Philoctetes acuminatus Rosa & Boustani, 2022

Boustani, Mira & Rosa, Paolo, 2022, Survey of cuckoo wasps of Lebanon (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae) with description of four new species, Zootaxa 5104 (1), pp. 1-39 : 9-11

Philoctetes acuminatus Rosa & Boustani , sp. nov.

( Figs 3A–3J )

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Diagnosis. Philoctetes acuminatus sp. nov. is characterised by having conical and apically pointed metanotum ( Fig. 3C ); female face dimorphic, with lenticular shape; female scapal basin entirely polished ( Fig. 3B ), male scapal basin with or without irregular, shallow wrinkles ( Fig. 3E ); mesosoma with long, black and erect setae ( Figs 3C, 3G ); metasoma with shorter, whitish setae ( Figs 3D, 3H ); mesoscutum with shallow punctures, irregularly sparse in female ( Fig. 3A ), mostly clumped along notauli in male ( Fig. 3I ); metasomal apical notch deep, with thickened and darkened apical margin; male tergum II dorsally black ( Fig. 3H ).

Material examined. LEBANON: Holotype, N. Lebanon : Bcharre, Qornet Es Sawda , 2909 m, 30.vii.2019, ♀, on Asphodeline taurica leg. M. Boustani ( NMLU). Paratypes: Collected in the same locality and on the same flowers, 21.vii.2017, 1♂, leg. M. Boustani ( PRC); Bcharre, Plateau Qornet Es Sawda , 2909 m, 12.vii.2018, 1♂, leg. M. Boustani ( PRC), on Asphodeline taurica (MBOU) .

Description. Female holotype ( Fig. 3A–3D ). Body length: 4.4 mm.

Head. OOL = 3.0 × MOD; POL = 3.0 × MOD; MS = 0.5 × MOD; relative length of P:F1:F2:F3 = 1:1.2:0.9:0.9. Punctures on frons and face, laterally to scapal basin, relatively large (up to 0.6–0.7 × MOD) and deep ( Fig. 3B ); punctures along posterior margin of vertex smaller, shallower and sparser, interspaces wide and polished; scapal basin deep, glabrous, entirely polished; genae impunctate; genal carina not bisecting malar space; apical margin of clypeus trilobed, median lobe with brown rim, lateral ones hyaline apically; ocellar triangle isosceles; post-ocellar line incomplete, formed by short line (about 1.0 × MOD) close to posterior ocelli.

Mesosoma. Punctures on pronotum shallow, smaller than those on vertex, laterally denser; punctures on mesoscutum small (0.2–0.4 × MOD), sparse, shallow and irregular, larger and deeper between notauli; notaular pit deep and short (about 1.0 × MOD); punctures on mesoscutellum large (1 MOD); metascutellum elongate, as long as 1.5 × mesoscutellum length, convex, triangularly shaped in dorsal view, ending in short, raised, median prominence ( Fig. 3C ); punctures on metascutellum large, irregular, and contiguous; mesopleuron ventrally carinate.

Metasoma. Tergum I mostly impunctate; sparse and tiny punctures at base of anterior declivity and laterally; apical margin of tergum I impunctate, brown, without metallic reflections; tergum II densely punctate antero-dorsally, punctures sparse laterally (up to 4 PD) and posteriorly; punctures on tergum III denser, larger, irregular; apical margin of tergum III gently curved before apical notch; apical notch deep, triangular bordered by brownish rim ( Fig. 3D ).

Colour. Head and thorax metallic blue with greenish reflections, brassy to blackish on metanotum; metasoma golden, apically black on tergum II; apical margin of tergum III red to purple with brownish rim. Legs metallic green to blue, tarsi dark brown. Scape metallic green; pedicel, and flagellum entirely black.

Vestiture. Frons and mesosoma with long (2.0 × MOD), erect, black setae; metasoma laterally with short (1.0 × MOD), whitish setae; legs with short (1.0 × MOD) whitish setae.

Male (3E–3J). Body length 4.0 mm. Smaller than female. Head unmodified, triangular ( Fig. 3E ); vertex, from ocellar triangle to occiput, widely impunctate, punctures sparse and shallow; mesoscutum less punctate ( Fig. 3I ), widely polished in one paratype, with shallow punctures along notauli; mesoscutellum ending in short, raised, median prominence ( Fig. 3G ); greenish head and mesosoma ( Fig. 3G ), tergum I–II black dorsally, without metallic reflections ( Fig. 3H ). Genitalia as seen in Fig. 3F–3J .

