Fidiobia pronotatoides Popovici, Lahey & Talamas, 2022

Popovici, Ovidiu Alin, Masner, Lubomir, Lahey, Zachary & Talamas, Elijah, 2022, Revision of the Palearctic species of Fidiobia Ashmead (Hymenoptera, Platygastroidea), Journal of Hymenoptera Research 92, pp. 23-144 : 23

19. Fidiobia pronotatoides Popovici, Lahey & Talamas sp. nov.

Figs 181-185 , 316

Description.

Female. Body length: 0.84 mm. Colour of body: melanic (Figs 181 , 182 ).

Head (Figs 183-185 ). Colour of head: black. Sculpture of head: areolate rugulose. Sculpture of occiput: areolate rugulose. Ocellar prominence: absent. Preocellar depression: absent. Paraocellar depressions: absent. OOL / ocellar diameter: OOL equal with ocellar diameter. Orientation of lower half of inner orbits: visibly divergent. Sculpture of frons immediately anterior to ocellus: areolate rugulose. Sculpture of frons immediately dorsal to toruli: areolate rugulose. Epitorular carina: absent. Distance between toruli: toruli touch each other. Setation of clypeus: two setae. Malar sulcus: absent. Antenna (Fig. 186 ). Colour of A1: light brown. Colour of clava: different from the rest of the antenna. Number of antennomeres: nine. Shape of A1: more or less cylindrical. Ventral (inner) lamella on A1: present as a trace in the apical part of A1. Length of A3 of female: distinctly shorter than A2. Sensillar formula (A7:A8:A9): unknown.

Mesosoma (Figs 181 , 182 ). Colour of mesosoma: black. Mesosoma: weakly compressed dorsoventrally. Pronotum in dorsal view: present mostly as lateral shoulders. Transverse pronotal sulcus: present as a wide groove along the anterior rim of pronotum. Posteroventral end of transverse pronotal sulcus: present. Lateral pronotal area: sculptured only on the dorsal third. Antero-admedian line: absent. Mesoscutum: weakly convex. Parapsidal lines: absent. Sculpture of internotaular area: absent. Notauli: present, incised. Shape of notauli: dilated posteriorly and rounded anteriorly. Outer edge of notauli: almost collinear with axillular carina. Orientation of inner edge of notauli: converging posteriorly. Length of notauli: more than half of length of mesoscutum, measured along midline. Length of notaulus / maximum width of notaulus: at most 1.9 times as long as maximum width. Distance between notauli: shorter than the broadest part of notaulus. Transscutal articulation: complete. Scuto-scutellar sulcus: absent. Fovea on scuto-scutellar sulcus: NA. Mesoscutellum: weakly convex. Shape of mesoscutellum: subrectangular. Axillular carina: posterior apex of axillular carinae touching the posterior edge of mesoscutellum. Axilloaxillular carina: present. Sculpture of mesoscutellum: absent. Posterior mesoscutellar sulcus: absent. Metascutellum: not visible, covered by mesoscutellum. Metascutellar carina: absent. Width of metasomal depression: greater than the length of lateral propodeal carina. Median carina between lateral propodeal carinae: absent. Transverse carina between lateral propodeal carinae: present. Foamy structure on transverse carina between lateral propodeal carinae: absent. Foamy structure on metasomal depression: absent. Lateral propodeal carinae: parallel. Foamy structure on lateral propodeal carina: absent. Plica: visible. Posterior end of plica: fused with metapleural carina. Foamy structure on plica: absent. Foamy structure on metapleural carina: absent. Foamy structure on ventral metapleural area: absent. Setation of dorsal metapleural area: dense, long setae on entire surface, uniformly distributed. Setation of ventral metapleural area: dense, long setae on the entire surface, uniformly distributed. Longitudinal striation on dorsal mesopleuron: present. Transepisternal line: absent. Mesopleural carina: present. Metapleural sulcus: absent. Wings (Figs 181 , 182 ): brachypterous. Apex of fore wing: rounded. Colour of fore wing: transparent. Transverse brown band on fore wing: absent. Submarginal vein in fore wing: present. Length of submarginal vein in fore wing: not surpassing basal 1/4 of fore wing. Spectral veins on fore wing: absent. Marginal setae of fore wing: absent. Disc of fore wing: with spinulose microtrichia. Legs. Colour of fore tibia: light brown. Colour of fore tarsus: light brown with darker pretarsus. Colour of middle femora: light brown. Colour of middle tibiae: light brown. Colour of middle tarsus: light brown with darker pretarsus. Colour of hind femora: light brown. Colour of hind tibiae: light brown. Colour of hind tarsus: yellow with darker pretarsus.

Metasoma (Figs 181 , 182 ): Tergites posterior of T2 may be retracted under T2. Shape of T1: trapezoidal. Colour of T1: dark brown. Lateral setae of T1: 2 pairs. Colour of T2: black. Shape of T2: longer than wide. Anterior pits of T2: distinctly separated. Sculpture of T2, lateral to anterior pits of T2: absent. Colour of T3-T6: the same as T2.

Male. unknown.

Etymology.

This species is named for its similarity to F. pronotata .

Material examined.

1♀. Romania: Holotype 1♀, Iași, Valea lui David , 47.1939°N, 27.4697°E, 30.v.2018, leg. Popovici O. (SS) (OPPC0001).

Distribution.

Romania (Fig. 316 ).

Biology.

unknown.

Diagnosis.

There are three brachypterous species of Fidiobia with notauli and areolate-rugulose sculpture on the frons: F. pronotanoides , F. pronotata , and F. rugosifrons . Between these species, brachyptery is always observed in F. pronotata and F. pronotatoides , but it is a rarity for F. rugosifrons .

Fidiobia pronotatoides is very close to F. pronotata , differing by the pronotum of typical length, the narrow mesoscutal humeral and suprahumeral sulci, the well developed epomial carina (longer than half the length of the pronotum measured along midline), fore wings apically rounded (acuminate in F. pronotata ), legs light brown with brown coxae (legs entirely yellow in F. pronotata ) and a glabrous median prominence of T1 (setose in F. pronotata ). Fidiobia pronotatoides can be separated from F. rugosifrons by the length of the fore wing (not reaching the middle of T2), the internotaular sculpture (smooth in posterior half), and the lateral pronotal area (smooth in ventral half).

Figures

Figures 181 - 186. Fidiobia pronotatoides: 181 habitus, dorsal view (Holotype) 182 habitus, lateral view 183 head, dorsal view 184 head, frontal view 185 head and antenna 186 antenna (♀).

Figures 316 - 318. Geographical distribution of: 316 F. pronotatoides 317 F. roatai 318 F. rugosifrons (Blue area-data from Buhl 1999 a, 2000, 2004 Kozlov 1978 Popovici and Buhl 2010. Red area-our data).