Cotesia medusae, Fagan-Jeffries & Austin, 2020

Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P. & Austin, Andrew D., 2020, Synopsis of the parasitoid wasp genus Cotesia Cameron, 1891 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) in Australia, with the description of seven new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 667 (667), pp. 1-70 : 30-31

Cotesia medusae sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:DEE8E0E8-BD4D-4780-AAD2-326505BA750A

Figs 10C , 11D , 12A , 20

Diagnosis

Cotesia medusae sp. nov. can be separated from all other species of Cotesia currently described from Australia and Papua New Guinea by the following combination of characters: anteromesoscutum punctate reticulate; antennal flagellomere 14 length/width> 2; scutellar disk smooth with only shallow punctures associated with setae and with centre of medial posterior band of the scutellum smooth; fore wing r vein straight and fore wing 2RS not creating a ‘stub’ at junction with r; T2 semicircle shaped, border with T3 often shallowly crenulate; T3 mostly dark with some pale areas and sparse setae over most of tergite, notauli clearly differentiated from surrounding anteromesoscutum sculpturing.

Etymology

This species is named after Medusa, the ‘Gorgon’ or monster in Greek mythology. Gorgonphone, the species name of the host ( Catopsilia gorgophone Boisduval, 1836 ) means ‘Gorgon-Slayer’. Thus, there seems to be an appropriate amount of irony in the lethal parasitoid of this species being named for the original monster.

Material examined

Holotype

AUSTRALIA • ♀; Queensland, Brisbane; emg. Jun. 2013; R. Kendall leg.; reared from larva of Catopsilia gorgophone ( Lepidoptera : Pieridae ); BOLD (from co-reared specimen): AUMIC543-19 ; Genbank COI (from co-reared specimen): MN182699 ; QM T246704.

Paratypes

AUSTRALIA • 2 ♀♀, 2 ♂♂; same collection data as for holotype; QM T246705-8 .

Description

Female

COLOUR.Head, antenna and mesosoma dark, dorsal metasoma dark but lighter than mesosoma, darkening posterior to T3, non-sclerotised areas of T1–2 and lateral edges of T3 pale; anterior sternites pale, darkening posteriorly; (fore-, mid-, hind coxa) dark, dark, dark but lighter than fore- and mesocoxa; femora (fore-, mid-, hind femur) pale, pale, pale darkening distally; tibiae (fore-, mid-, hind tibia) pale, pale, light brown darkening distally; tegula and humeral complex dark; pterostigma dark; fore wing veins light brown to dark.

BODY LENGTH. Head to apex of metasoma: 2.2 (2.3) mm.

HEAD. Antenna slightly longer than body length; OOL/posterior ocellus diameter 2.2; POL/posterior ocellus diameter 1.9 (1.7); antennal flagellomere 2 length/width 2.7 (2.5); antennal flagellomere 14 length/width 1.8 (2.0).

MESOSOMA. Anteromesoscutum sculpturing punctate reticulate, transitioning to almost reticulate rugose along lines of notauli; number of pits in scutoscutellar sulcus 8 (9); scutellar disc with only shallow pits associated with setae; maximum height of mesoscutellum lunules/maximum height of lateral face of mesoscutellum 0.7 (0.6).

WINGS. Fore wing length 2.3 mm; length of veins r/2RS 1.1 (1.0); length of veins 2RS/2M 1.6 (2.1); length of veins 2M/(RS+M)b 1.0 (0.9); pterostigma length/width 2.7 (2.8).

LEGS. Hind tibia inner spur length/metabasitarsus length 0.5.

PROPODEUM. Posterolateral thirds smooth, centre third rugose, medial carina only faintly distinct from surrounding rugosity.

METASOMA. T1 length /T1 width at posterior margin 1.6; parallel sided, mostly smooth, only small punctures associated with setae; T2 width at posterior margin/T2 length 2.3 (2.2), semicircle shaped, smooth with shallow crenulate border all the way round, T2 length / T3 length 0.6 (0.8); T3 sculpture smooth and shiny; ovipositor sheaths length/hind tibial length 0.07 (0.1).

Male

As female, only slight variations in measurements.

Host

Catopsilia gorgophone (Pieridae) , gregarious.

Distribution

Currently only known from the type locality in Brisbane, although as the host is found through much of New South Wales and Queensland, this parasitoid also likely has a wider range than currently documented.

Remarks

Whilst only a 340 bp section of COI was obtained for this species, which is not long enough to be assigned a BIN on BOLD, it is clearly distinct morphologically and genetically from any publically available sequence of Cotesia , and as host data is available we felt the description was warranted despite not possessing a full COI barcode.

Figures

Fig. 10. A. Cotesia anthelae (Wilkinson, 1928), T2 (paratype, NHMUK 3.c.002). B. C. wonboynensis sp. nov., T2 (holotype ANIC 32 130294). C. C. medusae sp. nov., T2 (paratype, QM T246705). D. C. scripta sp. nov., T2 (paratype, MV T22495).

Fig. 11. A. Cotesia australiensis (Ashmead, 1900), fore wing vein r straight (ANIC 32 151532). B. C. scripta sp. nov., fore wing vein r subtly curved (holotype, MV T22495). C. C. lasallei sp. nov., fore wing vein r straight (holotype, SAMA 32-44401). D. C. medusae sp. nov., fore wing vein r straight (paratype QM T246705).

Fig. 12. Scutellar disk, scutellar sulcus and partial anteromesoscutum. A. Cotesia medusae sp. nov. (paratype, QM T246705). B. C. australiensis (Ashmead, 1900) (ANIC 32 151535).

Fig. 20. Cotesia medusae sp. nov., paratype (QM T246705). A. Habitus in dorsal view. B. Habitus in lateral view. C. Propodeum. D. Head in dorsal view. E. Fore wing.