Buluka horni, Gupta, Ankita, 2013

Gupta, Ankita, 2013, Three new species of reared parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) from India, Zootaxa 3701 (3), pp. 365-380 : 366-369

Buluka horni sp. nov.

Plates.I & II.

Description. Holotype. Female: Body length = 3.18 mm.

Body colour. Head dark yellowish brown; dark blackish brown in inter ocellar region; rest vertex dark yellowish brown; palps white; scape yellow; scape with black infuscation laterally; tegula brown; fore and mid legs yellow. Hind coxa black, trochanter and trochantellus yellow, basal tip of hind femur brown, rest femur black; apical two third of tibia and basitarsus black (except at extreme basal tip yellowish white), tarsal segments 2-3 white, terminal segments brown.

Head. Vertex in dorsal view smooth and shiny; temples and vertex striate; occiput and vertex covered with scattered small white hairs, medial frons and face coarsely punctate and setose. Eyes covered with white hairs, clypeus covered with very dense long white hairs, colour of clypeus hardly traceable due to dense pilosity. Head height (0.84)/width (0.60) = 1.4; compound eye height = 0.48 mm; inter tentorial pit distance = 0.24 mm; tentorial pit distance (0.24)/distance tentorial pit to compound eye (0.075) = 3.2; width of face at dorsal clypeal edge = 0.39 mm; clypeus width = 0.22 mm; vertex width = 0.63 mm; distance between anterior ocelli and edge of torulus = 0.16 mm; length of first flagellomere = 0.26 mm; length of second flagellomere = 0.24 mm; terminal flagellomere length = 0.13 mm; penultimate flagellomere length = 0.09 mm; terminal flagellomere length (0.13)/width (0.07) = 1.85; malar space height (0.11)/basal width of mandible (0.07) = 1.6; ocell-ocular distance = 0.14 mm.

Mesosoma . Mesosoma coarsely punctate, punctures much larger posteriorly and medially and hardly separated from each other except for the margin; posteriorly on both the lateral sides with fine pin-punctures separated by more than their own diameter. Scutellum reticulate rugose laterally and medially; profused intermedially with few fine punctures, anteriorly scutellum smooth and polished medially (except for very shallow punctures); posteriorly with smooth and shiny apex. Propodeum reticulate rugose and punctate, large distinct coarser punctures located at the extreme apical margin, few scattered punctures separated by more than their own diameter in the basal half. Median carina present. Lateral carina (formed of distinct punctures) enclosing smooth area around small and round spiracle. Mesosoma length = 0.92 mm; mesosoma length/width (0.88) = 1.05. Hind femur length = 0.74 mm; hind femur length/width (0.26) = 2.85; hind tibia length (0.89)/hind femur length (0.74) = 1.2.

PLATE I. 1–5. Buluka horni sp. nov. (1) Head frontal view, female. (2) Vertex dorsal view, female. (3) Fore wing and hind wing, female.(4) Mesosoma dorsal view, female. (5) Metasoma dorsal view, female.

PLATE II. 6–7. Buluka horni sp. nov. (6) Solitary cocoon on leaf of Mangifera indica . (7) Full dorsal view, female.

Wings. Wings hyaline except for dark infuscate band behind stigma (slightly narrower than stigma), the width of the band narrowing towards the areola and around 1Cua. Fore wings with areolet quadrangular, 2Rs greater than r-m, wing surface proximal to stigma (basal half) very sparsely covered with setae, much of median and sub median cells devoid of setae, dense setation on the fore wing disc distally. Fore wing length = 2.7 mm; 1Cub length = 0.26, G (m-cu length) = 0.12, 1RS length = 0.06 mm; 1CUa length/1CUb length = 0.40; length RS+M = 0.33 mm; length M+CU = 0.99 mm; pterostigma length (0.3)/height (0.20) = 1.5. Areola measurements (mm). 2r = 0.16; 2Rs = 0.07; r-m = 0.058; 2M = 0.16; 1Rs = 0.16. Hind wing: 1M length = 0.44 mm; 1M length/M+CU length (0.36) = 1.22; length r-m (0.15)/length cu-a (0.22) = 0.68; 1A length = 0.18 mm.

Metasoma. T1 and T2 yellow, T3 black. T1 with a distinct yellow lateral horn located sub basally and premedially near the anterior end. T1 strongly humped on either side of medial grove, coarsely reticulate rugose and deeply punctate, reticulations larger, coarser and more elongated towards apical margin. An elongate smooth and shiny medial groove with transverse carinae. T2 with broad median groove tapering towards the apical margin with one median longitudinal carina.The anterior margin with coarse longitudinal carinae, remaining tergite with coarse reticulate rugosity with deep punctures. T3 with coarse longitudinal carinae along anterior margin, the longitudinal carinae gradually merging with reticulate rugose background. The midline gradually broadening to a smooth, shiny median patch towards the apical margin; posterior surface of T3 not overhanging rim of metasoma. First tergum basal width = 0.63 mm; first tergum length (0.40)/distal width (0.31) = 1.29; second tergum length = 0.29 mm; third tergum length = 0.6 mm.

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. India: Karnataka

Material examined. Holotype, female on card, INDIA, Karnataka, Bangalore, Ganganhalli, 12°58’N 77°35’E, 22.xiii.2011, emerged from solitary cocoon on leaf of Mangifera indica L., leg. Mallesh. Paratype, one female on card, with same data as holotype. All types deposited in National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects (NBAII), Bangalore, India. Code NBAII/Micro/ Buluka /22811.

Comments. This species can be most distinctly identified with T1 having a distinct yellow lateral horn located sub basally and pre-medially near the anterior end; temples and vertex striate. Fore wings with vein 2Rs greater than r-m. Fore and mid legs yellow with terminal segments brown. Mean face width /head width = 0.45. Hind tarsal segments 2–3 white.

Discussion. Buluka horni sp. nov. can be separated from B. huddlestoni Austin in the very first couplet in the key to species of Buluka in Austin (1989) with the most distinctive character of presence of lateral horn on T1. It resembles B. huddlestoni in having temples and vertex striate but differs in following characters of B. huddlestoni : absence of lateral horn; 2Rs equal to r-m; hind legs yellow with only basitarsus black and tarsal segments except basitarsus yellow.

The new species resembles B. noyesi in having similar colouration of fore wing, metasoma, hind femur and hind tibia but can be separated with following characters: Buluka noyesi —small species 2.5 mm; face narrow; mean face width /head width = 0.38 mm; occiput and vertex smooth shiny; hind tarsal segments 2–4 white.

Host Record. Solitary white cocoon (Fig. 6) L/W (mm) = 1.962: 0.953. Attached to the midrib under the surface of Mangifera indica leaf.

Etymology. Gender, neutral. This species is named after the presence of lateral horn on first tergum of metasoma.