Apanteles Foerster, 1862

Achterberg, C. van, Hosaka, T., Ng, Y. F. & Ghani, Idris B. A., 2009, The braconid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) associated with seeds of Dipterocarpaceae in Malaysia, Journal of Natural History 43 (11 - 12), pp. 635-686 : 678-682

Genus Apanteles Foerster, 1862

( Figure 9A–J ) Subgenus Apanteles Foerster, 1862 Apanteles hemiaurantius van Achterberg and Ng , sp. nov.

( Figure 9A–E )

Holotype

Female, length of body 2.7 mm, length of forewing 2.8 mm.

Head

Antenna with 18 segments, segments normally densely setose, third segment as long as fourth segment, lengths of third, fourth and penultimate segments 3.0, 3.0 and 1.8 times their width, respectively ( Figure 9D ); length of maxillary palp 0.5 times height of head; mouthparts not protruding; in dorsal view length of eye 2.3 times length of temple; temple superficially punctulate; area behind stemmaticum glabrous and stemmaticum much wider than high; OOL: diameter of ocellus: POL 8: 5: 9; frons largely smooth, glabrous and slightly concave medially; finely punctate laterally and setose; vertex and clypeus moderately punctate, face and clypeus finely punctate, shiny; clypeus rather concave ventrally; eyes densely setose; inner sides of eyes slightly converging ventrally; labrum slightly convex and smooth; malar suture shallow and narrow; anterior tentorial pits minute; malar space as long as basal width of mandible; mandible distinctly twisted apically.

Mesosoma

Length of mesosoma 1.3 times its height; side of pronotum smooth and oblique groove distinct and nearly smooth; propleuron rather convex and densely rugulose; mesosternal sulcus narrow, rather shallow and smooth; prepectal carina absent; precoxal sulcus absent; mesopleuron coarsely punctate and setose ventrally (but largely smooth posteriorly) and anteriorly, smooth and glabrous medially and posteriorly; pleural sulcus distinctly crenulate; metapleuron smooth, except for rugosity ventrally, and with deep submedial pit; mesoscutum densely and rather coarsely punctate (interspaces smaller than punctures or equal), but posteriorly longitudinally finely rugose and with soft lustre, densely setose; notauli weakly impressed; scutellar sulcus medium-sized, deep, with distinct crenulation; scutellum slightly convex and largely smooth, with some weak punctures, posteriorly strongly narrowed and with smooth and strongly shining apex, in lateral view truncate and distinctly elevated above level of metanotum; side of scutellum with rather wide crenulate depression, and lunula medium-sized and subtriangular; metanotum straight anteriorly; antepropodeal suture smooth; propodeum coarsely areolate, costulae lamelliform, no median carina, and anteriorly rugulose.

Wings

Forewing. r 2.4 times as long as 2-SR and rather differentiated ( Figure 9A ); 2-SR+M somewhat longer than 2-SR; 1-CU1: 2-CU1 10: 16, 1-CU1 oblique and 2-CU1 curved; 1-SR pointing to cu-a ( Figure 9A ); first discal cell about as wide as high; 1- R1 about seven times as long as distance of apex of 1-R1 to SR1 ( Figure 9A ); 1- SR+M straight.

Hind wing. r at basal 0.4 of marginal cell; basal cell sparsely setose, less densely than more distal cells; 2-SC+R shortly transverse; M+CU: 1-M 30: 31; cu-a slightly sinuate, reclivous; plical lobe without fringe (except basally) and posterior margin weakly concave ( Figure 9E ).

Legs

Hind coxa smooth except for some punctures dorsally; tarsal claws normal and setose, without distinct comb, but with some bristles; length of femur, tibia and basitarsus of hind leg 3.5, 6.0 and 6.0 times their width, respectively; hind tibia with yellowish spiny setae; hind tibial spurs of unequal lengths, 0.3 and 0.5 times hind basitarsus; fore tarsus rather robust; fore telotarsus without spine; hind femur mainly smooth, punctulate.

