New species of Australian microgastrine parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) documented through the ‘ Bush Blitz’ surveys of national reserves
Author
Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P.
Author
Cooper, Steven J. B.
Author
Austin, Andrew D.
text
Zootaxa
2019
2019-02-26
4560
3
401
440
journal article
27415
10.11646/zootaxa.4560.3.1
08d6b159-99f8-4a24-b8c0-c7f5f6a33b54
1175-5326
2627733
CAFAD1A2-9A50-4B24-A8A9-4C4F0D9FFCE1
Choeras parvoculus
Fagan-Jeffries & Austin
sp. nov.
(
Fig. 4
)
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:
3BCE8A24-220C-44A9-BC81-26E5017C4674
Material examined (including Genbank numbers of DNA barcodes).
Holotype
:
Tasmania
:
♀
Southwest National Park
Bush Blitz
, SSS2, -43.1413° 146.76241°,
03–09/ii/2016
,
K. Moore
,
Malaise trap
(TMAG:
F59020
; Genbank
COI
:
MH138608
WG
:
MH139103
).
Paratype
:
Tasmania
:
♀
Southwest National Park
Bush Blitz
, SSS2, -43.1413° 146.76241°,
03–09/ii/2016
,
K. Moore
,
Malaise trap
(
TMAG
:
F59026
; Genbank
COI
:
MH
138611
WG
:
MH
139105
)
.
Diagnosis.
Differs from
C. bushblitz
,
C.
tegularis
,
C. ceto
,
C. epaphus
,
C. koalascatocola
,
C. helespas
and
C. morialta
by the presence of a small areolet in the fore wing; previously mentioned species all have a large fore wing areolet. Differs from
C. dissors
by having less slender antennae, the fore wing vein r curved rather than sharply angled, and the mesoscutellar disc not densely covered with setae. Differs from
C. calacte
by having smaller eyes (ocular–ocellar line/posterior ocellus diameter 2.7–3.0 compared to 2.0–
2.2 in
C. calacte
) and shorter flagellomeres (
C. calacte
has flagellomere 14 1.3 x as long as wide, whilst in
C. parvoculus
flagellomere 14 is as long as wide. Differs from
C. zygon
by smaller eyes and an almost parallel-sided T1 compared to T1 of
C. zygon
, which narrows posteriorly.
Description.
FEMALE.
Colour
: all dark other than pale non-sclerotised area of T1–2, antenna dark; coxae (pro-, meso-, metacoxa) dark, dark, dark; femora (pro-, meso-, metafemur) dark lightening at distal end, dark lightening at distal end, dark; (pro-, meso-, metatibia) dark, dark with white band at proximal end, proximal third white distal two thirds dark; tegula and humeral complex light brown; pterostigma dark; fore wing veins dark, paler at proximal end of wings.
Head
: antenna approximately equal to body length; body length (head to apex of metasoma) 1.9–2.0 mm; ocular–ocellar line/posterior ocellus diameter 2.7–3.0; interocellar distance/posterior ocellus diameter 2.0–2.5.
Mesosoma
: anteromesoscutum smooth other than small punctures associated with setae; mesoscutellar disc completely smooth and shining; number of pits in scutoscutellar sulcus 10–12; maximum height of mesoscutellum lunules/maximum height of lateral face of mesoscutellum 0.3–0.4.
Wings
: fore wing length 2.0–
2.1 mm
; fore wing areolet small, enclosed; length of veins r/2RS 1.8–2; length of veins 2RS/2M 0.6–0.7; length of veins 2M/(RS+M)b 1.3–1.4; pterostigma length/width 2.2–2.4.
Legs
: metatibia inner spur length/metabasitarsus length 0.9–1.0.
Propodeum:
multiple short carinae diverging from posterior centre, medial longitudinal carina in posterior half, rugose appearance in the posterior centre margin, otherwise smooth and shining.
Metasoma
: T1 length/width at posterior margin 1.4–1.8; T1 shape broad, rectangular, almost parallel-sided; T1 sculpture smooth in anterior half, posterior half with shallow striations; T2 width at posterior margin/length 4.1–4.4; T2 sculpture smooth and shiny with a few scattered punctures; T3 sculpture smooth and shiny; hypopygium large with membranous area ventrally; ovipositor sheaths length/metatibial length 0.9–1.1.
MALE. Unknown.
Etymology.
The species epithet
parvoculus
combines the Latin ‘parvus’ meaning little, and ‘oculus’ meaning eyes, referring to the smaller eyes of this species compared to the morphologically similar
Choeras calacte
. It is a noun in apposition.
Distribution.
This species has currently only been collected from Southwest National Park,
Tasmania
.
Remarks.
In this species we also tentatively place the following specimens, which have been sequenced for the
COI
barcoding region by the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, and are stored in the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, and are publically available on BOLD in the BIN BOLD:ADD0336. These specimens are all collected from
Tasmania
, and whilst they were not available to be compared to the
type
series, the
COI
sequences fall within the 2% divergence threshold that generally discriminates species in the Microgastrinae. BOLD numbers: GMATR1295-16, GMATT3228-16, GMATT3510-16, GMATT3519-16, GMATT3806-16, GMATV2548-16, GMATS
2612-16
, GMATV2575-16, GMATU3015-16. The nearest neighbour to this group with available sequence information are specimens from Canberra,
Australia
, at 2.1%
COI
divergence, which based on images available on BOLD, appear to be a distinct species with a larger fore wing areolet and T1 narrowing more strongly posteriorly. The
WG
sequences for the
type
specimens of
C. parvoculus
are identical. No information about the host is known. The BOLD BIN for
C. parvoculus
is BOLD:ADD0336.