Avga saudita Gadallah & Edmardash, 2022

Abu El-Ghiet, Usama M., Edmardash, Yusuf A. & Gadallah, Neveen S., 2022, New species and records of braconid wasps from Farasan Archipelago (Jazan) Saudi Arabia, with notes on Diolcogaster mayae Shestakov, Zootaxa 5104 (1), pp. 49-79 : 66

Avga saudita Gadallah & Edmardash , sp. nov.

Figs 10 A–C , 11 A–C

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:5D58F822-D1CB-45C3-997C-574C62CC8B25

Type material: Holotype, ♀ ( EFC), KSA: Jazan (Farasan Islands, Al-Sajid ), 10.xi.2017, light trap, leg. Usama Abu El Ghiet ; Paratypes: 2 ♀, same data. (paratypes with broken flagella)

Diagnosis. Body yellowish to yellowish brown (including legs) ( Figs 10A–C ), antenna with scape, pedicel and F1–3 clear yellow ( Fig. 10B ), then darkened in the following segments; metasoma waxy white in middle of T1 ( Fig. 10A ) and ventrally. Fore wing hyaline ( Fig. 11C ), with veins pale brown, except veins r, 1–SR, 1–M, apical half of M + CU, 1–CU1 and 2–CU1 are dark brown; pterostigma mostly pale brown, and dark brown apically. Head and mesosoma finely and closely granulate; mesopleuron and metapleuron are smooth and shiny ( Fig. 10C ); sternaulus deep and linear ventrally ( Fig. 10C ); propodeum nearly smooth, without distinct fields, with a short median carina, extending from base ( Fig. 10A ); vein r of fore wing about as long as or slightly longer than vein 3–SR; vein SR1 straight, but slightly concave apically, reaching wing apex; vein r–m present but not tubular ( Fig. 11C ); ovipositor sheath dark brown, about 0.3× as long as metasoma ( Fig. 10B ).

Description. Holotype ♀, length of body (excluding ovipositor): 4.1mm.; length of fore wing: 4.2mm.

Colour. Body yellowish to yellowish brown (including legs), antenna with scape, pedicel, and F1–3 clear yellow, rest of flagellum (unbroken part) darkened; mandible yellowish, with black tip; palpi whitish; metasoma waxy white ventrally. Fore wing hyaline, with veins pale brown, except veins r, 1–SR, 1-M, apical half of M + CU, 1–CU1 and 2–CU1 are dark brown; pterostigma mostly pale brown, and dark brown apically.

Head ( Figs 11A, B ). Finely granulate dorsally; frons medially, just behind antennal bases, slightly swollen and shiny; area between stemmaticum and antennal bases distinctly depressed; inner orbits of eyes slightly emarginate above; eye in dorsal view 2.6× as long as temple; OOL: OD: POL = 35: 29: 17; malar space 1.3× as long as basal width of mandible; scape equal both ventrally and dorsally; pedicel slightly more swollen than F1, slightly shorter than scape; F1 about 5.0× as long as wide, 1.3× as long as F2; F2–4 about equal sized, 3.8× as long as wide; mandible with two subequal, sharp teeth.

Mesosoma ( Figs 10A–C ) 2.0× as long as its height. Mesoscutum and mesoscutellum finely granulate; mesoscutum clothed with dense, fine whitish setae, becoming few along lateral and posterior margins of mesoscutellum; notauli very weak to indistinct; propodeum nearly smooth, with a short median longitudinal carina at base not reaching posterior margin; mesopleuron smooth and shiny, with a deep linear sternaulus ventrally.

Fore wing ( Fig. 11C ). Vein r arising very near to the middle of pterostigma; SR1 straight, slightly concave near to apex, reaching wing apex; 2–SR+M very short, hardly seen; vein r 0.75× as long as pterostigma width, about slightly longer than vein 3–SR; pterostigma about as long as or slightly longer than vein 1–R1; vein 1–M nearly straight; vein cu–a postfurcal; r: 3–SR: SR1 = 15: 13: 90.

Legs moderately long and slender; metatibia distinctly longer than hind femur, 1.3×; hind basitarsus slightly shorter than following tarsomeres combined.

Metasoma ( Figs 10A–C ). Pear-shaped, T1 conical, slightly widened posteriorly, about 0.8× as long as its posterior width, finely rugose to nearly smooth; T2 relatively large, with sclerotized inverted U laterally, membranous and skin-like medially, rest of tergites band-like, distinctly wider than long; T3 membranous medially, sclerotized areas of tergites smooth and shiny; ovipositor sheath 0.3× as long as metasoma in lateral view.

Remarks. The subfamily Pambolinae is recorded here for the first time for the fauna of the Arabian Peninsula.

Etymology. The name saudita is derived from the country locality ( Saudi Arabia) from which the specimen was collected and described.

Distribution. Saudi Arabia (Farasan Islands, Jazan).

Figures

FIGURE 10. Avga saudita Gadallah & Edmardash, sp. nov. (holotype ♀). A, dorsal habitus; B & C, lateral habitus. A: scale bar (= 1.0×); B, C: 1.1×.

FIGURE 11. Avga saudita Gadallah & Edmardash, sp. nov. (holotype ♀). A, frontal view of head; B, dorsal view of head; C, fore wing. A, B: scale bar (= 0.8×); C: 1.0×.