Centistes bellus Román & Almeida & Penteado-Dias & Shaw & Sarmiento 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Román, Andrea C.
name: Almeida, Luis Felipe Ventura De
name: Penteado-Dias, Angelica
name: Shaw, Scott Richard
name: Sarmiento, Carlos E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Centistes
Centistes bellus

description: Centistes bellus Almeida & Penteado-Dias sp. nov.
(Figs. 9A–E, 25B)
Diagnosis: Notauli absent; pit on mesoscutum present, oval; vein (RS+M)a present and complete; propodeum with dorsal areola; malar space 1.1–1.3 × basal width of mandible; ocell-ocular distance 1.3–1.5 × ocellar diameter; ovipositor sheath length 2.7–3.3 × its width; head yellow, mesonotum black with its sides and a spot medially yellow; and propodeum black.
Comments: Centistes bellus is similar to C. puntarenensis, sharing the absence of notauli, presence of the pit in the mesoscutum, a complete vein (RS+M)a in the fore wing, and a similar ovipositor sheath. This new species can be distinguished by the presence of a dorsal areola on the propodeum and its yellow head.
Description. Female Body length: 3.52 (3.27–3.72) mm, mesosoma length 1.4 (1.2–1.4) mm. Head (Figs. 9B– C): Antenna with 23 (23–24) flagellomeres; occipital carina complete; scape cylindrical; face smooth and setose, its minimum width 1.3 (1.1–1.4) × clypeus width, face height 0.7 (0.6–0.7) × its maximum width; clypeus smooth with some sparse and long setae, clypeus height 0.6 (0.50–0.6) × its width; gena smooth and setose; frons smooth and polished; vertex smooth, with just a few setae; mandible overlap 0.6 × mandible length; basal width of mandible 0.4 (0.4–0.5) × its length; mandibles with a set of strong longitudinal carinae running along its margins; malar space 0.3 (0.3–0.4) × eye height; malar space 1.2 (1.0–1.3) × basal width of mandible; eye height 1.5 (1.4–1.6).× its length; ocell–ocular distance 1.3 (1.3–1.5) × ocellar diameter; temple length 1.0 × eye length in dorsal view. Mesosoma (Figs. 9C–D): Pronotum in lateral view mostly smooth, with a small foveate area medially; pronotum mostly glabrous, with just a few setae on its borders; transverse sulcus of pronotum absent; pit on mesoscutum present, large and oval; mesonotal lobes smooth and mostly glabrous except median lobe setose anteriorly; notauli absent; mesoscutum width 1.1 (1.0–1.1) × its length; scutellar sulcus scrobiculate; scutellum sparsely setose; posterior scutellar depression bifoveolate; mesopleuron smooth, slightly setose with a glabrous area medially; precoxal sulcus present but weakly defined, shallow and slightly rugose; metapleuron rugulose, setose and with projection present; propodeum not truncated, dorsal areola present, ventral areola pentagonal (or slighted squared) and bisected by a longitudinal carina; propodeum anteriorly smooth, posteriorly rugose (rugose-carinate). Legs (Fig. 9A): Tarsal claw simple; hind coxa smooth and setose. Wings (Fig. 25B): Vein (RS+M)a present and complete; stigma length 1.0 × vein R1 length; vein r length 0.2 × stigma length; vein CUa 0.3 (0.3–0.4) × vein CUb. Metasoma (Figs. 9D–E): T1 costate, with a median longitudinal carina (lateral longitudinal carinae present on some specimens); T1 length 1.2 (1.2–1.3) × ovipositor sheath length; ovipositor sheath long, roughly oblong with apex truncated, border thin; hypopygium rounded, sparsely setose; ovipositor sheath length 2.9 (2.7–3.3) × its width. Coloration (Fig. 9A): Head yellow with antenna dark brown and area between ocelli black; propleuron and pronotum yellow; legs yellow with hind tarsus and apex of hind tibia brownish; mesopleuron honey yellow, with black spots ventrally and medially, mesonotum black with its sides and a spot medially yellow, metapleuron dark brown, propodeum black; metasoma mostly yellow except T1 darker medially and T3–T6 black dorsally, ovipositor sheath black.
Male: Similar to female, except: body length 2.75 mm; mesosoma length 1.11 mm; face height 0.6 × its maximum width; clypeus height 0.5 × its width; malar space 0.4 × eye height; eye height 1.5 × its length; ocell-ocular distance 1.8 × ocellar diameter; temple length 1.0 × eye length in dorsal view; mesoscutum width 1.2 × its length; vein r length 0.1 stigma length; areolae of propodeum poorly defined.
Examined Material: Holotype female: DCBU100918, Itatiaia, RJ, Brazil, PARNA de Itatiaia, Projeto Pensa rio-Hympar, S 22° 24’ 10.6” W 44° 38’ 28.3”, Armadilha Malaise 06, 2061 m, 04.ix.2014, R.F. Monteiro col.
Paratypes: 2 females: DCBU100919, Itatiaia, RJ, Brazil, PARNA de Itatiaia, Projeto Pensa Rio-Hymapr, S 22° 23’ 38.9” W 44° 39’ 59.7”, Armadilha Malaise 7, 2255 m, 26.vi.2014, R.F. Monteiro col., DCBU 100920, Itatiaia, RJ, Brazil, PARNA de Itatiaia, Projeto Pensa Rio- Hympar, S 22° 26’ 1.4” W 44° 36’ 49.5”, Armadilha Malaise 1, 1070m, 07.vii.2013, R.F. Monteiro col. 1 male: DCBU 109826, Itatiaia, RJ, Brazil, PARNA de Itatiaia, Projeto Pensa Rio- Hympar, S 22° 23’ 38.9” W 44° 39’ 59.7”, Armadilha Malaise 07, 2255m, 30.v.2014, R.F. Monteiro col.
Etymology: The specific epithet for this species is from the Latin word “bellus” meaning beautiful, in reference to its colorful and contrasting body color pattern.
description: Published as part of Román, Andrea C., Almeida, Luis Felipe Ventura De, Penteado-Dias, Angelica, Shaw, Scott Richard & Sarmiento, Carlos E., 2025, Analysis of morphological variation and description of fifteen new species of the genus Centistes Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Euphorinae: Centistini) with a key of the South American species, pp. 1-46 in Zootaxa 5613 (1) on pages 13-15, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5613.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/15215673