Acanthormius indicus Gupta & Quicke 2018, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Gupta, Ankita
name: Quicke, Donald L. J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Acanthormius
Acanthormius indicus

description: Acanthormius indicus Gupta & Quicke sp. nov.
Figs 1, 2
Key diagnostic characters: Antenna with 18-20 antennomeres, brown; scape and pedicellus and first two to three antennomeres yellowish brown. Malar space 0.68× as long as height of eye; apical width of first tergite 1.5× its length; second apically 1.4× as wide as long medially and 1.7× longer than third tergite. Apical tooth nearly straight and about 0.3× as long as median length of third tergite, rather short. Ovipositor sheath short; about 0.7× as long as combined length of second and third tergite.
Description. Colour. Body dark brown to brown. Antenna brown, but scape and pedicellus and first two to three antennomeres yellowish brown. Labrum, mandible yellow (except dark brown apices), and palpi pale yellow. Ocellar region dark brown. Tegula yellowish brown. Legs yellow, coxae and trochanters pale yellow, femora and tibiae distally with faint brownish tinge along the edges. Wings subhyaline, pterostigma hyaline and veins brownish yellow.
Holotype. Female, length of body 2.4 mm, of ovipositor 0.5 mm, of fore wing 1.8 mm, antenna 2.37. Head in dorsal view 1.85× as wide as long (0.48: 0.26) (Fig. 1C), eye 1.6× as long as temple (0.18: 0.11), temple receding, occipital carina strong. Ocelli small and oval, POL nearly half as long as OOL (0.036: 0.09). Eye in lateral view 1.1× as high as wide (0.19:0.17), temple broadening ventrally and its minimum width about 0.5× width of eye (0.10: 0.19). Malar space 0.68× as long as height of eye (0.13: 0.19) and 2.2× as long as basal width of mandible (0.13: 0.06). Head smooth. Antenna filiform and little shorter than body (2.5: 2.7), with 20 antennomeres.
Mesosoma (Fig. 2A). In dorsal view 1.8× as long as wide (0.76: 0.42). Notauli evenly deep; punctate and setose similar to the rest of mesosoma. Propodeal areola elliptical and wide, transversely rugose medially with faint rugosity in apical half. Mesonotum punctulate, pronotum and metapleuron rugose, mesopleuron smooth and glabrous medially.
Wings. Macropterous (Figs 1A, 2D). Fore wing: pterostigma narrowly triangular, 5.0× as long as wide (0.42: 0.086) and issuing radial vein little beyond the middle; vein r 1.08× longer than width of pterostigma (0.086: 0.079), 3-SR 1.6× as long as r (0.137:0.086), and 0.7× 2-SR (0.193), SR1 straight and reaching tip of wing; m-cu postfurcal.
Legs. Hind femur 5.8× as long as wide (0.52: 0.09), hind tibia as long as hind tarsus, hind basitarsus a little shorter than the remainder of tarsus.
Metasoma (Figs 2E, G). 1.23× as long as head and mesosoma combined (1.3: 1.05). First tergite widening posteriorly, its apical width 1.5× its length (0.48: 0.32). Second tergite transverse, apically 1.4× as wide as long medially (0.59: 0.42) and 1.7× longer than third tergite (0.42: 0.25). Third tergite with a rather short pair of posterolateral projections (teeth) approximately 0.3× as long as median length of tergite (0.08: 0.25). In lateral view lower margin of tooth nearly straight (Figs 2F, G). First-third tergites longitudinally striate, without transverse interstriations. Ovipositor sheath in lateral view 1.4× as long as first tergite (0.46: 0.32) and 0.29× fore wing.
Colour. Dark brown to brown. Antenna brown, but scape and pedicellus and first two to three antennomeres yellowish brown. Cheek, labrum, mandible yellow (except dark brown apices), and palpi pale yellow. Ocellar region dark brown. Tegulae yellowish brown. Legs yellow, coxae and trochanters pale yellow, femora and tibiae distally with faint brownish tinge along the edges. Wings subhyaline, pterostigma hyaline and veins brownish yellow.
Male. Not known.
Biology. Gregarious parasitoid of Psychidae (Fig. 3).
Variation. Female 2♀ paratypes: body 1.8−1.9 mm long. Antenna with 18‒20 antennomeres.
Type material. Holotype ♀, INDIA, Karnataka, Bangalore, Hebbal, 13.03°N 77.59°E, 10.viii.2011, ex: caterpillar (Lepidoptera: Psychidae), coll. S.K. Rajeshwari, code - NBAIR /Brac/Acan/10811A (NBAIR). Paratypes: 4♀, 10.viii.2011, same collection locality as holotype, codes - NBAIR /Brac/Acan/10811B (NBAIR). Paratype 1♀, 10.viii.2011, same data and host individual as holotype, to be deposited in Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata.
Notes. Runs in the key by van Achterberg (1995) to the Indian species A. balanus Papp 1986, but the new species differs in malar suture 0.68× as long as height of eye (vs equal in A. balanus). Differs from the other Indian species in the following characters: ovipositor sheath about 0.7× as long as combined length of second and third tergite (vs equal in A. bakeri); antennomeres 18¯20 (vs 16 in A. gilvus and 21 in A. propensus); pterostigma 5× as long as wide (vs 7× in A. obstitus); ovipositor much shorter than metasoma (vs equal in A. alius).
description: Published as part of Gupta, Ankita & Quicke, Donald L. J., 2018, A new species of Acanthormius (Braconidae: Lysiterminae) reared as a gregarious parasitoid of psychid caterpillar (Lepidoptera: Psychidae) from India, pp. 425-430 in Zootaxa 4388 (3) on pages 426-427, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4388.3.8, http://zenodo.org/record/1188728