Trioxys khargaiensis Gadallah & Edmardash 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Gadallah, Neveen S.
name: Edmardash, Yusuf A.
name: Mansour, Amany N.
name: Imam, Ahmed I.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Trioxys
Trioxys khargaiensis

description: Trioxys khargaiensis Gadallah & Edmardash, sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 1FD80C21-99FD-4595-AABD-410496DF02DE
Figs 5 (A–C), 6 (A, B), 7 (A–E)
Type material: Holotype (♀) (EFC), Egypt: Kharga Oasis (New Valley) [25°33’41.9”N 30°37’41.9”E], May, 2022, white pan trap in V. faba (glued on a triangular card).
Diagnosis. Antenna (Figs 5B, 7A) with 11 antennomeres, with pedicel (apically), F1 and base of F2 yellow; first three flagellomeres equal in length (Figs 5B, 7A); two penultimate flagellomeres with placoids covering the entire segments; propodeum regularly areolate between carinae, with very small and narrow, rhomboid, central areola (Figs 6A, 7C); vein 1 RS of fore wing short, 0.86× length of pterostigma, forming right angle with vein r (Figs 5C, 7D); ovipositor sheath distinctly emarginate ventrally; prongs relatively long and narrow, slightly curved, more so-at tip (Fig. 7E), just opposing ovipositor sheath at end, with two straight, simple bristles at apex and few setae along outer surface (Figs 6B, 7E).
Description of holotype female: Body length 2.0 mm.
Colouration: head, mesoscutum and scutellum shiny dark reddish brown; eye and ocelli whitish; antenna dark reddish brown except pedicel tip, F1, and base of F2 pale yellow; pronotum, propodeum, meso- and metapleuron, T 2-6 honey brownish, petiole and metasomal intersegments waxy white; legs: fore leg yellowish with dark tarsus; mid and hind legs with coxae and trochanters yellowish, remainder brownish; prongs and ovipositor sheath brownish; wing hyaline, with whitish pterostigma, veins pale brownish.
Head. Entirely smooth and shiny; ocelli very small, placed equilaterally; antenna with 11 antennomeres, scape clearly widened apically (Fig. 7A); F1= F2= F 3 in length and width; two penultimate flagellomeres with placoids; last flagellomere relatively long, oval, tapered apically, slightly less than length of preceding two flagellomeres combined; malar space distinctly shorter than eye height.
Mesosoma. Glabrous and shiny; pronotum straight anteriorly, with two sublateral longitudinal carinae, smooth between carinae dorsally; mesoscutum and scutellum smooth, impunctate, notauli absent; propodeum carinate, regularly areolate, central areola very small, triangular to rhombic in shape, closed; petiolar one small, oval, closed. Forewing. Pterostigma triangular, 2.8× as long as wide, 1.2× as long as vein 1-R1; vein 1 RS short, 0.86 × as long as pterostigma, does not reach 1-R1 vein at wing apex, forming a right angle with vein r.
Metasoma. Petiole about 1.6× as long as wide across spiracular tubercles; spiracles place in distinct tubercles, at base of petiole; ovipositor sheath 3.5× as long as width at midpoint of narrower distal region of sheath; sheath distinctly emarginate ventrally; prongs relatively long and narrow, slightly curved upwardly, more so at tip, just opposing ovipositor sheath at end, with two straight, simple bristles at apex, without any long setae on dorsal surface.
Male: Unknown.
Etymology. The new species is named in reference to the region where the specimen was collected.
Egyptian locality: Kharga Oasis (New Valley) (present study).
Comments: Characters of the new species do not match with any of the figures representing different body parts of any Trioxys spp. illustrated in Rakhshani et al. (2019). It differs from all other species in the following combination of characters: two penultimate flagellomeres with placoids (in all other species, placoids are present on most of antennal flagellomeres) (see Rakhshani et al. 2019: 97, figs 62–72); vein 1 RS very short, somewhat angulate (Figs 5C, 7D) (gently curved, not angulate in all other species, see Rakhshani et al. 2019: 104, 105, figs 164–175); mesoscutum and scutellum smooth and shiny, entirely bare (Figs 6A, 7B) (at least with two sublateral rows of setae in all Trioxys species, see Rakhshani et al. 2019: 111, figs 265–271); propodeum of the new species is regularly areolate between carinae, with short, narrow, rhomboid central areola (Figs 6A, 7C), and is unlike all other Trioxys species (see Rakhshani et al., 2019: 118, figs 364–373).
description: Published as part of Gadallah, Neveen S., Edmardash, Yusuf A., Mansour, Amany N. & Imam, Ahmed I., 2023, Parasitoid wasps (Ichneumonoidea) collected from faba bean fields, Kharga Oasis, New Valley, Egypt, with new records and the description of a new species, pp. 501-544 in Zootaxa 5389 (5) on pages 510-514, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5389.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10421859