Ischnobracon morleyi Quicke and Butcher, 2010

Butcher, Buntika Areekul & Quicke, Donald L. J., 2010, Revision of the Indo-Australian braconine wasp genus Ischnobracon Baltazar (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) with description of six new species from Thailand, Laos and Sri Lanka, Journal of Natural History 44 (35 - 36), pp. 2187-2212 : 2206-2207

Ischnobracon morleyi Quicke and Butcher sp. nov.

( Figure 11 )

Material examined

Holotype. Female , Sri Lanka, “Beaten bushes, Kandy, Ceylon, 9 xii 1909, E E Green” [written underneath the white card on which the specimen is glued], “Iphiaulax rhyssoides MS Morl. iv 39, Named by Claude Morley” ( BMNH).

Additional material. Male, label data largely indecipherable and country unknown, appears to say “... Rema X” [apex of metasoma removed] (BMNH).

Morphology

Length of body 10.6 mm, of fore wing 9.5 mm and of ovipositor (part exserted beyond apex of metasoma) 8.8 mm. Antenna with 90 flagellomeres. Raised median area of first tergite distinctly depressed medially. Fore wing vein cu-a distinctly postfurcal, separated from vein 1-M by up to a vein’s width. Second submarginal cell rather robust, vein 2-M 2.9 times length of 2-SR. Base of hind wing with sub-basal cell more or less evenly setose, with only narrow glabrous area distal to vein cu-a posteriorly. Vein 2-SC+R short longitudinal.

Colouration

Largely orange yellow. Antenna orange on distal 0.4, black basally. Head cream-yellow with black mark across occiput reaching eyes, and extending across ocellar triangle and median part of frons to reach the antennal sockets. Pronotum postero-dorsally black. Middle lobe of mesoscutum with brown-black W-shaped mark. Wings yellow on basal half, dark brown on distal half, with a narrow transverse yellow band below the basal half of the pterostigma. Legs entirely yellow. Metasoma orange, tergite 6 and 7 medio-dorsally piceous.

Etymology

Named after Claude Morley of the BMNH who labelled the specimen as a new species including a MS name (“rhyssoides”). As there already exists a very similar species name within the genus [namely I. rhyssides (Enderlein) ] it was decided to create a patronym rather than potentially add to nomenclatural confusion.

Notes

This is the only species for which a male had been seen previously; the specimen was used in the preparation of the male genitalia described by Quicke (1988). It differs from the holotype, however, in having the apical 0.7 of the antenna orange and wider yellow band on fore wing; because of these differences and its unknown provenance, the male specimen (deposited in the BMNH) is excluded from the type series .

Figures

Figure 11. Automontage® photomicrographs of features of Ischnobracon morleyi sp. nov. (A) Habitus showing general colour pattern and pale antennae; (B) head and mesosoma, dorsal view, showing markings on mesoscutum; (C) fore wing showing second submarginal cell.