New species and new records of Platygastrinae and Sceliotrachelinae from Togo (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae)
Author
Buhl, Peter Neerup
text
African Invertebrates
2014
2014-03-30
55
1
68
68
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.5733/afin.055.0106
journal article
10.5733/afin.055.0106
2305-2562
7649696
Synopeas watsoni
sp. n.
Figs 85–88
Etymology: Named in honour of the eminent South African biologist Lyall Watson (1939–2008).
Diagnosis:A small species, with head uniformly isodiametrically reticulate-coriaceous; female A4–A5 of equal length; A9 fully 1.5× as wide as long; notauli absent; scutellum in lateral view slightly below level of mesoscutum and only slightly pointed behind; fore wing 2.5–2.7× as long as wide; female metasoma shorter than mesosoma, 1.5× as long as wide and 1.4× as wide as high.
Description:
Female.
Body length
0.7–0.8 mm
. Black, A1–A6 and legs light brownish, coxae, last segment of tarsi and sometimes apical 0.4 of hind tibiae slightly darker; A7–A10, mandibles and tegulae dark brown. Head from above (
Fig. 85
) 1.8–1.9× as wide as long, 1.15× as wide as mesosoma, dull, distinctly and uniformly reticulate-coriaceous (not transversely so); hyperoccipital carina distinct and complete. OOL equal to diameter of lateral ocellus; LOL= 3 OOL. Head in frontal view 1.15× as wide as high. Antenna (
Fig. 86
) with A1 0.75× as long as height of head, 1.0–1.1× as long as distance between inner orbits; A9 about 1.55× as wide as long. Mesosoma 1.5× as long as wide, 1.15× as high as wide. Sides of pronotum reticulate-coriaceous, smooth in lower half and along wide hind margin. Mesoscutum evenly and moderately densely setose, finely and uniformly reticulatecoriaceous, without notauli; hind margin medially slightly pointed to base of scutellum, at each side with 5–6 long setae over scuto-scutellar grooves. Mesopleuron smooth. Scutellum (
Fig. 87
) sculptured much as mesoscutum but more densely setose, slightly pointed behind but without a distinct tooth, dark brown here as are propodeal carinae, these being high and fused. Metapleuron with whitish pilosity all over (sparse in anterior 0.4). Fore wing clear, 2.5–2.7× as long as wide, 0.9× as long as entire body, surpassing tip of metasoma by a distance equal to length of T2, with fine and dense microtrichia; marginal cilia absent. Hind wing 6.8× as long as wide; marginal cilia slightly less than half the width of wing. Metasoma (
Fig. 88
) hardly 0.9× as long as mesosoma, and 0.9× as wide, 1.4× as wide as high. T2 with a weak, medial longitudinal depression between the two tufts of pubescence, otherwise smooth. T3–T6 with reticulate microsculpture and a few inconspicuous setae inserted in shallow punctures (eight on each of T5–T6, fewer on T3–T4).
Male
.
Body length
0.65 mm
.Antenna with A4 inconspicuously widened towards apex; A7–A10 forming a clava, A8–A9 each about 1.2× as wide as long; flagellar pubescence only slightly more conspicuous than in female. Metasoma 0.8–0.9× as long as mesosoma.
Comparison: This species does not fit well into Buhl’s (2011
b
) key. It is most similar to
S. fibigeri
Buhl, 2011
, but
S. fibigeri
has meshes on occiput slightly transverse and more distinct than on rest of head, which in frontal view is 1.25× as wide as high. Moreover,
S. fibigeri
has slightly longer OOL and slightly more elongate flagellar segments than
S. watsoni
, more extensive sculptured sides of pronotum, notauli evident posteriorly, scutellum at level of mesoscutum and having a stronger tooth, propodeal carinae slightly separated, fore wing only 2.35× as long as wide, longer than body, pubescence at base of metasoma hardly 0.25× as long as T1–T2 combined (in
S. watsoni
fully one-third of the length of T1–T2 combined), and it is lighter in colour than
S. watsoni
. Cf. also Buhl (2011
a
).
Figs 85–88.
Synopeas watsoni
sp. n.
, female: (85) head in dorsal view; (86) antenna; (87) scutellum and propodeal carinae in lateral view; (88) metasoma in dorsal view.
Holotype
:
♀
TOGO
:
Région des Plateaux
, main road
between Agbanon and Agoté
, at creek
Tomezuitoe
(
07°15'53"N
00°47'51"E
),
15.iv.
2008
, 360 m, creek bank at teak forest (
Tectona grandis
), shady cocoa plantation, swept,
M. von Tschirnhaus.
Paratypes
:
1♀
2♂
Région des Plateaux
,
Plateau
de Danyi
, near
Atigba
(
07°09'52"N
00°41'33"E
),
14.iv.
2008
, 775 m, remains of secondary rainforest, underwood, forest plantation, road side with much
Sida acuta
Burm. F.
, swept,
M. von Tschirnhaus
.