Gonatocerus (Lymaenon) cunctator Mathot 1969, stat. rev.
Creators: name: Triapitsyn, Serguei V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Mymaridae
Gonatocerus
Gonatocerus cunctator

description: Gonatocerus (Lymaenon) cunctator (Mathot, 1969), stat. rev.   
(Figs 91–94)  
 Lymaenon cunctator Mathot 1969: 2 (list), 7–8, 11 (key).   
 Type locality: Étang du Merisier, Tervuren, Flemish Brabant, Belgium. Reinstated as a valid species from previous synonymy under Gonatocerus litoralis (Haliday) by Matthews 1986: 223. Stat. rev.   
 Gonatocerus cunctator (Mathot): Donev 1987: 74 (distribution); Donev 1988d: 194 (distribution).   
 Type material examined. Holotype female of Lymaenon cunctator Mathot [ISNB] on slide (Fig. 91) labeled: 1. “Université de Louvain LAB. ENTOMOLOGIE Tervueren [sic] 18.VIII.45 no288 Etang du Merisier”; 2. “Dr. H. DEBAUCHE det. Lymaenon cunctator Ƥ Type. Deb.”. The holotype (Fig. 94) is in rather poor condition, uncleared, lacking one of the fore wings, and mounted laterally.   
 Distribution. PALAEARCTIC: Belgium, and Bulgaria (Donev 1987, 1988d).   
 Redescription. FEMALE. Body (Fig. 94) mostly brown except gaster light brown (basally) to brownish (apical terga), appendages light brown to brown.   
Antenna (Figs 92, 94) with radicle 0.35× total length of scape, rest of scape 2.7× as long as wide; pedicel longer than F1; F1 a little longer than F2, almost as long as F3 and slightly shorter than F4, F5 as long as F8 and slightly longer than F6, F7 the longest funicle segment; mps on F7 (2), and F8 (2); clava 3.2× as long as wide, almost as long as combined length of F5–F8, with at least 8 mps.  
Fore wing (Figs 93, 94) 4.4× as long as wide; disc hyaline, sparsely setose between marginal vein and cubital row of setae apparently leaving a small, indistinct bare area (the area is somewhat obscured by the hind wing) and densely setose elsewhere. Hind wing (Figs 93, 94) 27× as long as wide, disc hyaline.  
Metasoma (Fig. 94) longer than mesosoma. Ovipositor occupying 0.7× length of gaster, not exserted beyond its apex; ovipositor 1.2× length of mesotibia.  
Measurements (µm) of the holotype. Body: 830; head: 154; mesosoma 283; gaster 412; ovipositor 288. Antenna: radicle 48; rest of scape 91; pedicel 48; F1 26; F2 21; F3 27; F4 30; F5 36; F6 33; F7 41; F8 36; clava 45. Fore wing 738:169. Hind wing 560:21.  
MALE. Unknown.  
 Diagnosis. Gonatocerus cunctator, known to me only from the female holotype (Fig. 94), is characterized by its antenna (Fig. 92) with F5, F6, and F8 shorter than F7, mps only on F7 and F8, and also by the narrow fore wing with sparse setae between the marginal vein and the cubital row of setae apparently leaving a small, indistinct bare area (Fig. 93). I hesitantly disagree with Matthews (1986), who synonymized it with G. litoralis, because such a combination of features does not fit the latter species even if it were treated in the broad sense. Gonatocerus cunctator is rather superficially more similar to G. aureus which however has the female antenna (Figs 67–69, 72) with the clava bearing 6 mps, and F5–F8 more or less subequal in length (F6 or both F5 and F6 sometimes lack mps on one or both antennae in small specimens), and whose fore wing disc is more evenly setose between the marginal vein and the cubital row of setae (Figs 71, 74). Therefore, I am rather reluctantly reinstating G. cunctator as a valid, tentatively definable species until fresh and well prepared specimens that match the holotype become available for study.   
 Hosts. Unknown.
description: Published as part of Triapitsyn, Serguei V., 2013, Review of Gonatocerus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) in the Palaearctic region, with notes on extralimital distributions, pp. 1-178 in Zootaxa 3644 (1) on pages 62-64, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3644.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/246888