Centistes auricephalus Aguirre, Almeida & Shaw, sp. n.
Creators: name: Aguirre, Helmuth
name: Almeida, Luis Felipe Ventura De
name: Shaw, Scott Richard
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Centistes
Centistes auricephalus

description: Centistes auricephalus Aguirre, Almeida & Shaw, sp. n.
(Figs 43–49)
Female. Body length (Fig. 43): 2.1–2.4 mm. Body color: head yellow except face, clypeus and genae white; sometimes frons black-dark brown and vertex, occiput and temple orange; flagellomeres brown and area between ocelli dark brown; mesosoma dark brown except propleura, pronotum, and mesopleuron ventrally yellow; fore and middle leg yellow, hind leg yellow with apical half of tibia and entire tarsus brown; wings hyaline; metasoma dark brown except T1 and ovipositor sheats black- dark brown. Head (Figs 44–45): antenna with 22–23 flagellomeres; flagellar length/width ratios as follows: F1 = 3.2, F10 = 2.0, last flagellomere = 2.2; last flagellomere terminating apically in a sharp point; pedicel as long as wide; scape 1.7–2.0 × longer than wide; mandibles when closed overlapping for 0.4–0.5 × mandible length; mandible width basally 0.4 × mandible length; malar space 0.2 × eye height, and equal to basal mandible width; gena pubescent, except smooth around eye; shortest distance between eyes equal to clypeus width; eye in lateral view 1.7–1.8 × taller than wide; lateral ocellus separated from compound eye by a distance 1–1.5 × ocellar width; frons glabrous except sparse setae around eyes; vertex pubescent; temple pubescent; temple width 0.7–0.8 × eye width; occipital carina either medially interrupted or thin and complete. Mesosoma: pronotum glabrous; pronotum in lateral view mostly smooth, medially carinate; propleuron with anterior and medial margins rugose, remaining surface smooth-punctate; median mesonotal lobe pubescent; lateral mesonotal lobes sparsely pubescent; notauli either absent or only present anteriorly (Fig. 47); pit on mesoscutum large and oval (Fig. 47); scutellar sulcus with one carina; scutellar disc sparsely pubescent; mesopleuron centrally glabrous, borders and area below precoxal sulcus pubescent; precoxal sulcus foveate; metanotum carinated and pubescent; propodeum pubescent except dorsum glabrous; propodeum subdivided into anterior and posterior halves as well as into dorsal and posterior areolae by a strong carinae (Fig. 46); propodeum with a medianlongitudinal dorsal carina present, and with surfaces mostly smooth except laterally rugose, but surfaces become rugulose or rugose around the carinae. Legs: hind coxa 2.0 × longer than middle coxa; hind femora length 4.0 × maximum width; hind tibia length 9.0 × longer than maximum width; hind tibial spur 0.4 × as long as hind basitarsus; ratio of hind tarsomeres from basitarsus apically 13:7:6:4:8. Wings: fore wing length 2.1–2.5 mm; pterostigma 2.8–3.1 × longer than maximum width; length of marginal cell 2R1 along anterior wing margin equal to the length of pterostigma; vein r-rs 0.4–0.5 × as long as pterostigma width; vein Rs+M present as a short stub; vein m-cu basal with vein RS; hind wing with three sickle-shaped hamuli. Metasoma: first tergite basally 0.6–0.8 × as wide as apical width, and 1.6–1.7 × longer than apical width; sculpture of first tergite longitudinally costate with costae almost parallel (Fig. 48); spiracle of tergum one situated on lateral margin near the basal quarter of segment; hypopygium long or short, posterior margin truncated, and ventrally either convex or folded; ovipositor sheath 3.0– 3.8 × longer than basal width, and 1.3–1.8 × as longer as basitarsus; ovipositor sheath pubescent, and terminating in a rounded point (Fig. 49).
Male. Unknown.
Holotype female. COSTA RICA: Guanacaste, Santa Rosa National Park, 300 m, ex. Malaise trap, 18.x– 8.xi.1986, I.D. Gauld & D. Janzen, (SE) Bosque San Emilio 50 years old deciduous forest (O) in clearing, fully isolated part of day. Deposited in UWIM.
Paratypes. COSTA RICA: One female, Puntarenas, San Vito, Estacion Biologica Las Alturas, 1500 m, vi.1992, P. Hanson, Malaise. Two females, Guanacaste, Santa Rosa National Park, Bosque San Emilio, Malaise trap 5 in clearing, 300 m, 18–29.xi.1986, I. Gauld. (SE) Bosque San Emilio, 50 yr old deciduous forest (O) in clearing, fully isolated part of day. Two females, Guanacaste, Santa Rosa National Park, 300 m, ex. Malaise trap, site: H-2-C, 8–29.xi.1986, I.D. Gauld & D. Janzen. (H), open regenerating woodland less than 10 years old (C) more or less fully shaded as possible. One female, Guanacaste, Santa Rosa National Park, 300 m, ex. Malaise trap, site H-1-D, 8–29.xi.1986, I.D. Gauld & D. Janzen, [H] open regenerating woodland less than 10 years old [O] in clearing, fully isolated part of day. One female, Guanacaste, Santa Rosa National Park, 300 m, ex. Malaise trap, site H-1-D, 18.x–8.xi.1986, I.D. Gauld & D. Janzen, [H] open regenerating woodland less than 10 years old [O] in clearing, fully isolated part of day. One female, Guanacaste, Santa Rosa National Park, 300 m, ex. Malaise trap, 16.xi–7.xii.1985, I.D. Gauld & D. Janzen, [SE] Bosque San Emilio 50 years old deciduoud forest [C] more or less fully shaded as possible. One female, Guanacaste, Santa Rosa National Park, 300 m, ex. Malaise trap, site BH-12- C, 28.xii.1985 – 18.i.1986, I.D. Gauld & D. Janzen, [BH] Bosque Humedo, mature evergreen dry forest [C] more or less fully shaded as possible. All paratypes deposited in UWIM.
Comments. Centistes auricephalus, C. hirsutus and C. pilosus share a conspicuous pubescence on head and thorax. However, C. auricephalus is distinctive because of its yellow face and longer ovipositor sheaths. Centistes auricephalus has been intensively collected at elevations below 500 m, which is uncommon when compared with the rest of Costa Rican Centistes species since most of them inhabit habitats around 1600 m.
Etymology. The name of this species is formed by the Latin prefix “auri” that means gold, and the Latin stem “cephalus” which means head.
description: Published as part of Aguirre, Helmuth, Almeida, Luis Felipe Ventura De & Shaw, Scott Richard, 2017, Revision of the genus Centistes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Euphorinae: Centistini) of Costa Rica, pp. 1-46 in Zootaxa 4216 (1) on pages 10-11, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.229787