Bathyaulax nigroconus, Kaartinen & Quicke, 2007

Kaartinen, Riikka & Quicke, Donald L. J., 2007, A revision of the parasitic wasp genus Bathyaulax Szépligeti (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Braconinae) from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, Journal of Natural History 41 (1 - 4), pp. 125-212 : 185-187

Bathyaulax nigroconus sp. nov.

( Figures 10 , 88, 90 )

Material examined

Holotype: Female ( RMCA): D. R. Congo: Lulua, Kapanga , V-1933, G.F. Overlaet . Paratypes: 2 females ( RMCA): D. R. Congo, Lulua, Kapanga , V-1932 and XI-1932, G.F. Overlaet ; 1 female ( BMNH): Uganda: Tero , 3.7.1912, C.C. Goway .

Description

Female: Length of body 21 mm, of fore wing 19 mm, of ovipositor 22 mm.

Antennae with 132 flagellomeres. Terminal flagellomere 2.8 times longer than wide. Height of clypeus:inter-tentorial distance:tentorio-ocular distance51.0:3.1:2.3. Width of face:width of head:height of eye51.1:2.0:1.0. Height of face:width of face51.0:1.6. Sculpture on face smooth punctuation. Clypeus rugose. Frons not depressed, smooth, with medial longitudal groove. POL:transverse diameter of posterior ocellus:shortest distance between posterior ocellus and eye51.0:1.5:4.3. Length of eye in dorsal view:distance of occiput and posterior margin of eye51.5:1.0.

Mesosoma approximately 1.8 times longer than maximally deep.

Fore wing: length of veins r:3-SR:SR151.0:2.4:2.7. Length of veins 2-SR:3-SR:rm51.0:2.4:1.3. Length of veins m-cu:2-M51.0:2.8. Length of veins 1-CU1: 2-CU151.0:5.8. Shape of vein 1-SR+M straight but angled close to vein 1-M. Swelling in vein 3-CU1 1.3 times thicker than the other part of the vein.

Legs: Length of fore femur:tibia:tarsus52.4:3.2:1.0. Fore basitarsus 5.0 times longer than deep. Length of hind femur:tibia:tarsus51.8:3.1:1.0. Hind basitarsus 6.4 times longer than deep.

First metasomal tergite 1.7 times longer than wide; raised median area smooth. Second tergite 1.4 times wider than long; medial area raised and strigose, smooth antero-medial area. Third tergite 1.5 times wider than long; with strigated transverse furrows on anterior and subposterior margins, raised median area strigated, antero-lateral areas smooth and only weakly raised. Tergites four and five with strigated transverse furrows on anterior and mid-subposterior margins, sculpture on raised median area weak aciculation on tergite four and punctuation on tergite five. Sublateral areas smooth on tergites two to five. Tergites six to eight smooth.

Head dorsally black and ventrally orange-red. Antennae black with yellowish orange apex (about 1:1). Orange-red except for the following which are black: apical four-fifths of the hind tibia, hind tarsi, tergites four to eight and ovipositor sheets. Fore wing darkened with following hyaline areas: base of wing around basal and subbasal cells, small area in the middle of first submarginal cell and a narrow area around vein r-m. Small pale spot in the base of pterostigma (about 1/10 of the total length). Hind wing darkened with hyaline areas on basal and the base of marginal cells.

Etymology

Named after the black apex of metasoma.

Figures

Figures 8–13. Features of the second and third metasomal tergites of Bathyaulax species. (8) B. lucidus, (9) B. monteiroii, (10) B. nigroconus, (11) B. perspicax, (12) B. raunoi, (13) B. ruber.

Figures 88–91. Automontageș images of Bathyaulax species. (88, 90) B. nigroconus, metasomal tergites 1–4 and tergites 3–5. (89, 91) B. ollilae, wing and metasomal tergites 2–4.