Acarohelcon varicolor Yan et Chen

Yan, Cheng-Jin, Achterberg, Cornelis Van, He, Jun-Hua & Chen, Xue-Xin, 2017, Review of the tribe Helconini Foerster s. s. from China, with the description of 18 new species, Zootaxa 4291 (3), pp. 401-457 : 406-408

Acarohelcon varicolor Yan et Chen , sp. nov.

( Fig. 3 )

Description. Female. Length of body (excluding ovipositor sheath) 10.0 mm, of setose part of ovipositor sheath 7.0 mm, of fore wing 8.8 mm.

Head. Antennal segments beyond 32th segment missing, length of third segment 1.2 times fourth segment; length of third and fourth segments 3.5 and 3 times their width, respectively. length of maxillary palp 1.8 times height of head; head in frontal view 1.3 times as long as wide; length of eye in dorsal view 1.5 times temple; length of malar space 1.1 times basal width of mandible and 0.4 times maximum width of eye; POL:OD:OOL = 11: 10: 27; vertex punctate; temple punctate, rugose near mandible; malar suture present; occipital carina complete and distinct; frons punctate laterally, medially smooth; clypeus weakly convex and rugose-punctate; face reticulatepunctate.

Mesosoma. Length 1.9 times its height; pronope deep and rhomboid-shaped; side of pronotum medially coarsely crenulate, posteriorly and ventrally coarsely rugose-punctate and remainder densely punctate; notauli narrow and deep, crenulate, posteriorly coarsely rugose; mesoscutal lobes with a median carina, laterally and posteriorly longitudinally striate; scutellum densely punctate, with several striae posteriorly; precoxal sulcus complete, rugose punctate-crenulate; scutellar sulcus with one carina and several lateral crenulae; metanotum with a complete median carina; propodeum with a short medio-longitudinal carina, weakly punctate basally and remainder coarsely rugose-punctate ( Fig. 3 H).

Wings. Fore wing: 3 times as long as wide; 1-M almost straight; pterostigma 2.8 times as long as wide; r:3- SR:SR1 = 10:15:65; 2-SR:3-SR:r-m = 20:15:13; 1-M:m-cu = 27:14; SR1 almost straight; cu-a inclivous, postfurcal; 1-CU1 very short; r-m inclivous. Hind wing: 1-M:1r-m = 14:20; cu-a inclivous and somewhat curved apically.

Legs. Length of fore tarsus 1.3 times fore tibia; length of femur, tibia and basitarsus of hind leg 3.5, 9.5 and 5.7 times their width, respectively; hind femur robust and largely rugose ventrally; length of outer and inner hind tibia spur 0.23 and 0.20 times basitarsus, respectively.

Metasoma. First tergite widened posteriorly, dorsal carinae complete, part between dorsal carinae coarsely punctate, lateral parts coarsely longitudinally costate-striate; length of first tergite 1.4 times its apical width ( Fig. 3 C); second tergite medially smooth, posteriorly punctate and laterally longitudinally striate-punctate ( Fig. 3 C); third and following tergites smooth; ovipositor sheath 1.4 times as long as metasoma, 1.4 times as long as hind tibia, 1.5 times as long as mesosoma and 0.8 times as long as fore wing.

Colour. Black; palpi, fore and middle legs, hind coxa, trochanters, basal one-third of femur and most of tibia yellowish brown; tegulum, pterostigma and most veins dark brown; ovipositor sheath brown, but apically yellow; basal fourth of antenna brown, 12th–13th segments of left antenna whitish yellow (following segments missing), 12th–19th segments of right antenna reddish yellow and some segments partly blackish; wing membrane faintly fumose.

Male. Unknown. In NWUX there is a ♂ from NW China (Shaanxi prov., Baolongyu, Mt. Qin , c. 1000 m, 24.v.2015, 34°03’N 108°09’E, Jiangli Tan) that keys out here but has the coxae dark brown, the hind tibia dark brown medially, the vertex entirely smooth, the occipital carina interrupted medio-dorsally, the second tergite more elongate, the precoxal sulcus largely absent, the mesosoma 2.2 times longer than high in lateral view and the hind femur slightly more robust.

Material examined. Holotype, ♀, China, Guangxi prov., Fangcheng, Fulong , 500 m, 24.V.1999, Yanzhou Zhang , No. 200105015 ( IZAS).

Comparative diagnosis. The new species is similar to Helcon tricolor Watanabe, 1931 , but differs in having the first tergite coarsely punctate between the dorsal carinae, and lateral parts coarsely longitudinally costate-striate (first tergite rugose in H. tricolor ) and second tergite posteriorly punctate and laterally longitudinally striatepunctate (second tergite entirely smooth and shiny in H. tricolor ).

Host. Unknown.

Etymology. The name is derived from “ vari ” (Latin for “different”) and “ color ” (Latin for “colour”), because the holotype has one antenna with a whitish yellow band and the other one with a reddish yellow band.

Distribution. China (Guangxi).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Acarohelcon varicolor gen. nov. et sp. nov., ♀, holotype. A, wings; B, mesosoma, lateral aspect; C, first and second metasomal tergites, dorsal aspect; D, hind femur and tibia, lateral aspect; E, habitus, lateral aspect; F, head, lateral aspect; G, head, dorsal aspect; H, propodeum, medio-dorsal aspect.