Pristomerus caris Fitton, 1994

Rousse, Pascal, Villemant, Claire & Seyrig, André, 2013, Ichneumonid wasps from Madagascar. VI. The genus Pristomerus (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Cremastinae), European Journal of Taxonomy 49, pp. 1-38 : 9-11

Pristomerus caris Fitton, 1994

Fig. 4

Diagnosis

Moderately sized species; face ivory white, more or less dark maculated medially; head white and black, mesosoma and metasoma brownish orange with tergites 1–3 blackish brown, mesosoma sometimes with black spots dorsally; face sparsely punctate, clypeus smooth and transverse; mesoscutum densely punctate-granulate, scutellum finely and sparsely punctate; area superomedia 1.9–2.7 x longer than wide; female femoral tooth absent; ovipositor moderately long, apically sinuate; POL 0.7; OOL 1.1; CT 1.8; ML 0.5; OT 1.5–1.7; FFT 0.

Differential diagnosis

Closely related to P. vahaza . Both share the same color pattern but may be distinguished by the shape of mesosoma, distinctly elongate in P. vahaza , and by the scutellum which is flat in P. vahaza and convex in P. caris .

Material examined

Holotype

MADAGASCAR: ♀ ( BMNH), Lac Alaotra , Cala Station, 17°42’ S, 48°28’ E, verbatim label data: “Madagascar: Lac Alaotra, Stn Cala, 12 Feb. 1988 (coll. P. Bousses)”, complete.

Paratype

MADAGASCAR: ♂ ( BMNH), same locality, same date.

Other material examined

MADAGASCAR: 5 ♀♀ ( MNHN), Mandreka forest, Dec. 1929 and Nov. 1936; 2 ♀♀ ( MNHN), Antananarivo, Jan. 1930 and Dec. 1933 (coll Olsoufieff); 2 ♀♀ ( MNHN), Lac Alotra, Aug. 1928; 1 ♀ ( MNHN), Antsirabe, Jan. 1940; 1 ♀ ( MNHN), Ambositra, Feb. 1934; 2 ♀♀ ( MNHN), Andreba, Nov. -Dec. 1934; 4 ♂♂ ( MNHN), Montagne d’Ambre, Jan. 1934; 1 ♀, 2 ♂♂ ( MNHN), Ranomafana, Oct. 1938; 3 ♀♀, Rogez, Dec. 1930, Jun. 1937; 1 ♂ ( MNHN), Ihosy, Dec. 1931; 5 ♀♀, 1 ♂, Bekily, Jan., Mar.-Apr. 1933, Apr. 1934, Dec. 1936; 1 ♂ ( MNHN), Tsingjoarivo, Mar. 1932; 14 ♀♀, 1 ♂ ( MNHN), Ankaratra (1800 m), Mar. 1940, Feb., Mar. and May 1941; 1 ♀ ( CAS), verbatim label data: “Province Fianarantsoa, Parc Nat. Ranomafana, 14–21 January 2002, 21° 15.05’ S, 47° 24.43’ E (colls: M. Irwin, R. Harin’Hala, malaise, radio tower at forest edge in mixed tropical forest, elev. 1130 m, MA–02– 09B–12)”; 1 ♀ ( CAS), verbatim label data: “ Toamasina Province, botanic garden near entrance to Andasibe Nat. Park, 18° 55.58’ S, 48° 24.47’ E, 7–16 November 2001 (colls: M. Irwin, R. Harin’Hala, malaise, in tropical forest, elev. 1025 m, MA–01–08B–19)”; 8 ♀♀, Rogez, Sep. and Dec. 1930, Nov. 1931, Feb. and Jun. 1932, May 1936 (one to each of the above mentioned institutions). Males with small ocelli (OOL = 0.5): 1 ♂ ( MNHN), Rogez, Feb. 1938; 22 ♂♂ ( MNHN), Ankaratra (1800 m), Dec. 1931, Feb. 1938 and 1941, Feb.-Mar. 1940.

Description

Female

LENGTH. 4.1, 4.2 (3.3–4.7) (10 specimens).

HEAD. Temple short, head distinctly constricted behind eyes. Vertex finely granulate. Face shining, sparsely punctate. Clypeus smooth, shining, transverse. Malar line short. Mandible short and stout. Ocellar triangle acute. Antenna with 29–32 flagellomeres.

MESOSOMA. Stout, 1.5–1.7 x longer than high. Pronotum smooth, shining, the antero-ventral part with an irregular surface, epomia raising dorsally. Mesonotum densely punctate-granulate, its apical 1/5 smooth. Mesopleuron shining and densely punctate. Metapleuron punctate-granulate. Scuto-scutellar groove smooth, sometimes with weak longitudinal wrinkles. Scutellum slightly convex, smooth with sparse and fine punctures. Propodeum strongly carinated, moderately punctate and shining. Area basalis short, petiolate, opposite or truncate. Area superomedia long, 1.9–2.7 x longer than wide (usually about 2), area petiolaris wider and more or less wrinkled apically. Hind femur moderately slender, without femoral tooth. Fore wing with 2rs–m basal to 2m–cu by 2 x its length.

METASOMA. Tergites 1–3 finely aciculate. Thyridia oval to subcircular. Ovipositor moderately long.

COLOR. Brownish orange overall. Head ivory white. Blackish brown: antennae, center of frons, vertex and occiput. A pair of black spots generally extends from vertex through outer orbits. Face more or less mid–longitudinally infuscate. Darker specimens also bear black maculae on mesoscutum and propodeum. Tergites 1–3 black-brown with base of tergite 1 lighter (yellow to orange). Thyridia yellow. Hind tarsus infuscate. Ovipositor sheath blackish. Wings hyaline, pterostigma dark brown to testaceous.

Male

Length: 3.8 (3.5–4.2) (10 specimens). Face widened ventrally, ocelli enlarged and very close to eyes posteriorly (OOL = 0.2) except for 22 males from Ankaratra and 1 from Rogez whose ocelli are smaller (OOL = 0.5). Hind femur swollen, bearing an acute tooth followed by a row of denticles. Otherwise similar to female.

Host records

Maliarpha separatella Ragonot ( Lepidoptera : Pyralidae ) ( Polaszek et al. 1994).

Distribution

Madagascar (widely distributed).

Remarks

The large series of specimens available in Seyrig’s collection shows considerable variation with respect to the description of P. caris by Polaszek et al. (1994). The propodeum carination is highly variable, with area basalis petiolate to truncate, and area superomedia which greatly varies in length. Color also varies from lighter specimens with reduced brownish markings to darker ones with larger black spots on face, vertex, mesoscutum and propodeum. We furthermore observed two male groups with differently sized ocelli ( Fig. 4C, D ). Such variability is however not correlated with any other plastic or geographical difference. These specimens might represent a species complex whose study needs more comprehensive molecular and morphometric investigations.

Figures

Fig. 4. Pristomerus caris Fitton, 1994. A. ♀, habitus, profile. B. ♀, head, facial. C. ♂ (paratype), head, dorsal. D. ♂ (Ankaratra), head, dorsal. E. ♀, mesosoma, dorsal. F. ♀, hind femur, profile. G. ♂, hind femur, profile.