Microplitis alborziensis Abdoli & Talebi, 2021

Abdoli, Parisa, Talebi, Ali Asghar, Fernandez-Triana, Jose & Farahani, Samira, 2021, Taxonomic study of the genus Microplitis Förster, 1862 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from Iran, European Journal of Taxonomy 744, pp. 83-118 : 89-91

Microplitis alborziensis Abdoli & Talebi sp. nov.

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Fig. 2

Diagnosis

Antenna shorter than body; head in dorsal view more transverse (i.e., its width/length ratio 1.90) and rounded behind eyes; scutoscutellar sulcus distinctly widened, with eight distinct costulae; length of vein R1 shorter than length of pterostigma; vein 1CUb 2.0 × as long as vein 1CUa; vein r as long as to slightly longer than vein 2RS; T1 length/width ratio 2.0, parallel-sided (or weakly barrel-shaped), rugose to rugulose; tegula, scape and metasomal tergites black; metafemur yellow.

Etymology

The new species is named after the type locality. The species name ʻ alborziensis ʼ is an adjective derived from the Alborz Province in Iran.

Material examined

Holotype IRAN – Alborz Province • ♀; Chalous Road, Sarziarat ; 35°55′10.38″ N, 51°06′51.24″ E; 1980 m a.s.l.; 22 Jul. 2010; M. Khayrandish leg.; Malaise trap; TMUC-HBMMP0001 .

Paratypes IRAN • 2 ♀♀, 2 ♂♂; same collection data as for holotype; TMUC-HBMMP0002 to TMUC- HBMMP0005 .

Description

Female (holotype)

MEASUREMENTS. Body length 3.7 mm; antenna length 3.2 mm; fore wing length 3.4 mm.

HEAD ( Fig. 2B ). Antenna shorter than body, its segments normally setose; F2, F8, F15 length/width ratio 2.5, 2.0 and 1.5, respectively; head rounded behind eyes; mouthparts not elongated; gena, vertex, upper and lower face (i.e., frons and face, respectively) punctate; clypeus and labrum softly punctate and shiny; basal width of mandible 2.00 × malar length; length of OOL, DO, POL: 0.2, 0.1 and 0.2 mm, respectively.

MESOSOMA ( Fig. 2C ). Anteromesoscutum punctate; notauli weakly defined; scutoscutellar sulcus widened, with eight distinct costulae; mesoscutellar disc coarsely punctate; side of mesoscutellar disc with widened crenulated depression; metanotum coarsely wrinkled; propodeum rugose with a complete median longitudinal carina; pronotum and propleuron coarsely punctate; epicnemial carina absent; anterolateral, dorsolateral and ventrolateral parts of mesopleuron punctate, medially smooth; metapleuron punctate.

WINGS ( Fig. 2D–E ). Pterostigma length/width ratio 2.4, pterostigma 1.4 × as long as vein R1; vein R1 as long as or slightly shorter than distance of vein R1 to vein 3RSb; vein r slightly longer than vein 2RS; vein 1M/m-cu ratio 1.9; areolet closed; vein 1CUb 2.0 × as long as vein 1CUa. Hind wing: vein M+CU/1-M ratio 0.9; vein cu-a slightly curved; vannal lobe fringed anteriorly, with slight setae posteriorly and posterior margin somewhat straight

LEGS ( Fig. 2D ). Metacoxa finely punctate; length of metafemur, metatibia, metabasitarsus and combined of other metatibial tarsus: 0.9, 1.1, 0.5 and 0.7 mm, respectively; metafemur length/width ratio 4.0; metatibial spurs equal or outer spur slightly shorter than inner spur; metatibial inner spur as long as half of metabasitarsus.

METASOMA ( Fig. 2F ). T1 length 2.0 × its maximum width, parallel-sided or weakly barrel-shaped, rugose to rugulose; ovipositor sheath short; hypopygium sclerotized; abdomen almost as long as combined length of head and thorax.

COLOUR. Body black; palpi and legs yellow or reddish yellow (except for black coxae and metatarsus); wings with brownish yellow setae; wing venation brown, pterostigma dark brown, with a small basal yellow spot ( Fig. 2D ).

DNA barcode

The DNA barcode sequences of Microplitis alborziensis sp. nov. specimen is available at the NCBI database (National Center for Biotechnology Information: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/; accession number: MN820452.1).

The available data in NCBI shows that two specimens, Microplitis jft111 (European, Sweden, with accession numbers of NCBI: HM396982.1) and Microplitis jft112 (North American, Alaska, with accession numbers of NCBI: HM397413.1), for which there are DNA barcodes available (all based from specimens in the CNC) differ by 1.7% base pairs (11 base pairs of difference) and 1.6% base pairs (10 base pairs of difference), respectively, suggesting that they are different species (see Smith et al. 2013 for further details).

Remarks

Microplitis alborziensis sp. nov. runs to M. tuberculifer (Wesmael, 1937) in the key provided by Telenga (1955) and runs to M. trochanterata ( Thomson, 1895) in the key of Tobias (1986) (Tobias’ species was later synonymized with M. tuberculifer ( Broad et al. 2016)) . It can, however, be separated from M. tuberculifer by the following characters: (1) T1 length/width ratio is 2.0 vs 2.5–3.0 in M. tuberculifer , (2) antenna shorter than body vs slightly longer than body in M. tuberculifer , (3) tegula black vs reddish yellow to brown in M. tuberculifer .

The new species runs to M. mediator ( Haliday, 1834) in the key of Kotenko (2007) from which it can be separated by: (1) head in dorsal view more transverse (i.e., its width/length ratio 1.90) vs head in dorsal view less transverse (i.e., its width/length ratio 1.60–1.70) in M. mediator , (2) hind legs yellow, metasomal tergites and scape black vs hind legs dark brown, metasomal tergites and scape reddish yellow to red in M. mediator .

This species runs to M. aduncus ( Ruthe, 1860) in Papp (1984), however, M. aduncus differs from M. alborziensis sp. nov. as follows: in M. alborziensis sp. nov. meso- and metafemora are yellow, vein cu-a in hind wing is slightly curved, and T1 is rugose to rugulose, whereas in M. aduncus meso- and metafemora are dark brown to black, vein cu-a in hind wing is distinctly curved, and T1 is smooth.

Host

Unknown.

Distribution in Iran

Alborz Province (present study).

Figures

Fig. 2. Microplitis alborziensisAbdoli & Talebi sp. nov., holotype, ♀, TMUC-HBMMP0001. A. Habitus, lateral view. B. Head, dorsal view.C. Mesosoma, dorsal view.D. Fore wing. E. Hind wing.F. Metasoma, dorsal view.