Kiwigaster gen. nov. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from New Zealand: the first Microgastrinae with sexual dimorphism in number of antennal segments
Author
Fernandez-Triana, J. L.
Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N 1 G 2 W 1, Canada. E-mail: jftriana @ uoguelph. ca
Author
Ward, D. F.
New Zealand Arthropod Collection, Landcare Research, Private Bag 92170, Auckland, New Zealand.
Author
Whitfield, J. B.
Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 61801 USA. E-mail: jwhitfie @ life. illinois. edu
text
Zootaxa
2011
2011-06-28
2932
1
24
32
https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.2932.1.2
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.2932.1.2
1175-5326
5284438
Kiwigaster
Fernández-Triana, Whitfield and Ward
,
gen. nov.
(
Figures 1–9
).
Type
species
.
Kiwigaster variabilis
sp. nov
, by present designation.
Diagnosis.
Sexual dimorphism in the number of antennal flagellomeres (
17 in
females and
18 in
males). Anterior tentorial pits enlarged. Lateral face of the scutellum almost completely smooth and polished, with only very small striations on the dorsal edge. Mesoscutum mostly smooth, with notauli well defined as deep, thin sulci that run from the anterior edge of the mesoscutum to the scuto-scutellar sulcus. Fore wing with a large areolet that is more than half as large as the stigma. Metatibial spines extremely short, 0.2X or less as long as the first metatarsus segment.
Description.
Head. Anterior tentorial pits enlarged; clypeus semicircular in shape and half as high as wide; antenna with 17 flagellomeres in females,
18 in
males. Mesosoma. Pronotum laterally with only the lower furrow; mesoscutum with notauli well defined as deep sulci throughout most of the mesoscutum length, meeting posteriorly; notaular sulci with bridging costulae along its entire length; scutellar lateral face with polished area occupying most of the face height, with striated area barely visible. Fore wing with areolet large, quadrangular, its height subequal to that of stigma and its width half the stigma length. Legs. Metacoxae small, less than 3X as large as mesocoxae and shorter than first metasomal tergite; metatibial spurs very small, 0.2X or less the length of metatarsomere 1. Metasoma. Mediotergite 1 parallel-sided and elongate; mediotergite 2 transverse, subtriangular in shape; hypopygium mostly sclerotized and inflexible, but folded in the ventral 1/3 along the middle line, setting off a more translucent and flexible area; ovipositor sheaths fully setose and about the same length as metatibia.
Distribution.
Only known from
New Zealand
, where it is widely distributed (
Fig. 10
).
Biology.
Unknown.
Putatives autapomorphies.
Sexual dimorphism in number of flagellomeres and enlarged tentorial pits.
Comments.
The most commonly used key to genera of
Microgastrinae
in
New Zealand
is that of Austin and Dangerfield (1992).
Kiwigaster
can be distinguished based on the number of antennal flagellomeres (
17 in
females and
18 in
males). The rest of
Microgastrinae
have a fixed number of 16 flagellomeres.
Etymology.
The name refers to the geographical distribution of the genus, which is only known from
New Zealand
. The gender of the genus name is masculine.