Leucospis egaia Walker 1862
Creators: name: Lima, Alessandro Rodrigues
name: Dias, Priscila Guimarães
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Leucospidae
Leucospis
Leucospis egaia

description: Leucospis egaia Walker, 1862
(Figs 7A‒B, 16)
Leucospis egaia Walker, 1862: 20. Lectotype ♀: Brazil: Amazonas, Tafe (=Ega) (BMNH); Roman 1920: 8 –9, fig. Ib; Weld 1922: 18 (Leucospidae revision); Burks 1961: 540 (compared L. xylocopae); Bouček 1974a: 72 –73, figs 73–74; De Santis 1980: 273 (catalog); Grissell & Cameron 2002: 278 (compared L. pinna); Noyes 2017 (online catalog).
Leucospis egaja Walker, 1862. Dalla Torre 1898: 402 (unjustified emendation); Noyes 2017 (online catalog).
Leucospis tapayosa Walker, 1862: 21. Lectotype ♀: Brazil: Tapajos (BMNH); Bouček 1974a: 72 (syn. L. egaia); Noyes 2017 (online catalog).
Diagnosis. POL about 1.6‒1.8× OOL; inner margin of the eyes conspicuously emarginate; clypeus apically bilobate, without a conspicuous median tooth; lower tooth of mandibles separated from the upper edge by a triangular excision; dorsellum subtriangular, with deep and broad crenulate furrow along margin, glabrous; propodeum slightly pilose, median carina present, plicae present; hind coxal depression uniformly punctate, with a conspicuous lobe dorso-laterally; hind femur very broad, 2‒2.1× as long as broad, excluding teeth; fore wing with apical quarter infuscate and apical process of stigmal vein shorter than uncus; in female, tergite I usually with two yellow spots posteriorly; tergite VI without spiniform projection at posterior margin; ovipositor reaching the base of gaster; in male, gaster in lateral view with dorsal margin of tergite VI not oblique relative to tergite V.
Distribution. Argentina, Brazil (Amazonas, Pará, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Santa Catarina), Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad, Venezuela.
Comments. Leucospis egaia was previously recorded from northern, southern and southwestern Brazil (Figs 25, 26). The new records presented here extends its occurrence southwestward in the Brazilian Savannah.
Leucospis coxalis, from Argentina, is morphologically very similar to L. egaia. Bouček (1974a) used the ovipositor length as a way to distinguish between these species, but for males he used some overlapping measurements that are not as effective for identification. Here we present two characters to distinguish these species. The fore wing of L. coxalis has the apical process of the stigmal vein as long as the uncus (Figs 8D, 8J), as opposed to an apical process shorter than the uncus in L. egaia (Fig. 16D). Specifically for males, L. coxalis has the dorsal mesepisternum with very broad punctation, interspersed with small punctations, and very strong diagonal rugae (Fig. 7C, D), while L. egaia has the dorsal mesepisternum with very broad punctation, interspersed with very smooth diagonal striae (Fig. 7A, B).
Biology. Unknown. According to Noyes (2017), L. egaia parasitises Polybia, a record attributed to Grissell & Cameron (2002), but the latter authors do not mention either of these names. Since the origin of this observation was not found, it is better to consider the biology as unknown.
Material examined. (19♀) Brazil, Minas Gerais, Nova Porteirinha, 1ª CIG, CODEVASF, 15°48'55.1"S; 43°16'26.8"W, 25.x.2013 N.G.Fonseca leg. Malaise [UFMG ‒IHY‒1613562]; Belo Horizonte, UFMG Pampulha, 11.iii.1998 [UFMG ‒IHY‒1504435]; Belo Horizonte, UFMG Pampulha, Estação Ecológica, 19°52'30"S; 43°58'20"W, 842m, malaise, 28.vii‒4.viii.1999, A.F. Kumagai leg. [UFMG ‒IHY‒1504427], 3‒10.xi.1999 [UFMG ‒IHY‒1504428], 4‒11.viii.1999 [UFMG ‒IHY‒1504429], 15‒22.iv.1998 [UFMG ‒IHY‒1504430], 10‒ 17.iii.2014 [UFMG ‒IHY‒1504431], 17‒24.iii.2014 [UFMG ‒IHY‒1504432], 16‒23.ix.1998 [UFMG ‒IHY‒ 1504433], 19‒26.viii.1998 [UFMG ‒IHY‒1504434], 1‒7.x.1991 [UFMG ‒IHY‒1614804]; Marliéria, Parque Estadual do Rio Doce, Trilha Tereza, 19°42'1.85"S; 42°30'7.66"W, 252m, malaise J.C.R. Fontenelle leg. 26.x‒ 2.xi.2003 [UFMG ‒IHY‒1504436]; São Gonçalo do Rio Abaixo, Estação Ambiental de Peti, Alojamento (Al), 19°53'14"S; 43°22'06"W, malaise, A.F.Kumagai leg. 31.v‒7.vi.2002 [UFMG ‒IHY‒1504421], 30.i – 6.ii.2004 [UFMG ‒IHY‒1504422], 24‒31.x.2003 [UFMG ‒IHY‒1504423]; São Gonçalo do Rio Abaixo, Estação Ambiental de Peti, Ponte (Po), 19°52'49"S; 43°22'06"W, malaise, A.F.Kumagai leg. 4‒11.x.2002 [UFMG‒IHY‒1504424], 13‒20.ix.2002 [UFMG‒IHY‒1504425], 9‒16.xi.2007 [UFMG‒IHY‒1504426]; São Paulo, Pindorama, malaise, 2.xii.2008 F. Noll leg. [UNESP ‒ Leu ‒005]; São Paulo, Macaubal, malaise, 19.xi.2007 F. Noll leg. [UNESP ‒ Leu ‒ 006].
description: Published as part of Lima, Alessandro Rodrigues & Dias, Priscila Guimarães, 2018, The New World species of Leucospis Fabricius, 1775 (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Leucospidae): an update of Bouček's revision with description of two new species from Brazil, pp. 1-45 in Zootaxa 4441 (1) on page 25, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4441.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1297969