Chirotica pothina
Creators: name: Lima, Adriane G. M.
name: Fernandes, Daniell R. R.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Ichneumonidae
Chirotica
Chirotica pothina

description: Chirotica pothina (Marshall, 1892)
(Figures 11A; 12A; 13A; 14A; 29)
Hemiteles pothinus Marshall, 1892: 64. Venezuela. Type female (lost according to Townes (1966)).
Diaglypta radiata Ashmead, 1895: 780. Lectotype female, designated by Townes (1966). England (NHM, not examined) [Natural History Museum, London, England]
Chirotica pothina (Marshall, 1892); Townes, 1966: 59.
Material examined. 2 females. Brazil. SP [São Paulo], Luiz Antonio, / estação Ecológica de Jataí, / 21°36’45.5”S / 47°49’06.7”W / Mata ciliar— Light trap 2. / 26.iii.2008. RIR Lara (1 female, LRRP); same except 28.i.2009 (1 female, LRRP).
Diagnosis. Chirotica pothina can be distinguished from all other Neotropical Chirotica species by the combination of the following characters: (1) antenna with a reddish-brown median band and blackened apex (Fig 29A); (2) pronotal collar black (Fig 29A); (3) region between posterior ocelli with weak rugae and punctuation (Fig 29B); (4) tergites 2 and 3 with medial punctuation and lateral rugae (Fig 29E).
Additional description. Female. Body length (head to T8) 6.36 mm to 7.85 mm.
Head. Antenna length 4.05 mm to 4.59 mm; 25 to 27 flagellomeres. Frons convex, polished, rugose-punctuate with dense fine setae; median longitudinal sulcus absent. Face convex, polished, with dense punctuation and dense long setae; median tubercle prominent. Clypeus polished with sparse punctuation with dense long setae. Mandibular teeth with coarse punctuation and long setae. Median longitudinal sulcus between posterior ocelli absent; weak rugae and punctuation between posterior ocelli. Frons width 0.64 mm to 0.72 mm. Face width 0.70 mm to 0.85 mm. Eye height 0.76 mm to 0.94 mm. Basal mandible width 0.06 mm to 0.09 mm. Malar space 0.26 mm to 0.27 mm. Ocellus diameter 0.09 mm to 0.11 mm. Shortest distance between anterior and posterior ocelli 0.08 mm to 0.10 mm. Shortest distance between posterior ocellus and compound eye 0.14 mm to 0.18 mm. Shortest distance between posterior ocelli 0.19 mm to 0.21 mm.
Mesosoma. Pronotum polished, with dense punctuation and dense fine setae. Epomia complete. Epicnemium polished, with dense punctuation and long setae. Mesoscutum polished, weak granulate and with posterocentral striae, setae sparse (Fig. 29D). Scuto-scutellar groove polished and smooth or with weak striae. Scutellum polished, with punctuation, lateral rugae and sparse setae. Propodeum with areas petiolaris, externa, postero-externa and lateralis with rugae; other areas have punctuation. Mesopleuron with dense punctuation and long setae. Metapleuron with dense long setae; area below juxtacoxal carina rugose-punctuate. Legs polished with fine punctuation and dense setae; fore legs with one tibial spur, mid and hind legs with two asymmetrical tibial spurs; tibiae and tarsus with denticles; tarsal claws simple. Fore wing length 4.57 mm to 5.34 mm. Hind wing length 3.28 mm to 3.47 mm.
Metasoma. Tergite 1 with apical sparse punctuation and apicolateral rugae, sparse setae. Tergites 2 and 3 with medial punctuation and lateral rugae, sparse setae (Fig. 29E). Tergite 4 onwards polished, with sparse punctuation and sparse long setae. Ovipositor with upper valve with small dorsolateral teeth, lower valve slender with clustered apical proximal teeth (Fig. 29F). Tergite 1 length 0.87 mm to 1.45 mm. Basal width of tergite 1 0.17 mm to 0.33 mm. Apical width of tergite 1 0.72 mm to 0.93 mm. Tergite 2 length 0.70 mm to 0.74 mm. Basal width of tergite 2 0.81 mm to 1.19 mm. Apical width of tergite 2 0.98 mm to 1.31 mm. Tergite 3 length 0.57 mm to 0.60 mm. Basal width of tergite 3 0.91 mm to 1.35 mm. Apical width of tergite 3 0.98 mm to 1.30 mm. Ovipositor length 2.62 mm to 2.84 mm.
Coloration. Flagellomeres I to V black and flagellomeres VI to X or VI to IX reddish-brown and the apex blackened. Abdomen reddish-brown. Hind tibia and hind tarsus brown or reddish-brown.
Distribution. Brazil (São Paulo **), Grenada (Ashmead 1895; Townes 1983; Yu et al. 2016), St. Vincent (Ashmead 1900b; Yu et al. 2016), Trinidad & Tobago (Townes 1983; Yu et al. 2016), Venezuela (Marshall 1982; Townes 1983; Yu et al. 2016) (Fig. 29G).
Host. Pupae of Psychidae (Lepidoptera) on Chromolaena odorata (L.) R. King & H. Rob. (Asterales: Asteraceae) (Townes 1983).
Discussion. Chirotica pothina is morphologically similar to C. nigra sp. nov. having mesopleuron with dense punctuation and long setae; tergite 1 with sparse punctuation and without lateromedian carinae; and epicnemium with dense punctuation and long setae. However, C. pothina differs from C. nigra sp. nov. in the following characters: mesoscutum granulated, with punctuation and rugae on posterocentral part (Fig. 29D) (versus C. nigra sp. nov. which has mesoscutum weak rugose-punctuate and with posterolateral matted areas (Fig. 26D)); area below the juxtacoxal carina rugose-punctuate, tergites 2 and 3 with central punctuations and lateral rugae (versus C. nigra sp. nov. which has area below the juxtacoxal carina with fine punctuation and tergites 2 and 3 with sparse fine punctuation); area of stemmaticum with weak rugae and punctuation between posterior ocelli (Fig. 29B) (versus C. nigra sp. nov. which has area of stemmaticum with median longitudinal sulcus between posterior ocelli and not extending to vertex (Fig. 26B)).
description: Published as part of Lima, Adriane G. M. & Fernandes, Daniell R. R., 2024, Synopsis of the Darwin wasp Chirotica Förster, 1869 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Phygadeuontinae) in Brazil, pp. 101-139 in Zootaxa 5418 (2) on pages 133-135, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5418.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10720786