Heterospilus mellosus Marsh

Marsh, Paul M., Wild, Alexander L. & Whitfield, James B., 2013, The Doryctinae (Braconidae) of Costa Rica: genera and species of the tribe Heterospilini, ZooKeys 347, pp. 1-474 : 114-115

Heterospilus mellosus Marsh sp. n. Figure 76

Female.

Body size: 2.0 mm. Color: head honey yellow or light brown; scape yellow without lateral longitudinal brown stripe, flagellum yellow basally to brown apically; mesosoma and metasoma honey yellow; wing veins brown, stigma yellow; legs yellow. Head: vertex weakly striate, often smooth near eyes; frons weakly striate or nearly smooth; face smooth; temple in dorsal view slightly bulging behind eye, width equal to 1/2 eye width; malar space greater than eye height; ocell-ocular distance about 2.5 times diameter of lateral ocellus; 18-19 flagellomeres. Mesosoma: mesoscutal lobes granulate; notauli scrobiculate, meeting at scutellum in triangular costate area; scutellum granulate; prescutellar furrow with 3 cross carinae; mesopleuron granulate, nearly smooth just above precoxal sulcus; precoxal sulcus smooth, shorter than mesopleuron; venter smooth; propodeum with basal median areas margined, granulate, basal median carina present, areola not distinctly margined, areolar area rugose, lateral areas entirely rugose. Wings: fore wing vein r shorter than vein 3RSa, vein 1cu-a beyond vein 1M; hind wing vein SC+R present, vein M+CU slightly shorter than vein 1M. Metasoma: first tergum longitudinally costate, apical width equal to length; second tergum longitudinally costate, greatest width about 4 times median length; anterior transverse groove weakly present and straight or partially absent; posterior transverse groove weakly present or partially absent; third tergum entirely smooth; terga 4-7 smooth; ovipositor longer than metasoma.

Holotype female.

Top label (white, partially printed and hand written) - Costa Rica: Guanacaste [;] Santa Rosa Natl. Park [;] 300m, ex. Malaise trap [;] Site #: (blank) [;] Dates: 31-I-21-II.1987 [;] I.D. Gauld & D. Janzen; second label (white, printed) - [SE] Bosque San Emilio [;] 50yr old deciduous forest [;] [C] more or less fully [;] shaded as possible; third label (red, partially printed and hand written) - HOLOTYPE [;] Heterospilus [;] mellosus [;] P. Marsh. Deposited in ESUW.

Paratypes.

1 ♀, same data as holotype, with date of 8-29.xi.1986, and second label as [BH] Bosque Humedo [;] mature evergreen dry forest [;] [C] more or less fully [;] shaded as possible (ESUW). 1 ♀, S.RosaPark, Guan. [;] C. Rica 8 Mar. 77 [;] D. H. Janzen [;] Dry Hill (AEIC).

Comments.

The yellow body color and the short metasomal tergum 2 are distinctive for this species.

Etymology.

The specific name is from the Latin mellosus meaning honey-colored in reference to the honey colored body.