Cretaxenomerus jankotejai Nel & Azar, 2005

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 jankotejai Nel & Azar, 2005

Fig. 15

Diagnosis.

Cretaxenomerus jankotejai can be differentiated from all other species in the genus by the following combination of characters: large body length, broad head, which is nearly 2 × as wide as long (Fig. 15A ), and a distinctly broadened posterior portion of its elongate syntergum (Fig. 15B :Mt8+9).

Redescription.

Female. Body length 1490, uniformly dark brown in coloration, eyes white, wings hyaline with dense pilosity along wing disc, sparser at speculum. Head globulose, length 160, 2 × as wide as long (Fig. 15A ). Ocelli large, LOL about equal to OOL. Toruli slightly closer to one another than inner eye margin. Malar sulcus present. Maxilary palps 2-3 segments. Antenna length 776. Fu1-3 2 × as long as wide, fu4-10 about 1.5 × as long as wide (Fig. 15A ). Clava 2 segmented, undifferentiated from funicles (Fig. 15A -inset). MPS present on all flagellomeres, as single long sensillae around circumference of segment in single row (Fig. 15A -inset). Metasoma length 370. Lateral panel of pronotum large and triangular. Mesonotum without notauli. Mesoscutum about 1.5 × as long as mesoscutellum. Prepectus visible as a narrow strip in anterior half of mesopleuron. Mesopleuron dorsoventrally elongate. Axillulae striate. Metanotum short, length 30, medially overlapped by mesoscutellum (Fig. 15A ). Wings. Obscured by malformation around specimens, make measurements of wing length not possible. Costal cell narrow. Basal vein short, strongly pigmented. Cubital vein lightly pigmented anterior to junction with basal vein and more strongly pigmented posterior to junction. Submarginal vein length 259. Marginal vein broad, ⅓ length of submarginal vein (Fig. 15A ). Postmarginal vein very short, equal in length to shortened stigmal vein. Legs. Basitarsomere of all legs very long, approximately equal in length to following 4 tarsomeres combined (Fig. 15C ). Tarsomere 4 noticeably shorter than others on all legs. Protibial calcar simple; basitarsal comb of fore leg present. Metasoma length 553, 917 with syntergum. Clear number of metasomal segments obscured. Metasoma connected with mesosoma by narrow petiolus (Fig. 15A ). Syntergum widest in the posterior ⅓ of its length (Fig. 15B ). Cerci with 3 cercal sensillae (Fig. 15B :ccs). Ovipositor extending only slightly beyond length of syntergum; ovipositor sheaths narrow basally before becoming spatulate in the posterior ¼ of its length.

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: 972A.

Type condition.

Specimen complete; dorsum of head partially detached; a large transverse crack in the amber obscures portions of the metasoma distally.

Notes.

Nel and Azar (2005) described the elongate syntergum and associated ovipositor complex as a "tubular structure", and suggested it was an early variant of the unique telescoping ovipositor system of Platygastroidea . Reexamination of the specimens indicates that this structure is not tubular but shaped as a narrow channel and the presence of frass at the end of it suggests it is the true ending of the abdomen and alimentary canal rather than the ovipositor, which is clearly seen on (Fig. 15B ). Along with the wing venation and tarsal characters we transfer Cretaxenomerus jankotejai from Scelionidae to Protoitidae .

Figures

Figure 15. Cretaxenomerus jankotejai, holotype A dorsal habitus, with inset showing close up of terminal flagellomeres B ovipositor complex with elongate syntergum C mesotibia and tarsus showing tarsal length. Scale bars: 500 µm (A); 100 µm (B, C). ccs = cercal sensilla.