Diolcogaster mayae
Creators: name: Abu El-Ghiet, Usama M.
name: Edmardash, Yusuf A.
name: Gadallah, Neveen S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Diolcogaster
Diolcogaster mayae

description: Diolcogaster mayae (Shestakov, 1932)
Figs 6 A, B, 7 A–D, 8A–D
Microgaster mayae Shestakov, 1932: 260.
Description of female (Saudi Arabia; Farasan Islands, form D). Body length: 3.2mm; fore wing length: 3.0mm; length of antenna: 0.82mm.
Colour (Figs 6 A, B, 7 A, C, 8 A–D). Head black, with face (behind antennal bases) dark reddish brown, with a median yellow, longitudinal streak, extending a distance behind antennal bases to base of clypeus; clypeus and mandible yellow (except tip of mandible black); eyes in dorsal view lined with thin yellow; scapus and pedicle yellow, flagellum dark brown; mesosoma and metasoma (except whitish T1 and T2) yellowish; legs clear yellow; ovipositor sheath dark brown. Fore wing hyaline, with pterostigma clear yellow; veins r, areola, 1–M, 1–CU1, 2–CU1, cu-a are dark brown; while veins 1–SR+M, m–cu, 2–SR+M, M+CU1 are non-tubular.
Head (Figs 7A–C, 8A). Densely finely punctate; occiput smooth and shiny; head height 7.7× temple length; preapical flagellomeres longer than wide, slender (not moniliform), F2, F12, F13, F14, penultimate, and apical flagellomeres: 2.8, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2.5× as long as wide, respectively. Gena distinctly smaller than eye width, 0.3× as wide as eye width; malar space extremely short; maximum width of interocular line 9.2× as long as malar space; eye very large, distinctly bulged, densely setose, its height 1.6× its width, its height 8.1× temple length; eye height 13.9× malar space; OD 3.6× OOL, POL 5.0× OOL. Face medially, under antennal bases with distinct longitudinal carina, not reaching clypeal base.
Mesosoma (Figs 7D, 8A, C). Mesoscutum densely finely punctate, densely setose (except anteriorly); scutellum densely punctate as mesoscutum, punctures somewhat superficial, elevated medially, slightly darker medially, with inwardly directed whitish setae, 0.9× as long as basal width; propodeum smooth and shiny, with a median branched carina, shortly bifurcated apically, in the form of an inverted U; as well as a lateral, short, curved irregular carina, appearing as if forming closed areola postero-laterally; SOS with four short, unequal rugae posteriorly; mesopleuron with precoxal area smooth and shiny; metapleuron smooth and shiny anteriorly, rugose posteriorly. Legs (Figs 6A, B). Metacoxa extremely large, extending to anterior margin of metasomal T3, together with metafemur are densely finely punctate along outer surfaces; metafemur 3.4× as long as wide, 0.9× as long as metatibia; inner metatibial apical spur 0.6× as long as basitarsus. Wings (Fig 8B). Vein R1 of fore wing 1.3× as long as pterostigmal length; pterostigma 2.9× as long as its width; vein r 1.5× as long as vein 2RS; vein r–m 1.4 as long as 3RS. Hind wing with vein cu–a straight.
Metasoma (Figs 7D, 8D). Metasomal T1 with strong medio-longitudinal sulcus; medial length of T1 2.65× as long as anterior width, and 2.75× its posterior width; T2 transverse, with a median field, 1.8× as wide as its length; T3 distinctly longer than T2, smooth, without any trace of median field; rest of tergites smooth and setose; ovipositor sheath dark brown, with fine whitish setae, 0.13× as long as metatibia.
Material examined. 1♀, Jazan, Farasan Islands (Al-Sajid), 16.860626N 41.932564E, 25.I.2017 (light trap), leg. Usama Abu El-Ghiet & Tarek El-Sheikh.
Distribution. Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Israel-Palestine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Romania, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Yemen (Ghafouri Moghaddam et al. 2019).
Remarks. In the present study, the genus Diolcogaster is recorded for the first time for the fauna of Saudi Arabia. Characters of the Saudi Arabian specimen agree with those of D. mayae in the key of Ghafouri Moghaddam et al. (2019, alternative of couple 3, p. 100), as well as Table (3) (p. 106). The species is known by its high intraspecific variability (colour and measurements), in which three forms (A–C) were recorded in the Iranian fauna (see Ghafouri Moghaddam et al. 2019), as well as other hot countries including Yemen.
We designate this Saudi Arabian specimen of D. mayae as form D. It is closest to form B, but differs from form B in the following: head black, with face behind antennal bases ferruginous, with a yellow longitudinal streak extending a distance from antennal bases to clypeal base (Fig. 7A) (entirely black in form B of Iran, see Ghafouri Moghaddam et al. (2019), Fig. 11D, p. 113); mesosoma yellow, slightly darker on mesoscutum and middle of scutellum (Fig. 7D), while propodeum honey yellowish (Fig. 8C) (brownish on mesosoma and dark brown on propodeum of Iranian specimens, see Ghafouri Moghaddam et al. (2019), Figs 12A, B, p. 114); pterostigma clear honey yellow (Fig. 8B) (dark brown in the Iranian specimens, see Ghafouri Moghaddam et al. (2019), Fig. 12F, p. 114); metatibia clear yellow, somewhat whitish at basal third (Fig. 6B) (reddish yellow in the Iranian form); antenna shorter than body, 0.82× as long as body (Fig. 6A) (longer than body in the Iranian form); metasomal T3 without any trace of median field (Fig. 8D) (with weak median field in the Iranian form). These are in addition to morphometric differences provided in Table 1. On the other hand, giving the proximity of Farasan Islands (Jazan) with Yemen, and that form A of D. mayae is the only form collected from Yemen (Ghafouri Moghaddam, pers. comm.), a comparison of our specimen with form A (Ghafouri Moghaddam et al. 2019), shows that they are completely different by the predominance of black on the body; the pale spot on pterostigma of fore wing; and the bicoloured metatibia (see Figs 7–10, Ghafouri Moghaddam et al. 2019).
Extensive studies should be carried out on this species as a great deal of morphological variation is seen among samples studied from the Arabian Peninsula (Fernandez-Triana, pers. comm.), and is likely to be a species complex. Due to the scarcity of specimens, we considered our specimen to be another form of D. mayae. There are many differences in morphometric measurements (see Table 1) between our Saudi Arabian specimen and the forms in Ghafouri Moghaddam et al. (2019).
description: Published as part of Abu El-Ghiet, Usama M., Edmardash, Yusuf A. & Gadallah, Neveen S., 2022, New species and records of braconid wasps from Farasan Archipelago (Jazan) Saudi Arabia, with notes on Diolcogaster mayae Shestakov, pp. 49-79 in Zootaxa 5104 (1) on pages 59-60, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5104.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/6257841