Apanteles breviflagellarius Slater-Baker, Fagan-Jeffries, Fernandez-Triana, Portmann & Oestmann 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Slater-Baker, Mollie-Rosae
name: Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P.
name: Oestmann, Katherine J.
name: Portmann, Olivia G.
name: Bament, Tiahni M.
name: Howe, Andy G.
name: Guzik, Michelle T.
name: Bradford, Tessa M.
name: McClelland, Alana R.
name: Woodward, Alice
name: Clarke, Sylvia
name: Ducker, Nathan
name: Fernández-Triana, José
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Apanteles
Apanteles breviflagellarius

description: Apanteles breviflagellarius Slater-Baker, Fagan-Jeffries, Fernández-Triana, Portmann & Oestmann sp. nov.
Fig. 4 C (distribution), Fig. 26 (holotype)
Type material.
Holotype. Australia • ♀; QLD, Samsonvale Cemetery, 8.5 km SSE Dayboro; - 27.2703, 152.856; 50 m; 8 Feb. – 28 Mar. 2015; S. Wright leg.; Malaise trap; Casuarina / open forest; BOLD Process ID: AUMIC 081-18; QM: T 208355.
Diagnostic description.
Size: Total body length: 2.1 mm; fore wing length: 2.0 mm. Head: anterior scape colour similar or only very slightly paler than head colour; F 2 L / W ratio: 1.7; F 14 L / W ratio: 0.9. Mesosoma: scutoscutellar sulcus with 11 pits; mesoscutellar disc mostly smooth, or with very shallow scattered indentations; propodeal areola complete, or mostly so; propodeum mostly smooth posteriorly, mostly rugose anteriorly; coxae colour (pro, meso, meta): dark all; metafemur colour mostly dark. Wings: centre of pterostigma pigmented to same degree as the outer edges; fore wing r vein length / 2 RS vein length ratio: 1.0. Metasoma: T 1 shape mostly parallel, then narrowing in distal 1 / 3, T 1 medial length / anterior width between 1–2 × longer than wide; T 1 mostly smooth; T 2 mostly smooth; ovipositor sheath length / metatibia length ratio: 0.4.
Apanteles breviflagellarius is a slightly unusual species of Apanteles and quite distinct; it can be separated from other species of Apanteles in Australia by the dark metacoxa and metafemur, the short ovipositor sheaths and hypopygium with a ventral membranous area, the antennae shorter than the body length, pterostigma uniformly pigmented and T 1 strongly narrowing posteriorly.
Etymology.
The species epithet is a Latin adjective formed from brevi meaning short, and flagellum, relating to the short antennae of this species.
Distribution.
Apanteles breviflagellarius is currently only known from one specimen collected in southern QLD.
Molecular information.
Apanteles breviflagellarius contains sequences currently in BIN BOLD: ADI 5121. The COI sequences are at least 7 % divergent from any of the other species treated here, or any available sequence on BOLD. The wg sequence of the holotype is ≥ 12 bp different to any other species. All delimitation methods separated Apanteles breviflagellarius as a distinct species.
description: Published as part of Slater-Baker, Mollie-Rosae, Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P., Oestmann, Katherine J., Portmann, Olivia G., Bament, Tiahni M., Howe, Andy G., Guzik, Michelle T., Bradford, Tessa M., McClelland, Alana R., Woodward, Alice, Clarke, Sylvia, Ducker, Nathan & Fernández-Triana, José, 2025, DNA barcoding, integrative taxonomy, citizen science, and Bush Blitz surveys combine to reveal 34 new species of Apanteles (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) in Australia, pp. 1-128 in ZooKeys 1227 on pages 1-128, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1227.130467