Epipompilus mirabundus Yuan & Rodriguez, 2020

Yuan, David & Rodriguez, Juanita, 2020, Three new species of Epipompilus Kohl (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae, Pepsinae) from Australia, Zootaxa 4743 (4), pp. 575-584 : 576-578

Epipompilus mirabundus Yuan & Rodriguez , sp. nov.

( Figs. 1–3 )

Type material. Holotype, ♂ ( Figs. 1 , 2 ), pinned, with genitalia and genital plate in a separate vial, labelled “Tug- geranong, ACT (-35.4588023, 149.0913374), underpass of Tharwa Drive”, “ ANIC Database No. 32_151566”.

Diagnosis. This species can be recognized by the following combination of characters: flagellum, profemur, protibia and protarsus brown ( Figs. 1A, 1B, 1C ); genitalia with gonostylus and parapenial lobe exceeding aedeagus by over one third; gonostylus slender, long, loosely setose with longer setae on the apex; parapenial lobe broad, long, invaginated and constricted at base, outer apex higher than inner apex; digitus about the same height as aedeagus, bent inward, constricted and slender at the base, rounded and short setae on outer margin; subgenital plate elongate, concave in the middle and broad at apex, long setae at apex, setae bent apically ( Fig. 2 ).

Description. Body length 5 mm; fore wing 4 mm; maximum wing width 1.5 mm.

Coloration. Integument black; body covered with white, minute pubescence; clypeus and scape, pedicel black; mandible and remaining antennal articles brown; wings transparent; more than one half of the veins brown at base; legs with profemur, protibia and protarsus brown, otherwise black.

Head. Head wide, covered with white minute pubescence; TFD 1.1 × FD; MID 0.7 × FD; punctation conspicuous, small, shallow; front ocellus in obtuse angle; lateral ocelli closer to compound eyes than to each other; POL 1.3 × OOL; head apex protruding in between lateral ocelli; clypeus lower than frons, flat broad, bilobed, WC 2 × LC; labrum partially exposed; flagellomeres roughly the same size, each article basally enlarged.

Mesosoma. Pronotum broad, trapezoid, elongated, visible dorsally, with shallow punctation, width 2 × length; lateral pronotum concave; scutum broad, shape similar to pronotum rotated 180 degrees, with shallow punctation; notauli present, distance equal to the posterior of scutum and separating scutum into 3 sections; scutellum and metanotum square-shaped, lateral side concave, smooth and shining laterally, with shallow punctuation and pubescence covering the apex; propodeum smooth and shiny at base, remaining surface covered with pubescence, antero-laterally with longer setae; wing with maximum length 3 × width, third submarginal cell about as long as the second submarginal cell, second recurrent vein meeting third submarginal cell half distance from base to apex of cell; coxa enlarged, rounded at base, about two thirds as long as femur, protibia with short spines, protibial spur curved, tarsal claws bifid, metatibial spur heavily setose.

Metasoma. Terga and sterna covered with short pubescence except first sternum, laterally smooth without any pubescence, terga largely covering sterna.

Genitalia. Gonostylus and parapenial lobe exceeding aedeagus over one third; gonostylus slender, long, loosely setose with longer setae on the apex; parapenial lobe broad, long, invaginated and constricted at the base, outer apex higher than inner apex; digitus slender, about the same height as aedeagus, bend inward, constricted and slender at the base, short setae on the outer margin of the lobe; aedeagus broad in the middle, constricted at the apex; subgenital plate elongate, concave in the middle and broad at apex, long setae at apex and upper side of the plate, setae bent apically.

Cocoon. Cocoon oval, silky and white.

Distribution. Australia: Australian Capital Territory.

Etymology. The epithet originates from the Latin mirabundus , which means astonishment, and is based on the unusual way the specimen was found in its larval stage developing and sharing a cell with a Sceliphron formosum larva.

Remarks. The cocoon was found in the nest of Sceliphron formosum ( Hymenoptera : Sphecidae ) ( Figs. 1D , 3 ). A male adult was reared and emerged in the lab.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Epipompilus mirabundus sp. nov., holotype, male. A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Habitus, lateral view. C. Head, frontal view. D. Cocoon. Scale bar: 1mm for A, B and D; 0.1 mm for C.

FIGURE 2. Male genitalia of Epipompilus mirabundus sp. nov., holotype. A. Genitalia, ventral view. B. Subgenital plate, ventral view. Scale bar: 0.1 mm

FIGURE 3. Cocoon of Epipompilus mirabundus sp. nov., arrow pointed at the cocoon of E. mirabundus found sharing the mud nest of Sceliphron formosum, both cocoons emerged in the laboratory.