Sulcomesitius zhaoi ( Xu & He, 2006 ) Wang & He & Chen, 2024

Wang, Chunhong, He, Junhua & Chen, Xuexin, 2024, Revision of subfamily Mesitiinae (Hymenoptera, Bethylidae) from China, European Journal of Taxonomy 960 (1), pp. 1-61 : 44-47

Sulcomesitius zhaoi ( Xu & He, 2006) comb. nov.

Fig. 15

Heterocoelia zhaoi Xu & He, 2006: 64–65 , 67, figs 4–6.

Heterocoelia sinensis Xu & He, 2006: 65–67 , figs 7–9. Syn. nov.

Material examined

Holotype

CHINA – Fujian • ♂; Fuzhou; 19 Sept. 1990; Xiufu Zhao leg.; ZJUH 967700 .

Paratype (1 ♂)

CHINA – Fujian • 1 ♂; Fuzhou; 13 Aug. 1989; Changming Liu leg.; ZJUH 966312 .

Other material (6 ♂♂)

CHINA – Fujian • ♂; holotype of Heterocoelia sinensis ; Fuzhou; 3 Jul. 1990; Naiquan Lin leg.; ZJUH 967530 • 1 ♂; Fuzhou, Jin Mountain ; 30 May 2001; Naiquan Lin leg.; ZJUH 202300002 • 1 ♂; Minqing, Xiongjiang Town; 13–17 Jul. 2005; Zaifu Xu leg.; ZJUH 200609182 . – Hainan • 2 ♂♂; Bawangling ; 7–11 Jul. 2006; Jingxian Liu leg.; ZJUH 200700036 , 200700078 • 1 ♂; Baisha County, Yinggeling ; 1–2 May 2008; Jingxian Liu leg.; ZJUH 200800043 .

Re-description

Male

MEASUREMENTS (n = 8). TL 4.84–6.21 mm; length of fore wing 2.46–3.29 mm; LH 1.0–1.03× WH; WF 1.53–1.75× LE; LE 1.06–1.33 × DEV; POL 1.33–1.61 × AOL; OOL 0.92–0.99 × WOT; DPV 1.55– 2.39 × DAO; malar space 1.0–1.38× distance between posterior ocelli and vertex crest; median length of dorsal surface of MPC 0.73–0.86× its half-width; length of PPP 0.37–0.61× median length of dorsal surface of MPC; 2r-rs&Rs 2 v 0.71–0.96 × as long as Sc+ R 2 v; length of posterior branches of hypopygium 0.45–0.5 × length of hypopygium.

COLOURATION. Body black. Mandible yellowish brown or brown, apical half yellowish brown; maxillary and labial palpi brown or dark brown. Antenna dark brown with ventral surface brown. Eye brown or dark brown. Fore wing light brown, darker on apical half; veins dark brown or brown, pterostigma brown. Legs dark brown or blackish brown, trochanters, femora apically, tibiae and tarsi brown and yellowish brown. MPC with lateral margin brown, PPP brown apically. T 1 with lateral and posterior margin dark brown, S2 apically and S3 posteriorly brown, T 4–5 brown with posterior margin yellowish brown.

PUBESCENCE. Body with short setae. Maxillary and labial palpi with dense, short setae. Antenna with short proclinate yellowish-brown setae, 0.22× width of flagellomere II ( Fig. 15C ). Eye with sparse, short setae, nearly 5.0× diameter of an ommatidium. Wings with short, dense yellowish-brown setae. Setae of metasoma longer than setae of head and mesosoma, T 1 with sparse setae posterolaterally, T 2 with basal triangular area glabrous.

HEAD. Slightly longer than wide, LH 1.03 × WH. Clypeus trilobite; medio-clypeal lobe with apical margin acute medially; medio-clypeal carina not extending into frons, arched in lateral view. Antenna slender, length of flagellomere III 2.0× its width. Frons coriaceous and densely foveolate ( Fig. 15B ); WF 1.67 × LE. Contour of eye protruding in antero-dorsal view ( Fig. 15B ); LE 0.35–0.39 × LH; LE 1.09 × DEV. Anterior ocellus entirely anterior to imaginary top line of eyes; POL 1.36× AOL, OOL 0.98 × WOT, DPV 2.39 × DAO. Vertex coriaceous and densely foveolate, sides of head behind eyes rounded and slightly converging posteriorly, vertex crest slightly protruding. Malar space 1.22× distance between posterior ocelli and vertex crest. Gena coriaceous, densely foveolate and shallower ventrally. Occipital carina complete, occiput coriaceous with shallow punctures. Medioccipito-genal suture present.

