Glyptapanteles aspersus Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin, 2022

Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P., McCLELLAND, Alana R., Bird, Andrew J., Giannotta, Madalene M., Bradford, Tessa M. & Austin, Andrew D., 2022, Systematic revision of the parasitoid wasp genus Glyptapanteles Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) for Australia results in a ten-fold increase in species, European Journal of Taxonomy 792 (1), pp. 1-116 : 29-31

Glyptapanteles aspersus Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov.

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Fig. 20

Diagnosis

Glyptapanteles aspersus sp. nov. is in the G. albigena species group and can be separated from most members of the species group by the pale spot on the gena being small but clearly visible, T2 dark, the media carina completely absent and the hind femur light brown to pale.

With the limited specimens available, there was not a morphological character found that easily differentiates G. aspersus sp. nov. from G. kittelae sp. nov. or G. austrinus sp. nov. The COI divergence between G. aspersus sp. nov. and G. austrinus sp. nov. is> 7%, whilst the divergence between G. aspersus sp. nov. and G. kittelae sp. nov. is also> 7%, which are considered large divergences at the species level for this group of wasps. The wingless sequences of G. aspersus sp. nov. and G. kittelae sp. nov. are very distinct, differing by 7 bp; however, there are no wingless sequences available for G. austrinus sp. nov.

Etymology

The species epithet ‘ aspersus ’ is an adjective, from the Latin for ‘scattered’ or ‘sprinkled’ and refers to the widely dispersed distribution of this species.

Material examined

Holotype AUSTRALIA • ♀; Western Australia, Watheroo National Park, Jingemia Caves ; -30.2542, 115.999; 273 m a.s.l.; 17 Sep.–7 Nov. 2003; C. Lambkin, N. Starick and J. Recsei leg.; Malaise closed heath; Extraction684, BOLD: AUMIC450-18; WAM E109885 (previously ANIC 32 130212).

Paratypes AUSTRALIA – South Australia • 1 ♀; Belair National Park Gate 9; -35.009, 138.654; 25. Nov–1 Dec. 2007; J.T. Jennings leg.; Malaise trap; Extraction59, BOLD: AUMIC374-18; WAM E109886 • 1 ♀; Bibaringa, Wistow ; -35.112, 138.887; Jan.–Feb. 2008; A. Austin leg.; Malaise trap; Extraction73, BOLD: AUMIC482-18; SAMA 32-45045 . – Victoria • 1 ♂; Mt Macedon ; -37.40348, 144.57237; 529 m a.s.l.; 14 Dec. 2019; J.B. Dorey leg.; general sweep of grass and flowering weeds in open area in schlerophyll, many gums flowering, not overly visited, sunny and overcast ~18ºC; Extraction1153, BOLD: AUGLY064-21; SAMA 32-45046 .

Description

Female

COLOURATION. Gena with a pale spot; labrum pale or reddish-brown; scape colour in ventral half the same colour or darker than flagellomeres; flagellomeres all black/dark brown; tegula pale; wing veins uniformly black or brown, or with small lighter area proximally or uniformly reddish-brown; anteromesoscutum all dark; scutellar disk and metanotum dark; propodeum dark; fore coxa pale yellow; mid coxa pale yellow; hind coxa dark; fore femur pale yellow or orange to light brown; mid femur pale yellow or orange to light brown; hind femur orange to light brown or dark; fore tibia pale yellow or orange to light brown; mid tibia pale yellow, light brown or orange to light brown; hind tibia darkening posteriorly; hind basitarsus light brown or dark; T1 dark; T2 sclerotised area dark or dark reddish-brown, dark area extending past indentation to non-sclerotised area, but T2 lateral area then pale; T3 dark or mostly dark with paler lateral areas; T4+ dark or reddish-brown.

HOLOTYPE BODY MEASUREMENTS. Body length 2.2 mm; fore wing length 2.2 mm; antennal length slightly shorter than body length.

HEAD. Antennal flagellomere 14 length/width 2.00–2.20; antennal flagellomere 2 length/width 3.00– 4.66; OOD/POD 1.71–2.00; IOD/POD 2.00.

MESOSOMA. Anteromesoscutum sculpturing with shallow punctures, space between punctures generally smaller than diameter of punctures; scutellar disk sculpturing with very shallow punctures scattered over most of area; 7–9 pits in scutellar sulcus; propodeum with median carina absent, very smooth and shiny, with either only very shallow punctures associated with setae or punctures over most of area and some shallow rugosity in posterior corners.

WINGS. Pterostigma length 0.54 mm; pterostigma width 0.22 mm; r 0.14 mm; 2RS 0.07 mm; 2m 0.08 mm; (RS+M)b 0.1 mm.

METASOMA. T1 wedge-shaped, narrowing posteriorly for entirety of length, lateral edges straight (but not parallel); T1 smooth and shiny, some shallow scattered punctures on lateral edges; T1 length 0.38 mm; T1 width at posterior edge 0.08 mm; T2 an isosceles trapezoid, lateral edges straight; T2 smooth and shiny; T2 length 0.13 mm; T2 width at posterior edge 0.27 mm; ovipositor slightly protruding from end of metasoma.

Male

As female, but antenna slightly longer, six pits in scutellar sulcus.

Remarks

Glyptapanteles aspersus sp. nov. constitutes BIN: BOLD:ADL3094 and is 5.71% (p-dist.) divergent from the closet BIN in the database (BOLD:ACL9711; Glyptapanteles sp. from New Zealand).

Using the BOLD Batch ID engine, the COI barcode of the holotype is 6.6% different from the most similar COI sequence from an Australian specimen (AUMIC021-18; Glyptapanteles harveyi sp. nov.). The holotype was able to be sequenced for the wingless gene, which differs by a minimum of 7 bp from all other species with available sequence data.

Distribution

This species has a wide distribution, from VIC through to SA across to western WA.

Figures

Fig. 20. Glyptapanteles aspersus Fagan-Jeffries, Bird & Austin sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (WAM 32 130212). A. Lateral habitus. B. Dorsal habitus. C. Fore wing. D. Anterior head. E. Dorsal head. F. Lateral head.