Triraphis ikelosops Valerio, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Valerio, Alejandro A.
name: Shaw, Scott R.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Triraphis
Triraphis ikelosops

description: Triraphis ikelosops Valerio, sp. nov.
Figures 10, 53–58, 106.
Description. Female. Body color: yellow, with antenna basal 1/3 dark brown as scape and pedicel; head brownish yellow as tarsal claws, telotarsus; hind coxae honey yellow as fore and hind femur. Fore wing: 1 – 1A basal tip as M+CU distal tip black, remainder yellow; infumate area at pterostigma (as a band) and at vein 1 – CUa as an irregular spot; hind wing: union of veins 1M, r – m, 2M brownish yellow, remainder yellow, wing hyaline. Body length = 6.93 mm; fore wing length = 5.78 mm.
Head: Head height/head length = 1.34; maximum height of compound eye/maximum width of compound eye = 1.46; distance between basal edges of tentorial pits and the basal area of toruli/Maximum width of face measured at dorsal edge of clypeus = 1.13; width of vertex/minimal distance between toruli and the medial ocellus = 2.95; width of oral opening/height of oral opening = 1.89; distance between tentorial pits = 0.55 mm; minimal distance between external edge of tentorial pits and compound eye = 0.07 mm. Antenna with 47 flagellomeres all longer than wide; malar space slightly narrower than basal width of mandible; occipital carina present and divided dorsally, not fused with hypostomal carina, clearly separated; median ocellus as big as Lateral ocellus; space between lateral ocellus black; ocell-ocular distance 1/3 Lateral ocellus width.
Mesosoma: Length of mesosoma in dorsal view/width of mesosoma = 2.76; height of mesosoma = 1.53 mm; propleuron dorso-lateral area basally with defined colliculate sculpturing, remainder nitid; notauli laterally punctulate; medial longitudinal pit?; mesonotum nitid; sternauli punctulate, union with prepectal carina mostly absent with scattered striate sculpturing when present, area below with less defined colliculate sculpturing; mesopleuron immaculate except dorso-lateral area with rugose sculpturing, remainder mesonotum with less defined colliculate present; metapleuron granulate, ventral 1/3 with rugose sculpturing present; propodeum with finely granulate sculpturing, spiracles sub – oval; first lateral areas of propodeum with light areolate-rugulose sculpturing, remainder with spaced areolate-rugulose sculpturing; medial carina <1/4 Propodeum length; areola triangular; ventral tubercles present without carinae over them and densely granulate.
Legs: basal lobe of hind tarsal claws elongate and acute at tip.
Wings: fore wing: 1Cub/RS+Ma = 1.12; 3RSa/1RS = 4.13; pterostigma length/width = 1.71; r = 0.35 mm. hind wing: 1M/r – m = 1.66; 1A/cu – a = 1.64; m+cu = 0.81 mm; m+cu interstitial with 2RS; 2RS bent to wing base; angle at union of veins 2RS – 2M acute; pterostigma black with tips yellow.
Metasoma: Length of first metasomal tergum/width of first metasomal tergum = 0.75; length of second metasomal tergum/width of second metasomal tergum = 0.93; length of third metasomal tergum/width of third metasomal tergum = 0.40; basal width of first metasomal tergum = 0.53 mm; hypopygium = 0.69 mm. first metasomal tergum dorso – basal triangular area of first metasomal tergum close with carinae present, medial carina cristate at basal 1/3; first metasomal tergum lineate sculpturing more spaced and sinuate than second metasomal tergum sculpturing; second metasomal tergum lineate sculpturing denser than first metasomal tergum sculpturing; third metasomal tergum lineate sculpturing as dense as second metasomal tergum sculpturing, but finer, nearer and less conspicuous, not reaching third metasomal tergum distal edge; fourth metasomal tergum without lineate sculpturing.
Male. Unknown.
Female holotype. Costa Rica, Heredia, Estac. Biol. La Selva, 10.28N / 84.01W, 50 – 150 m. iv/1996, Col. INBio – OET. Holotype deposited at the RMSEL.
Distribution. The altitudinal distribution of this species is lowlands. The type of forest present at site of collecting was tropical moist/wet forest.
Biology. Specimens reared from a larva of Arawakis sp. (Lycaenidae) feeding on Solanum jamaicense (Solanaceae).
Comments. Type specimen with notauli partially covered by the entomological pin. This species is similar to Triraphis melasops and T. willei by the head light brown/brownish yellow, the acute angle at union of veins 2RS – 2M and the union of veins 1M, r – m, 2M brownish yellow, but can be identified by the ocell-ocular distance that is 1/3 of lateral ocellus width, the carinae of propodeum well-defined and the fore wing ratio of veins 1M/r – m greater than 2.4x.
Etymology. This species name is based on the head color similarity with T. melasops; “ ikelosops ” in Greek means “similar” face.
description: Published as part of Valerio, Alejandro A. & Shaw, Scott R., 2015, Thirteen new Costa Rican species belonging to the genus Triraphis Ruthe (Braconidae: Rogadinae) with their host records, pp. 501-540 in Zootaxa 3904 (4) on pages 521-523, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3904.4.2, http://zenodo.org/record/234390