Scelio simonolus Yoder

Yoder, Matthew J., Valerio, Alejandro A., Polaszek, Andrew, Noort, Simon van, Masner, Lubomir & Johnson, Norman F., 2014, Monograph of the Afrotropical species of Scelio Latreille (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae), egg parasitoids of acridid grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Acrididae), ZooKeys 380, pp. 1-188 : 140

Scelio simonolus Yoder sp. n. Figures 317-322; Morphbank 68

Description.

Female body length: 3.06-3.08 mm (n=2). Body color in female: light brown to brown. Setae between ommatidia in female: absent. Surface of pronotal nucha in female: smooth (with only setigerous punctures) to slightly rugulose. Surface of mesopleural depression in female: almost completely smooth. Carinate division of posterior T6 in female: absent.

Diagnosis.

Scelio simonolus differs from both Scelio vannoorti and Scelio simoni by the nearly completely smooth mesopleural depression (Fig. 320) and the absence of a carina dividing T6 (Fig. 322, compare with Fig. 328).

Etymology.

The epithet is used as an adjective derived from the name of the sole collector of all known material, Simon van Noort, and referring to the diminutive size of this species.

Link to distribution map.

http://hol.osu.edu/map-large.html?id=244594

Material examined.

Holotype, female: SOUTH AFRICA: Western Cape Prov., Constantiaberg, Table Mountain N.P., site 3, Cape Town, 460m, no date, OSUC 250715 (deposited in SAMC). Paratype: SOUTH AFRICA: 1 female, OSUC 250745 (SAMC).

Comments.

Scelio simonolus is the least robustly sculptured of the three species in this group. The sculpture of the pronotal nucha is somewhat obliterated as compared to the transverse striae in the other two species.