Bathyaulax pickeri, Kaartinen & Quicke, 2007

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 : 190-191

Bathyaulax pickeri sp. nov.

( Figures 93, 95 )

Material examined

Holotype: Female ( MNHN): South Africa, Transvaal, Occid., Linokana, no date, E. Holub, ‘‘170–94’’.

Additional specimens examined

South Africa: 1 male, Wonderboom, near Pretoria, X-1931, J. Ogilvie ( BMNH) ; 1 female, Rustenburg, no date ( BMNH) .

Namibia (?): 1 female, Okakandje (?), 20.3.1943 ( BMNH) .

Description

Female: Length of body 23 mm, of fore wing 18 mm, of ovipositor 32 mm.

Antennae with 128 flagellomeres, terminal flagellomere 2.0 times longer than wide. Height of clypeus:inter-tentorial distance:tentorio-ocular distance51.0:4.3:3.0. Width of face:width of head:height of eye51.3:2.2:1.0. Height of face:width of face51.0:2.1. Sculpture on face pustulate with punctures. Clypeus rugose. Frons depressed, smooth, with medial longitudal groove. POL:transverse diameter of posterior ocellus:shortest distance between posterior ocellus and eye51.0:1.0:2.8. Length of eye in dorsal view:distance of occiput and posterior margin of eye51.5:1.0.

Mesosoma approximately 1.7 times longer than maximally deep.

Fore wing: length of veins r:3-SR:SR151.0:2.8:4.8. Length of veins 2-SR:3-SR:rm51.0:2.5:1.4. Length of veins m-cu:2-M51.0:2.2. Length of veins 1-CU1:2-CU15 1.0:4.6. Shape of 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:tarsus52.1:2.3:1.0. Fore basitarsus 3.4 times longer than deep. Length of hind femur:tibia:tarsus52.0:3.0:1.0. Hind basitarsus 6.3 times longer than deep.

First metasomal tergite 1.8 times longer than wide; raised median area smooth with strigated posterior margin. Second tergite 1.3 times wider than long; medial area raised and strigose, strigae wavy. Triangular area not very distinctive (not raised). Sublateral areas smooth, anteriorly depressed. Third tergite 1.4 times wider than long; with strigated transverse furrows on anterior and subposterior margins, antero-lateral areas smooth and raised, and connected in the middle by a ridge. Sculpture on medial area conspicuous with a ridge in the middle and several ridges branching from it postero-laterally. Tergite four similar, but antero-lateral areas more narrow. Tergite five with transverse furrows on anterior and subposterior margins, anterior furrow strigated. Antero-lateral and medial areas smooth and raised. Tergites six to eight smooth.

Entirely black except for abdomen which is red. Wings brownish-black with hyaline areas below pterostigma and faintly around vein r-m (not always present). Pterostigma basal half light yellow-brown.

Etymology

Named after Dr. Mike Picker, who photographed the living specimen in Figure 1B and donated the voucher to the BMNH.

Figures

Figure 1. Living males of Bathyaulax species. (A) B. atrox sp. nov., individual that became paratype male. (B) Bathyaulax sp., from South Africa, unidentified to species but probably B. bicolor.

Figures 92–95. Automontageș images of Bathyaulax species. (92, 94) B. perspicax, head (dorsal view) and metasomal tergites 4–6. (93, 95) B. pickeri, wing and metasomal tergites 2–3.