Meteorus quasifabatus Jones

Jones, Guinevere Z. & Shaw, Scott R., 2012, Ten new species of Meteorus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from Ecuador reared at the Yanayacu Biological Center for Creative Studies, Zootaxa 3547, pp. 1-23 : 17-19

Meteorus quasifabatus Jones , new species

( Figs 41–44 )

Holotype Female. Body length 5.0 mm; fore wing length 4.0 mm.

Body color: Orange head with ocellar patch dark brown, antennae dark brown; body ventrally cream, thorax light yellow laterally, mesonotum light yellow dorsally, propodeum and metasoma ranges from black to dark brown dorsally; mandibles light yellow with brown teeth; palpi light yellow; fore coxae cream; fore tibia light yellow; wings transparent brown with brown venation; tergites one and two black; ovipositor pale brown. sheath brown.

Head: Antenna with 29 flagellomeres; flagellar length/width rations as follows: F1 = 2.5, F2 = 2.7, F3 = 2.6, F27 = 1.8, F28 = 1.5, F29 = 2.3; ocelli large with OCOD /OCD ratio 1.3; eyes nearly parallel since maximum and minimum face width nearly equal; eyes small, head height 1.6 X eye height; minimum face width 1.3 X clypeus width; malar space 2.7 X longer than mandible width; mandibles moderately twisted; clypeus laterally finely rugose; face and frons smooth; complete occipital carina.

Mesosoma: Mesonotal lobes slightly defined, notauli shallow and rugose; pronotum mostly smooth, slightly rugose at edges; mesopleuron with few distinct furrows; metapleuron carinate; propodeum areolate-rugose with pronounced posterior areolate cells.

Legs: Smooth hind coxae; simple tarsal claws.

Wings: Vein 3 RSa 0.7 X longer than vein r; vein r 4 X longer than (RS + M)b at the 2RS insertion point.

Metasoma: Ovipositor short, 1.5 X longer than first tergite; first tergite longitudinally costate, lines parallel, slightly converging at posterior end of tergite.

Variation of paratype females. Body length 4.5–5.5 mm; some antennae were broken, 29 flagellomeres on complete antennae.

Variation of paratype males. Body length 3.8–5.0 mm.

Cocoon. Pale brown; ovoid; lightly baled with silk; corpus 4.0 mm long; cap 2.0 mm long, nipple paler than corpus and cap.

Material examined.

Holotype female: Ecuador: Napo Province, Ecuador, reared at Yanayacu Biological Station with database number YY #13545, S 00°35.9’ W 77°53.4’, 2163 m, collected 6 April 2006, Plot 200, parasitoid pupated 17 April 2006, adult wasp emerged 5 May 2006, host caterpillar Arctiidae : Praeamastus minerva watkinsi, host plant Cyclanthaceae : Evodianthus funifer hoja de tijera. Deposited in UWIM.

Paratypes: Ecuador: Napo Province, Ecuador, 10 females, 11 males, reared at Yanayacu Biological Station with database number YY #13545, S 00°35.9’ W 77°53.4’, 2163 m, collected 6 April 2006, Plot 200, parasitoid pupated 17 April 2006, adult wasp emerged 5 May 2006, host caterpillar Arctiidae : Praeamastus minerva watkinsi, host plant Cyclanthaceae : Evodianthus funifer hoja de tijera. Deposited in UWIM.

Distribution. Known only from the type localities in Napo Province, Ecuador.

Biology. Meteorus quasifabatus is gregarious species attacking Arctiidae : Arctiinae : Praeamastus minerva watkinsi Rothschild. The host caterpillar ( Fig. 44 ) was collected while feeding on Evodianthus funifer (Cyclanthaceae) , and was familiarly known as the “Glenn Plake” caterpillar due to its distinctive tufts of hair-like setae that are reminiscent of the orange mohawked punk rocker (Shaw, 2010). This rearing yielded 11 females and 11 males, which is a moderately large rearing for Meteorus .

Etymology. In the summer of 2008, the first research trip to Yanayacu was made in conjunction with an Earthwatch volunteer group (www.earthwatch.org). Peggy Campbell-Rush, one of the Earthwatch volunteers and a first-grade teacher from New Jersey, was very interested in the taxonomic aspect of the CAPEA project and inquired if one or two of her students could help me name a new species. I sent photographs of some of the wasps, along with the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature’s (ICZN) guidelines to her. She worked with two (at the time) six-year-olds and one of them declared that it looked like a string bean (as his parents communicated via email through Ms. Campbell-Rush). This wasp is named in honor of Jack O’Rourke and Michael Mullough by using the Latin terminology quasi (meaning “like”) and fabatus for bean.

Comments. The caterpillar host species is known to feed on a myriad of host plants ( Araceae : Anthurium sp., Asteraceae : Baccaris sp., Brunneliaceae: Leguminosae: Erythrina smithiana , Melastomataceae : Tibouchina lepidota , unidentified sp., Smilacaceae : Smilax sp., Urticaceae : unidentified sp., Verbenaceae : unidentified sp.), but has only one recorded parasitoid: Meteorus quasifabatus (http://caterpillars.unr.edu). As another one of the four new species described in this treatment that parasitizes arctiid caterpillars, this species is the largest gregarious rearing from tiger moths ( Arctiidae ).

Meteorus quasifabatus is morphologically most similar to M. caritatis , they both have small eyes and the presence of vein (RS + M)b at the 2RS insertion point. However, M. quasifabatus can be differentiated by its large ocelli, moderately twisted mandibles, carinate metapleuron, short ovipositor, and the fact that it is gregarious. M. caritatis has small ocelli, strongly twisted mandibles, foveolate metapleuron, long ovipositor, and is solitary.

Figures

FIGURES 40, 41. 40. — Scanning electron micrograph of Meteorus porcatus, new species: lateral view of mesosoma (120 x); 41. — Scanning electron micrograph of Meteorus porcatus, new species: fore wing (80 x).

FIGURES 42 – 45. 42. — Lateral habitus of Meteorus quasifabatus, new species: holotype female; 43. — Face of Meteorus quasifabatus, new species: holotype female; 44. — Dorsal view of mesosoma of Meterorus quasifabatus, new species: holotype female; 45. — Host of Meteorus quasifabatus, new species: Praeamastus minerva watkinsi Rothschild (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae).