Aulacus deansi Jennings & Parslow & Austin 2018, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Jennings, John T.
name: Parslow, Ben A.
name: Austin, Andrew D.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Aulacidae
Aulacus
Aulacus deansi

description: Aulacus deansi Jennings & Austin, sp. nov.
Figs 16, 58.
Material examined. Holotype. ♀, " Mt. Dandenong, Vict [oria]. 200 m II, 11-22". (ANIC). Paratype. Victoria: 1♀, Mt. Dandenong, 300 m II, 13-29, no collector (AEI).
Description. FEMALE. Length. 6.2 (5.6–6.6) mm, excluding ovipositor.
Colour. Mesosoma black, head orange except for variable amounts of dark brown medially on frons and vertex, scape and pedicel orange, flagellomeres dark brown, propleuron orange, pronotum orange anteriorly, fore and middle legs orange, hind legs dark brown except femora and tibia lighter, metasoma orange except T1 and T2 dark brown, ovipositor sheaths dark brown, ovipositor orange; wings hyaline except for indistinct brown spot apically on the marginal and submarginal cells of fore wing (Fig. 16A).
Head. 1.42 (1.40–1.44)× wider than long when viewed dorsally (Fig. 16C); face rugose-reticulate, with scattered short setae; distinct sub-antennal groove; frons without lateral medial carina above toruli, rugosereticulate, with scattered short setae; vertex and gena reticulate with scattered shallow punctures, with scattered short setae (Fig. 16C); posterior margin of head slightly concave in dorsal view; occipital carina absent; malar space 0.13× height eye; clypeus 3.3× as wide as high, margin sinuate, with small medial process; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 0.7× distance between lateral ocelli; scape 1.40 (1.33–1.47)× length pedicel; first flagellomere 0.93 (0.91–0.95)× as long as scape, 0.85 (0.80–0.90)× as long as second flagellomere.
Mesosoma. Propleuron imbricate, pubescence long laterally, ventro-lateral carina weak; pronotum rugose; mesoscutum in lateral view rounded antero-dorsally (Fig. 16D), medial and lateral lobes coarsely rugose, with scattered short setae, admedial lines present; notauli distinct, carinate, narrow and deep; scutellum and axillae coarsely rugose, scutellum anteriorly with a single deep depression; metapostnotum scrobiculate, posterior margin almost straight; mesopleuron and metapleuron coarsely rugose, with long pubescence; mesepimeron broad, carinate; propodeum coarsely rugose, posterior margin smooth; hind coxae rugulose dorsally, with a few striations, pubescence long laterally, ovipositor guide somewhat distal, transverse (Fig. 16F), distal fringe of long setae, scattered long setae in groove; hind trochanter imbricate, with scattered short setae; prefemur on hind leg present; hind femur imbricate, with scattered short setae; hind tibia imbricate, pubescence short, with scattered stout emergent setae; hind femur 0.76 (0.74–0.78)× length hind tibia; hind tibia with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines; hind tarsomeres 1–4 with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines, tarsomere 1, 2.80 (2.67–2.92)× length tarsomere 2; tarsomere 2, 1.47 (1.44–1.50)× length tarsomere 3; tarsomere 3, 1.9 (1.8–2.0)× length tarsomere 4; tarsomere 4, 0.63× length tarsomere 5; hind tarsal claw 0.5× length tarsomere 5; fore wing veins 2r-m and 3r-m largely spectral; hind wing venation incomplete, M+Cu and Cu absent, r-m and apical 10% of 2-M spectral, weakly pigmented, with 3 hamuli on left, 4 hamuli on right wing.
Metasoma. Ovate, 1.32 (1.30–1.44)× length of mesosoma (Fig. 16B); T1 and T2 broad, glabrous; ovipositor 7.6 (7.5–7.7) mm.
MALE. Unknown.
Etymology. This species is named after Andy Deans, University of Illinois, an evaniid wasp expert.
Distribution. This species is known only from the type locality Mt. Dandenong, Victoria (Fig. 58).
Biology. Nothing is known of the biology of this species.
Comments. Aulacus deansi keys out with A. festivus. Both species have a transverse ovipositor guide on the hind coxae, but the guide is somewhat distal in A. deansi compared with medial in A. festivus. As well, A. deansi is a smaller species (length 6.2 (5.6–6.6) mm, excluding ovipositor) than A. festivus (length 12.5 mm, excluding ovipositor). There are also colouration differences (see key).
description: Published as part of Jennings, John T., Parslow, Ben A. & Austin, Andrew D., 2018, Systematics of the parasitoid wasp genus Aulacus Jurine (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Aulacidae) from Australia, pp. 1-113 in Zootaxa 4538 (1) on pages 34-35, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4538.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3771367