MESOSOMA. Dorsal pronotal area coriaceous and densely foveolate, median length 0.45 × width along posterior pronotal margin, anterolateral corner projected; median pronotal sulcus weak ( Fig. 15D ); lateral pronotal area obliquely striate; cervical pronotal area coarse. Mesoscutum elevated, coriaceous with shallow punctures; median mesonotal sulcus absent ( Fig. 15D ); notauli complete and converging posteriorly, parapsidal signum shallow and absent near anterior margin. Mesoscutellum weakly coriaceous with shallow punctures, apical two-thirds foveolate; mesoscutum-mesoscutellar sulcus present, laterally dilated ( Fig. 15E ); median line slightly elevated. Median length of dorsal surface of MPC 0.86 × its half-width; metapostnotum strongly areolate, metapostnotal median carina complete, metapostnotal-propodeal carina complete and converging posteriorly; dorsal propodeal area transversely striate; paraspiracular and lateral marginal carinae of MPC complete; length of PPP 0.37× median length of dorsal surface of MPC ( Fig. 15E ); transverse posterior carina of MPC complete; propodeal declivity weakly areolate, median and lateral carinae complete; anterior metapleural area transversely striate; lateral surface of MPC with submarginal carina and posterior carina, irregularly striate. Propleuron coriaceous, shallowly foveolate, propleural epicoxal sulcus present. Mesopleuron coriaceous and densely foveolate; subalar impression weak; posterior oblique sulcus of mesopleuron present and foveolate; postepicnemial sulcus present; ventral surface of mesopleuron coriaceous, with irregular-sized punctures, area between mesocoxae with large foveae; anterior mesofurcal pit present.

WINGS. Fore wing with 2r-rs&Rs 2 v slightly curved apically, 0.81 × as long as Sc+ R 2 v; posterior margin of pterostigma protruding, prestigma absent ( Fig. 15G ); Cu 2 v present as yellowish-brown trace. Hind wing with three distal hamuli, distance between 1 st and 2 nd distal hamuli longer than distance between 2 nd and 3 rd distal hamuli.

METASOMA. Metasomal terga shiny, with punctures; T 1 with tiny, sparse punctures, medio-longitudinal sulcus present at basal one-third; T 2 with dense punctures separated by less than 3.0× their diameter, posterior margin with scattered punctures ( Fig. 15F ). Metasomal sterna shiny, with variably sized punctures; S1 irregularly striate, metapostnotal median carina weak; S2 with dense, variably sized punctures. Hypopygium longer than wide; lateral and anterior margin of basal part of hypopygium incurved ( Fig. 15H ); posterior branches 0.5 × length of hypopygium, distinctly narrower than median notch, with long setae apically.

MALE GENITALIA. Harpe bilobate, dorsal harpe S-shaped and longer than ventral harpe ( Fig. 15I ). Cuspis with apical margin incurved; digitus bent and papillate apically, with setae basally ( Fig. 15J ); aedeagus bottle-shaped ( Fig. 15I ).

Female

Unknown.

Distribution

Oriental Region ( China: Fujian, Hainan) ( Fig. 20 ).

Remarks

After an examination of the type series of Heterocoelia zhaoi Xu & He, 2006 and H. sinensis Xu & He, 2006 , we transfer both taxa to the genus Sulcomesitius because their head and pronotum are densely foveolate; the hypopygium of the male is longer than wide, with the posterior branches long, at least 0.45× the length of the hypopygium; the dorsal harpe of the genitalia is S-shaped.

Heterocoelia sinensis used to be distinguished from H. zhaoi by having the length of PPP 0.60 × the median length of the dorsal surface of MPC (0.4× in H. zhaoi ) and T2 densely and deeply punctate throughout, with uniform punctures (broadly granulate basally, distinctly punctate posteriorly, with uniform punctures in H. zhaoi ) ( Xu & He 2006). Our re-examination of the holotypes of both taxa suggests their conspecificity since both holotypes have the PPP 0.50 × the median length of the dorsal surface of MPC.As for the difference in sculpture of T2, this may be an artefact; therefore, it is insufficient to retain H. sinensis as a valid species.

Figures

Fig. 15. Sulcomesitius zhaoi (Xu & He, 2006) comb. nov., holotype, ♂ (ZJUH 967700). A. Habitus, lateral view. B. Head, antero-dorsal view. C. Antenna. D. Pronotum and mesoscutum, dorsal view. E. Mesoscutellum and MPC, dorsal view.F. T2, dorsal view.G. Fore wing.H. Hypopygium.I. Genitalia, dorsal view. J. Genitalia, ventral view. Scale bars: 0.20 mm.

Fig. 20. Distribution map of species of Mestiinae from China.