Bathyaulax, Szepligeti, 1906

Kaartinen, Riikka & Quicke, Donald L. J., 2007, A revision of the parasitic wasp genus Bathyaulax Szépligeti (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Braconinae) from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, Journal of Natural History 41 (1 - 4), pp. 125-212 : 150-151

Bathyaulax concaIJitarsis (van Achterberg & Sigwalt 1987) comb. nov.

( Figures 39, 41 ) Bicentra concaυitarsis van Achterberg & Sigwalt 1987

Material examined

Congo: 1 female, Brazzaville, 1898, E.M.J. Regnier ( MNHN) ; 1 female, Kintele, IV-1978, G. Onore ( MNHN) .

D. R. Congo: 1 female, Lulua, Kapanga , VII-1933, F.G. Overlaet ( RMCA) ; 1 female, Lulua, Sandoa , II-1932, F.G. Overlaet ( RMCA) ; 1 female, Lulua, Kalemba , XII-1937, M. Carlier ( RMCA) .

Raeanda: 1 female, Tambwe, 14.1.1947, Miss. Tanganika ( IRSNB) .

Zambia: 1 female, East Loangwa Distr. , Petauke, 2.2.1905, S.A. Neave ( HECO) .

Description

Female: Length of body 21 mm, of fore wing 18mm, of ovipositor 24 mm.

Antennae with 119 flagellomeres, terminal flagellomere 2.6 times longer than wide. Height of clypeus:inter-tentorial distance:tentorio-ocular distance51.0:4.5:3.8. Width of face:width of head:height of eye51.2:2.1:1.0. Height of face:width of face51.0:1.8. Face pustulate to punctate. Frons smooth, sparsely punctulate, weakly depressed on median area around longitudal groove. POL:transverse diameter of posterior ocellus:shortest distance between posterior ocellus and eye51.2:1.0:2.6. Length of eye in dorsal view:distance of occiput and posterior margin of eye51.7:1.0.

Mesosoma approximately 1.7 times longer than maximally deep.

Fore wing: length of veins r:3-SR:SR151.0:2.4:3.9. Length of veins 2-SR:3-SR:rm51.0:1.9:1.2. Length of veins m-cu:2-M51.0:2.4. Length of veins 1-CU1:2- CU151.0:4.4. Vein 1-SR+M straight. Swelling in vein 3-CU1 1.6 times thicker than the other part of the vein.

Legs: Length of fore femur:tibia:tarsus51.9:2.1:1.0. Fore basitarsus 4.3 times longer than deep. Two foretibial spurs. Length of hind femur:tibia:tarsus52.0:2.8:1.0. Hind basitarsus 4.3 times longer than deep.

First metasomal tergite 1.5 times longer than wide; raised median area smooth, posterior margin with dense striation. Second tergite 1.8 times wider than long; raised median area strigated, antero-medial triangular area slightly raised. Third tergite 2.0 times wider than long; with strigated transverse furrows on anterior and subposterior margins, raised median area only narrowly longitudinally strigose. Antero-lateral areas raised and smooth, only a thin strigated area between them (two to three carinae). Tergite four similar, but anterolateral areas more narrow. Tergite five with strigated transverse furrows on anterior and weakly on subposterior margin. Tergites six to eight smooth.

Orange-brown except for the following which are black: face, frons, vertex and temples, apex of mandibles, antennae and ovipositor sheets. Wings darkened, with two hyaline areas in fore wing on basal and subbasal cells and below pterostigma. About a third of pterostigma apically darkened. Hind wing darkened with a hyaline area on marginal cell.

Notes

Specimens compared to van Achterberg’s (1987) description of new genus and species Bicentra concaυitarsis van Achterberg & Sigwalt 1987. The only difference to Bathyaulax is the two foretibial spurs and, thus, can be synonymized. Also another species with two foretibial spurs was found, B. lucidus ( Szépligeti 1911) .

Figures

Figures 39–43. Automontageș images of Bathyaulax species. (39, 41) B. concaυitarsis head (lateral view) and tergites 2–3. (40, 42, 43) B. concolor, face, frons and metasomal tergite one.