Gasteruption schmideggeri van Achterberg & Saure

van Achterberg, Cornelis & Talebi, Ali Asghar, 2014, Review of Gasteruption Latreille (Hymenoptera, Gasteruptiidae) from Iran and Turkey, with the description of 15 new species, ZooKeys 458, pp. 1-187 : 113-115

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Gasteruptiidae

Gasteruption schmideggeri van Achterberg & Saure sp. n. Figs 462-477

Type material.

Holotype, ♀ (RMNH), "TR [= Turkey], 54 km W [of] Kayseri, Göreme, 38°39'N, 34°52'E, 17.vii.1998, [C.] Schmid-Egger, TR-nevA". Paratypes (20 ♀ + 10 ♂): 2 ♀ + 1 ♂ (SEC, RMNH), with same label data as holotype; 2 ♂ (SEC), "TR, Kayseri, Göreme, 1000 m, NN, 9.vii.[19]88, [C.] Schmid-Egger"; 1 ♀ (BZL), "Turkey, 15 km E [of] Refahye, 27.vi.2000, M. Halada"; 7 ♀ + 3 ♂ (BZL, RMNH), "TR, Burdur, 5 km NE [of] Yesilova, N37°35' E29°55', 1060 m, 6.vii.2006, J. Halada"; 2 ♀ (BZL, RMNH), "TR - Isparta, Egirdir Gölu, 5 km N [of] Akkecili, 920 m, N38°06', E30°46', 10.vii.2006, J. Halada"; 1 ♂ (BZL), "Turkey E., 40 km N [of] Muradiye, 2200 m, 5.vii.2000, M. Halada"; 1 ♂ (BZL), "Turkey or., Nemrut Dagi Mt., 50 km NE of Kanta, 2-14.vi.1996, P. Jelinek"; 1 ♂ (BZL), "Turkey mer., Avgadi, 30 km NW of Edemli, 20.vi.1996, P. Jelinek"; 1 ♀ (BZL), "Turkey: Akyaka, 3 m, 37°3'N, 28°20'E, ix.2012, V. Barták”; 2 ♀ (RMNH), "Greece - Lesvos, Achladeri, 10 km SE of Kalloni, 29.vi.2001, L. Sijstermans", " 39°9.600'N, 26°17.474'E, altitude 0-25 m"; 4 ♀ (BZL, RMNH), "Syria m., Dibbin, 30 km S [of] Suwayda, 15-17.v.1996, Mi. Halada"; 1 ♀ (BZL), "Syria south, Kafr, 10 km SE [of] Suwayda, 19.v.1996, Mi. Halada"; 1 ♀ (BZL), "Jordan occ.bor., Aljun env., 32°19'N, 35°43'E, 1.v.2006, F. Kantner"; 1 ♂ (RMNH), "N. Iran: Qazvin, Zereshk Road, MT 3, 22.vi.-6.vii.2011, A. Mohammadi, RMNH’12”.

Diagnosis.

Head evenly convex dorsally in lateral view, in front of occipital carina without medio-posterior depression; face wide (Fig. 467); frons and vertex with satin sheen and densely very finely punctulate, anteriorly vertex with some additional superficial punctures; occipital carina narrow lamelliform and smooth; propleuron 0.8 times as long as mesoscutum in front of tegulae and large coriaceous and with satin sheen; pronotal side coriaceous dorsally and postero-ventrally, mainly rugulose antero-ventrally and grooves distinctly crenulate; antesternal carina narrow and non-lamelliform; middle lobe of mesoscutum transversely punctate-rugulose and lateral lobe coarsely punctate dorsally and coriaceous with some punctures (Fig. 464); only mesopleuron conspicuously white pilose; hind basitarsus entirely dark brown or partly ivory or pale brown dorsally (as second and sometimes third segment), in dorsal view widened basally; hind tibia moderately slender and with ivory subbasal ring (Fig. 469); fifth sternite of female dark brown; apical half of hypopygium of female incised; ovipositor sheath 0.8-1.0 times as long as body, 1.1-1.4 times as long as metasoma, 3.7 -4.6 times as long as hind tibia and 2.3-3.0 times as long as hind tibia and tarsus combined; ovipositor sheath dark brown to pale brown apically, at most pale brown apical part of 0.5 times as long as hind basitarsus; paramere of male black or blackish brown apically (Fig. 477); third antennal segment of male 1.1 times as long as second segment, fourth segment twice as long as third segment and 1.1 times as long as second and third segments combined, fifth segment nearly as long as fourth segment (Fig. 476); mandible brownish or orange yellow basally; hind tibia of male with subbasal ivory ring; paramere dark brown or black apically; length of body 8-13 mm. Close to Gasteruption smitorum sp. n., but this species has the hind tibia of the male largely black ventrally and dark brown subbasally (brown or dark brown ventrally and ivory subbasally in Gasteruption schmideggeri ), the head in dorsal view is more globular (trapezoid), the mesoscutum more shiny (rather matt), the ivory part of the ovipositor sheath longer and the mandible dark brown or black basally (brownish yellow basally).

