.32’’N, 72°53’55.68’’E, 242 m), 15.xi.2013, P. Girish Kumar collector, ZSIK Regd. No. ZSI/ WGRC /IR/INV/20872.

Diagnosis. Ammoplanellus smithi sp. nov. differs from its congeners by the following combination of characters: head and mesosoma brown; mesoscutum irregularly striato-reticulate; posterior surface of propodeum smooth with a median carina.

Description. Holotype f#. Body length 2.3 mm.

Colour. Head, pronotum, mesopleuron and metasoma brown, rest of thorax black. Following parts yellow: mandible except tip brown, scape, pedicel, F1 & F2 and labrum. Clypeus and remaining flagellomeres yellowish brown. Legs yellowish brown except mid & hind tarsi and base of all tibiae whitish yellow. Pterostigma bicolorous, dark in distal half. Pronotal lobe opaque white ( Fig. 9 ).

Head. Lower face medially depressed with irregular reticulation. Vertex smooth, slightly striate. Head with inner eye orbits concave. Lower ends of eyes not markedly produced towards torulus. Torulus placed 0.04 mm above the clypeal margin. Distance between toruli 0.05 mm and distance between torulus and eye 0.05 mm. Head width 0.45 mm in frontal view. Distance from top of head to tip of clypeus 0.43 mm in frontal view. Frons width 0.31 mm at middle of inner eye margin. Distance between lower ends of eyes 0.21 mm. Length of scape and of pedicel 0.161 mm and 0.05 mm, respectively. Scape distinctly long and not narrow. Pedicel as long as two following flagellomeres combined. Flagellum clavate, proximal flagellomeres subquadrate, bearing very distinct erect setae. Clypeus smooth, broadly reaching lower eye orbit. Clypeal margin protruding medially, not emarginated. Labrum produced into two stout teeth but without trace of median tooth. Mandibles of usual shape ( Fig. 10 ). Occipital carina well developed.

Mesosoma. Pronotum rather narrow, collar rounded and short, dull with fine transverse striae. Mesoscutum irregularly striato-reticulate, hence only moderately shiny in places, punctures hardly traceable. Scutellum slightly striato-reticulate, anteriorly with deep crenulate groove ( Fig. 11 ). Metanotum smooth in middle, laterally with longitudinal rugae. Mesopleuron convex and smooth, mostly slightly striato-reticulate ( Fig. 12 ). Propodeal dorsum areolate rugose. Posterior surface of propodeum smooth, with a median carina ( Fig. 13 ). Forewing with anteriorly open marginal cell ( Fig. 14 ).

Metasoma. Terga smooth and shining, with a few weak transverse striae. Pygidial plate broad, surface slightly irregularly reticulate and with sparse setigerous punctures ( Fig. 16 ).

Male. Unknown.

Etymology. The species is named after Dr. Norman J. Smith, California, USA, for his contributions to the study of the Nearctic Ammoplanellus .

Distribution. India: Rajasthan.

Discussion. This new species differs from the only species reported from the Oriental region, viz., Ammoplanellus simplex Gussakovskij, 1952 ( India: New Delhi) by Bouček (2001) as follows.

(1) marginal cell anteriorly open, its enclosing vein not reaching anterior margin of wing (in A. simplex , marginal cell closed or almost closed, enclosing vein antero-distally, often very pale and sometimes only its inner margin traceable); (2) torulus and lower ocular line are in same level (in A. simplex , torulus placed distinctly above lower ocular line); and (3) face brown (in A. simplex , face extensively white or pale yellow).

This new species differs from Ammoplanellus hissaricus Gussakovskij, 1952 , which resembled the unnamed species collected by Bouček (2001) from India (“ Delhi, Agra”) as follows.

(1) marginal cell anteriorly open, its enclosing vein not reaching anterior wing margin (in A. hissaricus , marginal cell closed or almost closed, enclosing vein antero-distally, often very pale and sometimes only its inner margin traceable); (2) torulus and lower ocular line are in same level (in A. hissaricus , torulus placed distinctly above lower ocular line); (3) clypeal margin protruding medially, not emarginated (in A. hissaricus , anterior margin of clypeus medially emarginated, its median margin narrowly U-shaped); (4) clypeal side narrowly or barely reaching eye orbit at upper condyle of mandible (in A. hissaricus , clypeal side not reaching eye orbit at upper condyle of mandible); (5) metasoma not distinctly petiolate (in A. hissaricus , metasoma distinctly petiolate); and (6) face brown (in A. hissaricus , face entirely or in lower two-thirds extensively yellow).

In Bouček’s Key to Palearctic Ammoplanus (2001), this new species comes close to the couplet 64 i.e., to Ammoplanellus chorasmius Gussakovskij and Ammoplanellus rhodesianus Arnold.

It distinctly differs from A. chorasmius having: (1) eyes not so strongly produced towards torulus (in A. chorasmius , eyes distinctly produced towards torulus); (2) mesoscutum irregularly striato-reticulate (in A. chorasmius , mesoscutum finely transversely striate); (3) scape distinctly long and not narrow (in A. chorasmius , scape short and narrow); and (4) propodeal dorsum areolate-rugose (in A. chorasmius , propodeal dorsum very coarsely and rather irregularly alveolate).

This new species differs from A. rhodesianus by the following key characters provided by Bouček (2001): (1) mesoscutum irregularly striato-reticulate (in A. rhodesianus , mesoscutum densely and almost regularly polygonally reticulate); and (2) proximal flagellomeres subquadrate (in A. rhodesianus , proximal flagellomeres elongate).

Figures

FIGURES 9–16. Ammoplanellus smithi Tessy, Girish Kumar & Sureshan sp. nov., Holotype f#. 9. Habitus, lateral view; 10. Head, frontal view; 11. Head and mesosoma (in part), dorsal view; 12. Mesosoma, lateral view; 13. Mesosoma, dorsal view; 14. Fore wing; 15. Fore wing; 16. Metasoma, dorsal view.