Paraleptomenes transfoveolus Bai, Chen & Li, 2022

Bai, Yue, Carpenter, James M., Chen, Bin & Li, Ting-Jing, 2022, A review of the genus Paraleptomenes Giordani Soika, 1970 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae) from China, with descriptions of two new species, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 90, pp. 185-199 : 185

Paraleptomenes transfoveolus Bai, Chen & Li sp. nov.

Figs 11-19

Material examined.

Holotype, 1♀, China, Yunnan Province, Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna, Jinghong City, near Tropical Flower Garden , 22°0'39.06"N, 100°47'12.01"E, 544 m, 2016.x.1, Baoxin Dong (CNU) ; Paratype, 1♂, China, Yunnan Province, Puer City, Mojiang County, Mengnong Township , Xiaogandong Village , 23°39'55.44"N, 101°31'30.12"E, 1026 m, 2015.vii.23, Pan Huang (CNU) .

Description.

Female (Fig. 11 ). Body length 6.2 mm, forewing length 5.5 mm; black, with the following parts orange-yellow: mandible (except black at middle), two lateral large spots at the base of clypeus, longitudinal interantennal spot, scape and pedicel ventrally, A9-A12 ventrally, ocular sinus, a line behind eyes at gena, an anterior interrupted band of pronotum, tegula (except brownish red middle), parategula, a small spot on mesopleuron, metanotum, mid coxa ventrally, apices of fore and mid femora, fore and mid tibiae (slightly dark ventral), tarsi, apical bands of T1-T2 and S2 (broader on T2); wings transparent brown, fore wing with an apical dark spot.

Head. Clypeus (Fig. 13 ) about 1.1 times as wide as long, flat in the middle part, with lateral longitudinal raised carina from near middle to apex, and with fine sparse punctures, punctures at apex larger and deeper, or even longitudinally striate, apical margin a bit emarginated and almost truncated, clypeal width about 3.2 times its apical width; distance between inner eye margins at vertex about 1.3 times of the distance between inner eye margins at clypeus; interantennal space slightly raised; frons and vertex with dense punctures, interspaces reticulate, posterior area of hind ocelli with a row of short longitudinal carina along the occipital carina in the middle area, occipital carina dorsally not sinuate as P. darugiriensis (Fig. 16 ); distance between posterior ocellus about 1.3 times of the distance from posterior ocellus to inner eye margin; punctures of gena sparser and smaller than that on vertex.

Mesosoma. Pronotum coarsely, densely punctate and reticulate, except the middle area, anterior face with a transverse fovea in the middle, with dense punctures and somewhat reticulate on both sides, pronotal transverse carina weak, especially absent in the middle (Fig. 16 ); mesoscutum (Fig. 15 ) with dense punctures, interspaces reticulate, with two longitudinal furrows of punctures on apical margins; scutellum convex in lateral view (Fig. 19 ), with dense punctures, interspaces reticulate; metanotum weakly convex, sloping down to apical margin, with dense punctures; mesopleuron posterodorsally with obviously raised blunt teeth (Figs 18-19 ); punctures mostly similar to pronotum, posteroventrally with fine sparser punctures; metapleuron smooth, sparsely punctate, punctures smaller than other parts of mesosoma; propodeum dorsally with large and deep flat-bottomed punctures, interspaces carinate and reticulate, the boundary between dorsal and posterior surfaces not obvious, punctures on lateral surface dense, interspaces carinate and reticulate, shallower than other parts of mesosoma except metapleuron, posterior surfaces obviously depressed, margin with dense and shallow punctures, and medially smooth and without punctures, the median carina with short oblique striae on both sides, median carina about 0.6 times of the length of the whole propodeum.

Metasoma. Leathery, punctures smaller than head and mesosoma; T1 about 1.5 times as wide as long, narrower than T2, punctures on anterior inclined surface sparse, punctures on dorsal surface dense, without punctures at the end, slightly concave near the end; T2 about 1.1 times as wide as long, with sparse punctures at base and then punctures gradually denser and larger near the apical margin, with thin apical lamella; S2 with sparse punctures in the middle, denser and larger laterally and apically than those at the base of T2, with thin apical lamella; T3-T5 with dense punctures; metasomal segment 6 almost without punctures.

Male (Fig. 12 ). Body length 6.0 mm, forewing length 5.5 mm. Sculpture, punctuation, setae, and coloration as in female except as follows: clypeus (Fig. 14 ) antenna ventrally, and mandible mostly yellow; clypeus about 1.2 times as wide as long, apical margin medially shallowly emarginated, transparent, laterally forming a short tooth, clypeal width about 3.5 times as wide as that of emargination; emargination about 4.8 times as wide as long; distance between inner eye margins at vertex about 1.6 times of the distance between inner eye margins at clypeus; A13 about 2.0 times as long as basal width, long, flat, curved, narrowing at the apex, backward reaching middle of A10 (Fig. 17 ); T2 about 1.2 times as wide as long, metasomal segment 6 with fine sparse punctures, metasomal segment 7 leathery and with especially fine sparse punctures.

Distribution.

China (Yunnan).

Remarks.

This species is easily distinguished from all other species of Paraleptomenes by the following character combination: anterior face of pronotum with a transverse fovea in the middle (Fig. 16 ), mesopleuron posterodorsally with obviously raised blunt teeth, and male A13 long, curved, and narrowed at the apex (Figs 17 ).

Etymology.

The specific name transfoveolus is derived from two Latin words: trans - (= across) and foveola (= hole), referring to the transverse fovea of pronotum.

Figures

Figures 11 - 19. Paraleptomenes transfoveolus sp. nov. Holotype (♀) 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19 paratype (♂) 12, 14, 17. 11, 12 habitus (dorsal view) 13, 14 head (frontal view) 15 mesosoma (dorsal view) 16 vertex and part of pronotum (dorsal view) 17 A 5 - A 13 18 tegula (dorsal view) 19 mesosoma (lateral view).