Description.

Female, length of body 9.6 mm (of fore wing 4.4 mm).

Head. Head evenly convex dorsally in lateral view, in front of occipital carina without medio-posterior depression; frons anteriorly and temples inconspicuously pilose; occipital carina narrow lamelliform and smooth (Figs 462, 468); pedicellus rather slender; third and fourth antennal segments 1.4 and 1.9 times as long as second segment; face wide (Fig. 467); frons and vertex with satin sheen and superficially finely punctulate, vertex with some superficial punctures between dense punctulation (Fig. 468); stemmaticum partly finely punctate; temples subparallel-sided behind eyes and head rather trapezoid in dorsal view (Fig. 468); ventrally head not enlarged in anterior view, malar space 0.1 times length of pedicellus; inner tooth of mandible medium-sized.

Mesosoma. Length of mesosoma twice its height; propleuron 0.8 times as long as mesoscutum in front of tegulae, coriaceous, stout and with satin sheen; pronotal side coriaceous dorsally and postero-ventrally, mainly rugulose antero-ventrally and grooves distinctly crenulate; pronotum with medium-sized tooth antero-ventrally; antesternal carina narrow and non-lamelliform; middle lobe of mesoscutum transversely punctate-rugulose and lateral lobe coarsely punctate dorsally and coriaceous with some punctures (Fig. 464); scutellum superficially transversely rugulose; only mesopleuron conspicuously white pilose (Fig. 463); propodeum with nearly complete median carina.

Legs. Length of hind femur, tibia and basitarsus 4.3, 4.5 and 5.2 times their width, respectively; hind tibia moderately slender (Fig. 469); fore coxa close to mesopleuron; hind coxa mainly transversely rugulose; hind basitarsus moderately slender (Fig. 469), but basally widened in dorsal view.

Metasoma. Ovipositor sheath 0.8 times as long as body, 1.1 times as long as metasoma, 3.7 times as long as hind tibia and 2.3 times as long as hind tibia and tarsus combined; brown apical part of ovipositor sheath 0.5 times as long as hind basitarsus.

Colour. Black; mandible brownish yellow basally; tegulae brown; bases of fore and middle tibiae and subbasal ring of hind tibia ivory; remainder of fore and middle legs (except dark brown coxae) brown; remainder of hind leg, pterostigma, metasoma basally and most of its apical half dark brown; second and third metasomal segments orange brown; wing membrane subhyaline.

Male. Very similar to female, but head shorter in dorsal view and vertex, mesoscutum and scutellum more coarsely sculptured. Third antennal segment 1.4 times as long as second segment, fourth segment twice as long as third segment and 0.8 times as long as second and third segments combined, fifth segment 0.9 times as long as fourth segment (Fig. 476); hind tibia and basitarsus as in female; apex of paramere blackish brown (Fig. 477).

Variation. Length of body of ♀ 7.7-13.0 mm (of ♂ 8.4-10.7 mm); antero-lateral tooth of pronotum minute to medium-sized; mesoscutum of ♀ more or less coarsely and densely crater-like punctate and medio-posteriorly rugose or rugulose; scutellum rather densely and coarsely punctate; hind tibial spurs dark brown as base of hind basitarsus, but sometimes paler; hind basitarsus entirely dark brown or partly ivory or pale brown dorsally (as second and sometimes third segment); ovipositor sheath 0.8-1.0 times as long as body, 1.1-1.4 times as long as metasoma, 3.7-4.6 times as long as hind tibia and 2.3-3.0 times as long as hind tibia and tarsus combined; pale brown apical part of ovipositor sheath 0.1-0.5 times as long as hind basitarsus or sheath apically dark brown; pronotal side sometimes mainly coriaceous antero-ventrally; pale setae of hind tibia inconspicuous; wing membrane subhyaline or moderately infuscate.

Distribution.

Greece, Jordan, Syria, Turkey.

Biology.

Unknown. Collected in May-July, September.

Etymology.

Named after the collector of the holotype, Dr Christian Schmid-Egger (Berlin) for his contribution to enlarge and popularise our knowledge of Hymenoptera .

Notes.

Two males were identified by M. Madl in 1996 as Gasteruption hastator , but males of the new species differs by having the clypeus hardly impressed, the hind tibia ivory subbasally, the hind basitarsus slenderer and dark brown or brown, the hind tibia slenderer and the mesoscutum rugose instead of reticulate.