Metasoma

Length of first tergite 2.7 times its apical width and 1.9 times its maximum width just after middle of tergite, mainly parallel-sided but posteriorly distinctly narrowed, its apical width 1.6 times median length of second tergite ( Figure 9B ), surface of its posterior half distinctly rather curved irregularly rugose and anteriorly connected to median hump, anterior half of tergite largely smooth; medial area of second metasomal tergite about 2.4 times as wide basally as long (and 4.5 times its posterior width) and largely smooth, with some punctures and with distinct groove laterally and a sinuate groove posteriorly; third and following tergites smooth; length of setose part of ovipositor sheath 0.29 times length of forewing, and 1.2 times hind tibia; ovipositor sheath gradually widened apically and apically pointed ( Figure 9C ); ovipositor slender and nearly straight and without attenuated apex ( Figure 9C ); hypopygium of female largely membranous, with lateral folds and apically acute.

Colour

Black; palpi and bases of tibiae pale yellowish; tibial spurs white; fore and middle coxae, apex of hind femur, apical 0.3 of hind tibia, most of hind tarsus, pterostigma (and no distinct spot basally) and tegulae dark brown; remainder of legs (except for black hind coxa), epipleuron of first tergite, second and third tergites (but medial area of second tergite brown) brownish-yellow; scapus and pedicellus largely brown; most veins of forewing pigmented, brown, but veins r and 2-SR rather dark brown; parastigma pale brown; wing membrane hyaline, but apical half of forewing slightly infuscate.

Variation

Length of body 2.7–2.9 mm, length of forewing 2.8–3.1 mm; oblique groove of pronotum nearly smooth to rather coarsely crenulate; length of setose part of ovipositor sheath 0.24–0.30 times length of forewing. Male is very similar to female, but antenna much more slender, and has second tergite basally, third tergite apically and scapus blackish.

Distribution

Malaysia

Biology

Solitary parasitoid of lepidopterous larvae feeding on seeds of Shorea leprosula Miq. and Shorea pauciflora King. Andrioplecta shoreae , as a common moth is likely to be the host ( Table 1).

Notes

Belongs to the Apanteles ater -group ( Nixon, 1965); it runs in the key by Nixon (1965) to Apanteles diocles Nixon, 1965 , but A. diocles has the hind tibia paler than the hind femur, the penultimate antennal segment of female 2.5 times as long as wide; first metasomal tergite more strongly narrowed posteriorly (its length 1.6 times its maximum width subbasally), maximum width of tergite near base of tergite, and no curved rugae, medial area of second metasomal tergite about 1.6 times as wide basally as long.

Material examined

Holotype female, ‘‘W. Malaysia, N. Sembilan Pasoh Forest Reserve, coll. 29 December 2001, em. 25 January 2002. From Shorea leprosula seeds, Y.F. Ng and Hosaka’’, ‘‘B 41’’, ‘‘C: 29 December 01 H: 25 I 02, Shorea leprosula (284316)’’ (UKM). Paratypes (two females + one male): one female, id, but coll. 24 January 2002, em. 14 February 2002, no. 284316 and B 426 (UKM); one female, id., but coll. 1 December 2001, em. 10 December 2001, from Shorea pauciflora seeds, no. 255519 and B 38 (RMNH); one male, id, but B 39 (UKM).

Figures

Figure 9. (A–E) Apanteles hemiaurantius, female, holotype; (F–J) Apanteles striatus, female, holotype. (A, F) Part of forewing; (B, G), first to third metasomal tergites, dorsal aspect; (C, I) ovipositor and its sheath, lateral aspect; (D, H) apex of antenna; (E, J) vein cu-a of hind wing. Scale bars: 1.0×(A, C, E, F, I); 1.3×(B, G, H, J); 2.3×(D).