Monoctenus kondoi Hara 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Hara, Hideho
name: Nagase, Hirohiko
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Diprionidae
Monoctenus
Monoctenus kondoi

description: Monoctenus kondoi Hara, sp. nov.
(Figs 1A, 3A 1, B1, C1, 17)
Description. Female (holotype). Length 5.5 mm. Black (Fig. 17A, B). Mandible red brown apically. Palpi yellow, basally darkened. Pronotum posterodorsally widely yellow (Fig. 3B 1). Tegula yellow brown, medially darkened. Legs brown yellow on narrow apices of coxae, trochanters and trochantelli, yellow on apices of femora, tibiae and tarsi (Fig. 17B); tarsi apically brown. Wings clear transparent, very slightly brownish (Fig. 17A); veins dark brown, partly pale brown; stigma brown, apically widely pale brown. Abdomen laterally yellow from posterior part of laterotergite 3 to anterior part of laterotergite 8 (Fig. 17B). Body surface mostly shiny and smooth; punctures indistinct or minute.
Clypeus with median furrow dorsally; ventral edge concave medially. Antenna with 19 antennomeres (Fig. 17E); flagellar serration relatively deep; flagellomere 6 in lateral view with breadth including serration 1.3 × dorsal length. (Ovipositor sheath and basal part of lance missing.) Lancet with 9 annuli and apex rounded (Fig. 17G); length from ventral end of ctenidium 1 to apex 3.2 × breadth; ctenidia 1 and 2 almost parallel; ctenidia 2–6 inclined anteriorly.
Male. Length 6.0 mm. As in female except for usual sexual differences (Fig. 17C, D). Pronotum posterodorsally very narrowly yellow. Tegula black. Coxae, trochanters and trochantelli black. Antenna with 26 rami and 29 antennomeres. Subgenital plate in ventral view truncate apically. Penis valve Fig. 17H, I (valvula broken); paravalva with ventral edge nearly straight; inner sclerite broadest near middle; valviceps 2.5 × as long as broad.
Material examined. Holotype (Figs 3A 1, B1, C1, 17A, B, E–G): ♀, labelled “[Kurashiki, Tsurajima-yama, V.25.1973 Nezu-no-you, IV. 15. 1974 Uka](in Japanese), col. T. Kondô (M.M)” (“Nezu-no-you” meaning larva on Juniperus rigida; “Uka” meaning emerging). Paratype: 1♂, same label as holotype (Figs 1A, 17C, D, H, I).
Etymology. The adjective specific epithet is derived from the collector.
Distribution. Japan (Honshu).
Host plant. Cupressaceae: Juniperus rigida Siebold et Zucc.
Remarks. Monoctenus kondoi is very similar to M. juniperi in coloration, but differs from it in having a female antenna with 19 antennomeres (Fig. 17E), a female pronotum widely yellow posterodorsally (Fig. 3B 1), female trochanters and trochantelli yellow (Fig. 17B), a lancet broad and with 9 annuli and a rounded apex (Fig. 17G), and a male antenna with 26 rami. Monoctenus juniperi has a female pronotum at most narrowly dark brown posterodorsally, female trochanters and trochantelli black, a female antenna with16–18 antennomeres (Fig. 18A), a lancet slender and with 10 annuli and an acute apex (Fig. 18C, D), and a male antenna with 17–21 rami and 20–24 antennomeres (Enslin 1917, Gussakovskij 1947, Viitasaari & Varama 1987, Zhelokhovtsev & Zinovjev 1988, Mol & Aarsten 1994, our material).
Monoctenus kondoi is also similar to M. nipponicus and M. obscuratus. This species differs from M. nipponicus as follows, in addition to the differences mentioned in the key: A flagellomere 6 in the lateral view has the breadth including serration 1.3 × the dorsal length in the former, but 1.5–1.8 × in the latter; a lancet has 9 annuli in the former but 10 annuli in the latter. However, their males are indistinguishable. The species of male specimens were inferred from female specimens collected at the same locality on the same day. Monoctenus kondoi is distinguished from M. obscuratus as follows: The former female has a widely yellow pronotum (Fig. 3B 1) and yellow abdominal laterotergites (Figs 3A 1), but the latter female has a almost entirely black pronotum and black abdominal laterotergites (Figs 3A 2). The number of male antennal rami is 26 in M. kondoi but 22–24 in M. obscuratus. The valviceps of a penis valve has the length 2.5 × the breadth in M. kondoi (Fig. 17H, I) but 2.9–3.5 × in M. obscuratus.
This species is easily separated from other species of Monoctenus by the coloration (compare with the descriptions of other species of the genus by Norton 1872, Cresson 1880, Marlatt 1888, Gussakovskij 1947, Smith 1975, Smith et al. 2010, De Lira-Ramos et al. 2022, Japoshvili & Haris 2022, this study).
description: Published as part of Hara, Hideho & Nagase, Hirohiko, 2023, The Japanese species of Monoctenus (Hymenoptera: Diprionidae), pp. 541-561 in Zootaxa 5380 (6) on pages 552-554, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5380.6.3, http://zenodo.org/record/10259644