Cretaxenomerus deangelis Ulmer & Krogmann, 2023

UImer, Jonah M., Jansta, Petr, Azar, Dany & Krogmann, Lars, 2023, At the dawn of megadiversity - Protoitidae, a new family of Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera) from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 96, pp. 879-924 : 879

Cretaxenomerus deangelis Ulmer & Krogmann sp. nov.

Fig. 14

Diagnosis.

Cretaxenomerus deangelis differs from all other species in the genus by the following combination of characters: shape of its head capsule, longer than wide in dorsal view. Mesoscutum with notauli. Fore wing basal cell narrow and marginal setation short. Syntergum short.

Description.

Female. Body length 1179. Head capsule light-brown, body and appendages dark brown, aside from first two flagellomeres. Wing venation dark brown. Wing’s damaged just distal to junction of smv and bv, first 2 flagellomeres damaged. Wings with slight brown infumation, uniform pilosity. Head elongate, about 1.3 × as long as wide, wider than mesosoma in dorsal view (Fig. 14A ). Temple large, at most ¼ as long as eye length. Occiput very narrow and concave, about ⅓ as wide as head width. Malar sulcus well developed, connecting lower margin of eye and oral fossa. Antenna insertion around midline of eye. Frons protruding, on higher plane than face. Clypeus inflected. Mandibles on higher plane than clypeal margin. Antennae length 743. Scape probably short and broad, not visible due to damage. Fu1-6 narrow, longer than wide, but not elongate, equal in length to fu7-10. Clava 2-segmented, claval length 95. MPS present on all segments (Fig. 14C ). Fine pilosity present, adpressed at 45° on all segments aside from pedicel and scape relative to surface. Mesosoma length 466. Mesoscutum 2.4 × as long as mesoscutellum. Notauli well visible for its entire length. Prepectus narrow, dorsally overlapped by posterior-most corner of lateral panel of pronotum, lateraly seen as narrow sclerite, well separated from mesonotum. Transscutal articulation medially present. Mesodiscrimen deeply invaginated. Tegula visible, bare of setation (Fig. 14A :teg). Lateral panel of metanotum with flange. Propodeum approximately equal in length to mesoscutellum (Fig. 14A ). Wings. Fore wing length 1047, 3.3 × as long as wide. Longest marginal seta length 22. Costal cell present, nearly equal in width to basal cell (Fig. 14B ). Cubital vein length 229, pigmented along the entire length. Basal vein ⅕ length of cubital vein, strongly pigmented and distally curved. Basal cell of fore wing proximally narrowed, wider at junction of M+Cu. Submarginal length 380. Marginal vein with uniform thickness along its length, short, about 0.2 as long as submarginal vein (Fig. 14B ). Stigmal vein length 42, stigma and uncus present; 6 uncal sensillae present. Postmarginal vein equal in length to marginal vein; tapering distally (Fig. 14B ). Hind wings obscured by fore wings. Legs. Basitarsomere of all legs elongate, slightly shorter than tarsomere 2-4. Basitarsal comb of fore leg present (Fig. 14D :btc) with a blunt protuberance present laterobasally (Fig. 14D :btn). Metasoma length 505. Mt2-7 plus syntergum visible, syntergum about 0.15 × as long as the rest of gaster, broadly attached to Mt7, articulation not visible (Fig. 14A ). Genitalia. Ovipositor only slightly extended from body and slightly longer than syntergum, no more than Mt7 plus syntergum length (Fig. 14A ).

Male. Unknown.

Material examined.

Holotype: female, Hammana / Mdeyrij , Caza Baabda , Mouhafazet Mount Lebanon; lower Barremian. In amber mounted in Canada Balsam. Deposited at Natural History Museum of the Lebanese University, accession/specimen number 810H.

Type condition.

Due to the taphonomic process both antennae are detached from the head and both scapes, pedicels and first two flagellomeres are broken; the mesosoma is slightly deformed dorsolaterally; both wings are broken, the left wing just before the basal vein and the right wing beyond the basal vein, and with some additional ruptures on the disc of both wings.

Etymology.

The specific epithet is a patronym in honor of Eric Deangelo, an early mentor and professor of one of the authors (JU) who introduced him to biology and research.

Notes.

Due to the orientation of the specimen in the amber, the tip of the metasoma is obscured, so the syntergum could not be clearly examined, but there does not appear to be an elongate syntergum. Because C. deangelis apparently lacks an elongate syntergum, similar to Protoita but unlike other Cretaxenomerus females, this feature might support it’s placement into a third genus, although it shares more similarities with Cretaxenomerus species than Protoita . Without additional specimens to examine, we consider it premature to erect a third genus for the specimen due to its damaged state and obscured syntergum and place it tentatively in Cretaxenomerus . Even though the lack of an elongate syntergum is shared with Protoita , this lack of an apomorphy does not justify placement within Protoita as it shares more diagnostic features with Cretaxenomerus such as body length, a petiolar constriction at the waist and a head which is not wider than long in dorsal view.

Figures

Figure 14. Cretaxenomerus deangelis, holotype A dorsal habitus B fore wing venation and cells C antenna, lateral D fore leg basitarsus and tibia. Scale bars: 250 µm (A); 200 µm (B); 100 µm (C); 50 µm (D).