Aleiodes townsendi, 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 : 67-69

Aleiodes townsendi sp. n. Figures 109, 110

Description of holotype.

Female (holotype). Body length 5.7 mm; antenna length 6.7 mm; fore wing length 5.1 mm.

Color. Head yellow, ocellar triangle dark brown; antenna dark brown–black, scapus lighter dorsally, extreme base of scapus and first flagellomere yellow; mesosoma yellow, anterior corner of mesopleuron, lunules, metanotum, propodeum and dorsal 1/4 of metapleuron dark brown, remainder metapleuron and mesopleuron, at border with metapleuron, white; latero-ventral mesopleuron with slightly lighter stripe; fore leg yellow, telotarsus brown; mid coxa, trochanter, trochantellus and femur basally white, remainder mid leg yellow, darkening toward apex, telotarsi and tibial spurs brown; hind leg: coxa black on 1/2 basal and white on 1/2 apical, trochanter and trochantellus black, but apical border of trochanter, and trochantellus ventral-apical 1/3 plus a small ventral spot white; femur black on basal 2/5 and at extreme apex, otherwise white; tibia and tarsi black, small white subbasal band on tibia. Metasoma white with black dorsal triangle beginning on central apex of T1 and covering most dorsal portion of subsequent terga; ovipositor sheaths dark brown on apical half, basal half whitish. Wings weakly infuscate; most veins and stigma dark brown; vein C+SC+R black (extreme base whitish) connecting to a black parastigma with whitish central spot.

Head. Antenna with 46 antennomeres, flagellomeres roughly 2.0 × as long as wide, apical flagellomere with “bottle-nipple” -shaped apex; malar space as long as basal width of mandible, and 1/3 eye height; in dorsal view eye height 2.8 × temple; occipital carina incomplete dorsally, curving toward lateral ocelli, laterally complete and meeting hypostomal carina; oral space small and circular, maximum width slightly smaller than basal width of mandible; clypeus not swollen; ocellus moderate, ocell–ocular distance 0.8 × diameter of lateral ocellus; maxillary palp not swollen; head surface sculpturing finely granulate, occiput smooth and shining; higher face with some transverse wrinkles just bellow toruli.

Mesosoma. Sculpturing finely granulate; propodeum more coarsely granulate, with mid-longitudinal carina complete and some diverging wrinkles posteriorly; notauli weak, shallow and smooth; posterior margin of mesoscutum with complete carina; scutellar sulcus with median carina plus one pair of weak lateral carina.

Wings. Fore wing: stigma 4.5 × longer than high; vein r 1.4 × vein 2RS, 1.5 × vein RS+Mb, and about as long as vein m-cu; vein 3RSa about 0.5 × vein 3RSb, and 0.85 × vein 2M; vein 1CUa 1.7 × vein 1cu-a; vein 1CUb 1.7 × vein 1CUa; vein 1M strongly curved at basal portion. Hind wing: m-cu indicated as short pigmented not tubular vein interstitial to vein r-m; vein M+CU 1.3 × vein 1M; vein 1M 1.4 × vein r-m; RS smoothly curved at middle; vein M dark brown, well pigmented; vein 2-1A absent.

Legs. Hind tibia without comb of modified setae; tarsal claw pectinate basally, with several very short and tight bristles, longer and more sparse apically, wide gap between apical claw and basal pecitnation; hind basitarsus about 3 × longer than inner apical spur on hind tibia.

Metasoma. T1-T3 rugose–striate; remainder terga coriaceous; mid longitudinal carina complete from T1 throughout T3; ovipositor sheaths about as long as hind tarsomere II; T1 length 1.2 × its apical width.

Paratype variation. Antenna broken, otherwise essentially as holotype.

Male unknown.

Mummy. Length 17.0 mm, entire mummy mottled with gray and brownish, thorax narrow and wrinkled, mummy withered posteriorly behind exit hole, mummy as pect long and narrow, curved upward “V-shaped”, exit hole irregular, located postero-dorsally, anterior to prolegs.

Type material.

Type-locality: ECUADOR, Napo Province, Yanayacu Biological Station, YY-44074, S00°35.9', W77°53.4', 2163 m, cloud forest, January 23, 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 / 23 December 2010, Yanayacu Road / YY-44074, ex. Geometridae ". (UWIM)

Paratype, female, same data as holotype, except: August 3, 2005, Malaise trap, A. Townsend col. (UWIM)

Biology.

Reared from a Geometridae caterpillar (no common name) on Dendrophobium lloense ( Asteraceae ). Time span from host mummification until adult emergence was 20 days.

Discussion.

Aleiodes townsendi sp. n. belongs to the circumscriptus/gastritor species group. It is similar to Aleiodes shakirae sp. n. because of the presence of a strongly curved vein 1M in the fore wing, some similar color patterns, and the elongate and curved “V-shaped” mummy. It differs from Aleiodes shakirae sp. n. by having the metasomal tergite 1 mostly white with a small mid-apical black spot and about as long as apical width, entirely black or dark brown and about 2 × longer than apical width in Aleiodes shakirae sp. n. The metapleuron in Aleiodes townsendi sp. n. is bicolored, black and white, while entirely black in Aleiodes shakirae sp. n. Aleiodes townsendi sp. n. hind coxa is black basally and apically white, compared with the inverse color pattern in Aleiodes shakirae sp. n., and the wings are moderately infuscate, while hyaline in Aleiodes shakirae sp. n. (additional features are cited in discussion section for Aleiodes shakirae sp. n.). The ocelli in Aleiodes townsendi sp. n. are relatively small, but its large eyes, almost 3 × longer than temple in dorsal view, make the ocell–ocular distance shorter, the width of lateral ocellus being roughly equal to ocell–ocular distance.

Etymology.

This species is named after Andrew Townsend, collector of one of the type specimens, for his contributions to the knowledge of the Ecuadorian Braconidae fauna.