Archaeoteleia submetallica Masner

Early, John W., Masner, Lubomír & Johnson, Norman F., 2007, Revision of Archaeoteleia Masner (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea, Scelionidae), Zootaxa 1655, pp. 1-48 : 45-47

Archaeoteleia submetallica Masner , new species

Figures 72–75

Description: Female. Length 3.1–3.2 mm. Color: castaneous brown, mesoscutum, sometimes T6 with slight purplish metallic tinge; antenna abruptly bicolored, A1–A5 bright yellow, A6–A12 nearly black; legs, including coxae, entirely yellow; dorsal part of pronotum, including epomial corners, yellow; lower portion of pronotum, mesopleuron, metapleuron, S1–S2 dark brown to nearly black.

Head ( Figs. 73–75 ): vertex, occiput, upper frons rugose punctate, punctures bearing short, appressed setae; sculpture along inner orbits with longitudinal rugulosity, central part of frons punctate; upper gena rugose punctate, sparsely setose above, longitudinally rugulose punctate below; eye glabrous; LOL greater than OOL; occipital carina fine, complete, not distinctly crenulate; frons with strong median keel running slightly over half distance from interantennal process to median ocellus; striae of cheeks and face strong, reaching inner orbits; clypeus strongly transversely striate, anterolateral corners strongly projecting, with long erect setae; toruli contiguous with upper margin of clypeus; A1 5.7 times as long as wide; A2 2.9 times as long as wide; A3 1.1–1.2 times as long as A2; flagellum with moderately dense, suberect setae, length subequal to width of A3; claval formula A6–A12/2-2-2-2-2-2-1.

Mesosoma ( Figs. 74–75 ): transverse pronotal carina extremely sharp, bladelike, produced medially into broad point, with anterolateral corners sharply produced, pointed; vertical epomial carina absent; horizontal epomial carina close to mesoscutum, and shoulders narrow, maximum width about 0.5 tegula width, space between horizontal epomial carina and mesoscutum rather broad, carina turning downwards on pronotal side; lateral pronotum predominantly smooth, highly shining, largely glabrous, area above fore coxa with irregular, large, transverse rugulae; netrion not well defined; mesoscutum highly convex, with dense, fine pilosity, interspersed with few, long erect setae, densely punctured, interstices smooth, without microsculpture; admedian lines absent; notaulus absent; parapsidal line absent; transscutal articulation absent; scutellum broadly transverse, almost striplike, length 0.4 times length of mesoscutum, densely punctate, with dense pilosity and few erect bristles; scutellar spines strong, straight, sharply pointed, semierect; mesopleural carina present, running almost in middle of mesopleuron, smooth and shining above; mesopleuron almost entirely glabrous, smooth, shining, without microsculpture, with row of deep foveolae along posterior margin; mesepisternum below mesopleural carina almost glabrous, smooth and shining; acetabular carina present, crenulate; metapleuron densely hairy, with rough rugulosity and deep punctures, without glabrous area; propodeum with shallow excavation medially, punctured, with distinctly finer sculpture than lateral propodeum; submedial carinae present, not projecting, not sharp; tegula absent; wings entirely absent; legs relatively short, robust; pretarsal claws very strongly developed.

Metasoma ( Figs. 72, 75 ) convex laterally, length 2.9–3.0 times width; T1 with massive horn, leaning forward, top of horn clearly higher than level of mesoscutum, anterior face and top of horn, smooth, glabrous, posterior part of horn rugose punctate, with dense pilosity, rest of T1 rugose punctate, with abundant pilosity, length of T1 0.8 times width; length of T2 0.7 times width, covered with strong longitudinal rugulae interspersed with punctures, dense semidecumbent pilosity, scattered erect long bristles; length of T3 0.5 times width, sculpture and setation similar to T2, slightly finer; length of T4 0.4 times width, sculpture and pilosity similar to T3; length of T5 0.3 times width, with finer longitudinal rugulae and pilosity; T6 distinctly elongate, 2.0–2.3 times width, basally with short longitudinal rugulae, otherwise deeply punctate, with pilosity and scattered bristles similar to other tergites.

Male unknown.

Diagnosis. These three females are truly apterous, with no rudiments of tegula or wings present; in this character this species can only be confused with A. pygmea and A. dispar . Archaeoteleia submetallica may be differentiated by the rugose punctate gena; straight scutellar spines; top of horn on T1 exceeding level of mesoscutum (in lateral view); and T6 distinctly elongate, at least twice as long as wide. It may also be distinguished from A. dispar by the complete absence of even the rudiments of wings. This is the only species of Archaeoteleia with parts of body with submetallic purplish tinge.

Etymology. The specific epithet submetallica refers to the coloring of the body.

Link to Distribution Map. [http://atbi.biosci.ohio-state.edu:210/hymenoptera/eol_scelionidae.content _page?page_level=3&page_id=taxon_page_data&page_version= 190987 &page_option1=M]

Material examined. Holotype female: CHILE: Bío-Bío, Arauco, E. Contulmo, Pata de Gallina, 10– 25.I.1989, pan trap, P. Salinas, OSUC 174165. Deposited in CNCI.

Paratypes: CHILE: Bío-Bío, Arauco, E. Contulmo, Pata de Gallina, 10–25.I.1989, pan trap, P. Salinas, OSUC 146616 (CNCI); Arauco, Pata de Gallina, 12.IV.1997, T. Cekalovic, TC-544 Berlese, female, OSUC 185479 (UCDC).

Comments. Twenty-four males of Archaeoteleia were also collected at the type locality, most at same time, but we cannot distinguish these from the males of A. pygmea . Therefore, we believe that the males of A. submetallica either are indistinguishable from A. pygmea , they have not yet been collected, the species is thelytokous, or the differences observed in the females may fall within the range of variation of a single species.

Figures

FIGURES 72 – 75. Archaeoteleia submetallica, n. sp., holotype female (OSUC 146616). 72, Lateral habitus; 73, head, frontal view; 74, head and mesosoma, lateral view; 75, head and mesosoma, dorsal view. Scale bars in millimeters.