Eucharis (Psilogastrellus) affinis Boucek , 1956

Gadallah, Neveen S., Edmardash, Yusuf A., Al Dhafer, Hathal M. & El-Hawagry, Magdi S., 2014, Eucharitidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea), a family new to the fauna of Saudi Arabia, with the description of the previously unknown male of Eucharis (Psilogastrellus) affinis Boucek, ZooKeys 462, pp. 115-123 : 116-119

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Eucharitidae

Eucharis (Psilogastrellus) affinis Boucek, 1956 (male) Figs 4-9

Eucharis (Pachyeucharis) affinis Bouček, 1956: 255-256. Type data: Israel: Bat Yam. Holotype ♀, by original designation. Type depository: NMPC. Description of female, with illustrations.

Psilogastrellus affinis ; Bouček 1977: 124. Change of combination (by inference).

Eucharis (Psilogastrellus) affinis ; Heraty 2002: 144.

Material examined.

Saudi Arabia (Al-Mekhwah, Baha Province), 19°48.81'N; 41°26.45'E, 455m, 6.vii.2012, leg. El-Hawagry [1♂, CUE].

Description.

Male: Body length: 6.1 mm. Coloration (Fig. 4). Head metallic dark green (except for upper face between eyes to lateral ocelli, antennal scape and pedicel which are metallic purple, flagellum dark brown to black, mandible reddish to orange, with black tip); mesosoma dark bluish green with reddish reflections especially lateral lobes; legs yellow except coxae which are metallic dark green; trochanters, basal two thirds of front and hind femora, middle femur (except distally), last tarsomeres and claws dark brown to black; metasoma brilliant metallic green, with a broad fulvous apical band on T1 as well as narrower bands on posterior margins of remaining tergites (Fig. 5); metasomal sternites mostly fulvous. Wings hyaline, with inconspicuous pale brown veins.

Head: In dorsal view semiglobular to transverse, 1.6 × as broad as high and narrower than mesosoma (8:10). POL 1.7 × OOL. Lower face, malar space and clypeus coarsely transversely striate. Clypeus not separated from supraclypeal area (Fig. 6), clypeal margin rounded. Eyes separated by 2.2 × their height. Malar space 0.4 × height of eye. Ocelli on uppermost part of head, equal in size, arranged in a broadly obtuse ocellar triangle forming an almost straight transverse line, interocular area with very thin transverse striations. Antenna (Fig. 7) 13-segmented, flagellomeres closely appressed; scape length 0.8 × distance between torulus and upper margin of median ocellus; all flagellomeres longer than broad and cylindrical, F1 1.5 × as long as F2 and F3 equal, F6-8 slightly longer than broad, last flagellomere rhomboidal, acuminate distally. Mandible relatively short, sickle-shaped ventrally and lacking subapical teeth.

Mesosoma (Figs 8, 9): Glabrous, with irregularly dispersed fine punctures, denser anteriorly and laterally. Mesoscutum with notauli well developed as foveolate lines, extending along its whole length, becoming thin anteriorly and more distinct, thicker and converging posteriorly; with a longitudinal foveolate sulcus between notauli, this sulcus indistinct on anterior half of mesoscutum, deeper and more distinct on posterior half, extending through scutellum along longitudinal mid line where it is deeper than on mesoscutum. Scutellar disc relatively large, hardly longer than broad, with closer and deeper puncturations dorsally, and with two close sub-triangular posterior processes, the distance between them less than length of either. Propodeum conical, medially depressed, with dense thick transverse striations laterally. Prepectus densely finely punctate. Mesopleuron shiny but superficially micropunctate, and smooth and shiny ventrally; metapleuron with dense thick transverse striations. Front coxa coarsely sculptured, mid and hind coxae smooth and shiny. Wings with inconspicuous veins.

Metasoma (Fig. 5). Petiole relatively long, 2.1 × as long as hind coxa and 5.9 × as long as broad, straight in profile, with a fine irregular sculpture, dorsally with a narrow median sulcus that becomes broader posteriorly. Metasomal T1 smooth, shagreened along posterior margin; T2-4 with dense fine, shallow punctures; epipygium very small, whitish; GS9 spoon-shaped, distinctly concave ventrally, pointed apically.

Distribution.

Israel (female, Bouček 1956), new for Arabian Peninsula.

Remarks.

The male resembles the female (Figs 10-15) described by Bouček (1956) except for the following: wings of male entirely hyaline without any infuscation (apical two thirds of wings infuscated in female); F6-8 slightly longer than broad (F7-12 subquadrate in female); metasoma mostly bright metallic green, with fulvous bands on posterior margin of tergites (metasoma mostly fulvous in female); unlike female, upper face metallic purplish; clypeus transversely striated (nearly smooth in female).