Phanerotoma ocularis Kohl, 1906

Achterberg, Cornelis van, 2021, The tribe Phanerotomini (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Cheloninae) of the Arabian Peninsula, with special reference to the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, ZooKeys 1014, pp. 1-118 : 1

publication ID	https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1014.60426
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/43B368FE-FDE3-5C6B-9702-C4B8957C3599
treatment provided by	ZooKeys by Pensoft
scientific name	Phanerotoma ocularis Kohl, 1906
status

Treatment

Phanerotoma ocularis Kohl, 1906 View in CoL Figs 276-279 View Figures 276–279 , 280-290 View Figures 280–290 , 318 View Figures 317–320 , 320 View Figures 317–320

Phanerotoma ocularis Kohl, 1906: 124-125; Shenefelt 1973: 920-921.

Phanerotoma hispanica var. desertorum Hedwig, 1957: 112; van Achterberg 1990: 50 (synonymised with P. ocularis Kohl).

Type material.

Lectotype of P. ocularis , ♀ (NMW): "[Yemen,] Sokotra, 2.99, leg. O. Simony", " Ph. ocularis Kohl, Type, J, det. Kohl". Lectotype of P. desertorum , ♀ (Staatliches Museum Stuttgart): "Iran, Belutschistan, Iranshar, 800 m, 110.III.1954, Richter u. Schäuffele”. " Phanerotoma hispanica Kok. v. Phanerotoma desertorum Hedwig, Holotyp.", “Holotypus”, “Typus”.

Additional material.

From United Arab Emirates (Fujairah; NARC near Sweihan; al-Ajban; Sharjah Desert Park; Wadi Bih dam) and Yemen (Al Kadan; Al Kowd; Ta’izz; Hamman’Ali; Mayfa’ah).

Diagnosis.

Area above eye of ♀ in lateral view ca. 0.3 × height of eye (Fig. 288 View Figures 280–290 ); ocelli large (Fig. 286 View Figures 280–290 ) and OOL 1.6-2.6 × diameter of posterior ocellus; POL 0.4-0.6 × posterior ocellus; scutellum densely rugulose; posterior ocelli somewhat larger than anterior ocellus (Fig. 286 View Figures 280–290 ); length of eye in dorsal view 1.5-2.3 × length of temple (Fig. 286 View Figures 280–290 ); penultimate antennal segments of ♀ usually somewhat longer than wide and gradually shortened (Figs 289 View Figures 280–290 , 290 View Figures 280–290 ); vertex variable, irregularly or regularly and finely rugulose or rugulae largely absent; scapus variable, may just surpassing level of posterior ocelli; second tergite laterally brownish, often distinctly darker than ivory middle of tergite; medio-ventral tooth of clypeus absent or obsolescent (Fig. 287 View Figures 280–290 ); vein 1-R1 4-5 × distance from vein 1-R1 to wing apex (Fig. 280 View Figures 280–290 ; 5 View Figures 2–12 × in lectotype of P. ocularis ); blister of middle tibia distinct; third tergite laterally distinctly convex and apically subtruncate (Fig. 282 View Figures 280–290 ), only lamella somewhat emarginate; blister of middle tibia ivory; anteriorly vein 2-SR partly subparallel to posterior margin of pterostigma; median length of third tergite ca. 1.5 × posterior width of lamella of tergite; propodeum medio-posteriorly yellowish brown; side of scutellum partly or completely yellowish brown (= P. ornatulopsis de Saeger, 1948, sensu Hedqvist, 1965 p.p.).

Distribution.

Congo (head in dorsal view ca. twice wider than its median length), Cabo Verde (2.2-2.4 ×), Somalia, Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania, *United Arab Emirates, Yemen (mainland and Sokotra).

Notes.

Zettel (1992) re-instated P. flavitestacea Fischer, 1959, as valid species after it was synonymised by van Achterberg (1990) with P. ocularis Kohl. Manuela Vizek and Dominique Zimmermann (Naturhistorisch Museum Wien) kindly supplied additional information on the types of both taxa. Zettel (1992) did not give any argument for this action but after seeing many specimens from the Arabian Peninsula I agree that P. ocularis is very similar, but can be separated from P. flavitestacea . Both have the enlarged eyes and ocelli combined with the square tenth segment from the apex of the female antenna. The Southwest Palaearctic P. flavitestacea Fischer (described from Croatia and introduced in U.S.A. (California, Florida) has the lamella of third tergite narrow, third tergite wide apically and rather flattened, scutellum superficially coriaceous, POL 0.6-0.7 × width of posterior ocellus; scutellum often partly darkened, eye in lateral view 1.4-1.5 × maximum width of temple. The Oriental P. orientalis Szépligeti, 1902, is very similar to P. flavitestacea , but differs by having the lamella of third tergite wide, third tergite narrowed apically and distinctly convex and scutellum punctulate-coriaceous.

Phanerotoma ornatulopsis De Saeger, 1942 (type from Congo examined) is very close to P. ocularis Kohl, but P. ornatulopsis differs by the distinctly transversely rugose vertex behind the stemmaticum, the smaller ocelli, the coarsely rugose frons and the gradually flattened third tergite. Van Achterberg and Polaszek (1996) considered the differences between P. leucobasis (as P. ocularis ) and P. ornatulopsis listed by van Achterberg (1990) too variable to be useful in separation of both species and, therefore, P. ornatulopsis was synonymized, but now I refrain from including it as a synonym till more is clear about the value of the listed differences.