Etymology. The specific name acuminatus (masculine, adjective) derives from the Latin adjective acuminatus (with a sharp point), referring to the pointed posterior margin of metanotum.

Collecting site ( Fig. 2C ). The locality of the type and paratypes is in the alpine strip of Mount Lebanon, near the 3000 m a.s.l. peak. The flora of the area is characterised by having mainly Onobrychis cornuta and Astragalus angustifolius , and the visited flower for all three specimens in this case: Asphodeline taurica ( Fig. 2D ). At the time of collection some snow remains in the colder small valleys.

Remarks. Philoctetes acuminatus sp. nov. is similar to some species of the P. putoni group in having long and dark setae on mesosoma and the conical metanotum, apically raised. The concept of species groups in the genus Philoctetes is not yet established, however some generalizations could be done. Mountainous species from the Alps to Central Asian mountains share some diagnostic features, such as flattened body, shallow punctuation, and long, blackish erect setae. Within this species group we include Philoctetes putoni ( du Buysson, 1892) and P. helveticus ( Linsenmaier 1959) , both endemic to the Alps ( Rosa et al. 2017c), and P. hirsutus ( Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1932), P. hirtus ( Semenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1932), and P. elongatus Semenov-Tian-Shanskij & Nikol’skaya, 1954 from Central Asia. Alpine species show a more or less mucronate metanotum, Central Asian species show a conical metanotum.

Philoctetes acuminatus sp. nov. is closely related to P. hirtus , known from Kyrgyzstan, yet it can be easily separated by the distinctly enlarged female face, lenticular, and the scapal basin entirely polished (vs. more triangularly shaped, scapal basin laterally punctate and wrinkled); vestiture short and whitish on head and metasoma, without long and erect black setae, sparse and black on metasoma (vs. long, dense and black bristles all over body); black and erect setae on metasoma sparser; metanotum apically raised (vs. conical); mesopleuron antero-ventrally carinate (vs. without carina).

Based on general habitus, only one Mediterranean species, P. punctulatus ( Dahlbom, 1845) , can be associated with P. acuminatus sp. nov. However, in P. punctulatus the female face is unmodified, the vestiture is short and whitish all over body, the metanotum is not distinctly conical to postero-medially pointed, the apical notch of tergum III is shallow and simple, without thickened margins, and the metasoma is usually fully metallic; male flagellomeres are elongate, l/w about 1.5 (in P. acuminatus sp. nov.). Another vaguely related species is Elampus magrettii du Buysson in Magretti, 1890, which was described from a single specimen collected at Damascus ( Syria). This species was transferred to the genus Pseudomalus Ashmead by Rosa (2009) because the mesoscutal punctation is similar to Pseudomalus auratus ( Linnaeus, 1758) and because of its stocky habitus. However, it was also considered similar to Philoctetes punctulatus ( Rosa 2009) and possibly it belongs to the same genus. A re-examination of the holotype is needed to clarify its current generic placement. However, P. magrettii can be separated from P. acuminatus sp. nov. by short and whitish body vestiture and simple metanotum, which is not distinctly conical or apically raised.

Figures

FIGURE 2. A) View of the Horch Ehden Forest Reserve outskirts with sparsely wooded areas of Quercus sp., and Juniperus sp., and a dense herbaceous vegetation dominated by Medicago sp. B) View of the type locality of Chrysis mirae sp. nov. in the Supra-Mediterranean vegetation level with mainly Quercus sp., Pistachia sp., and Spartium junceum. The disturbed sandy-soil hosts many bee nesting sites. C) View of the type locality of Philoctetes acuminatus sp. nov. in the Oro-mediterranean.The vegetation is steppic with mainly Astragalus sp. thorny shrubs and Asphodeline taurica bulbous flowers. D) Flowers of Asphodeline taurica on which specimens of Philoctetes acuminatus sp. nov. were found.

FIGURE 3. Philoctetes acuminatus Rosa & Boustani, sp. nov. A–D. ♀, holotype. A) Habitus, dorsal view. B) Head, frontal view. C) Mesosoma, lateral view. D) Metasoma, postero-lateral view. E–J. Paratype, ♂. E) Head, frontal view. F) Genital cap- sule, dorsal view. G) Head and mesosoma, lateral view. H) Metasoma, postero-lateral view. I) Mesosoma, dorsal view. J) Genital capsule, ventral view. Scale bars 1.0 mm.