Asobara kovacsi
Creators: name: Peris-Felipo, Francisco Javier
name: Achterberg, Cornelis Van
name: Belokobylskij, Sergey A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Asobara
Asobara kovacsi

description: Asobara kovacsi (Papp, 1966)
Figs 33–34
Phaenocarpa kovacsi Papp, 1966: 135.
Phaenocarpa kovacsi – Shenefelt 1974: 1010.
Asobara kovacsi Fischer, 1994: 775.
Asobara kovacsi – Fischer 2007: 860. — Yu et al. 2016.
Material examined
Holotype UGANDA • ♀; “ Katona, Mujenje ”; Aug. 1913; Hym. Typ. No. 1723; HNHM.
Paratype ETHIOPIA • 1 ♀; “ Abyssinia, Kovacs, Jerrer-völgy ”; 10 Jul. 1911; Hym. Typ. No. 1724; HNHM.
Additional Material examined
SOUTH AFRICA • 1 ♀; Natal, Van Reenen Drakensberg; Nov. 1926; R.E. Turner leg.; BMNH 1926- 499 • 1 ♂; same locality as preceding; 1–22 Jan. 1927; BMNH 1927-54.
Redescription
Female (holotype)
LENGTH. Body 3.0 mm, fore wing 3.2 mm, hind wing 2.0 mm.
HEAD. In dorsal view, 1.2 times as wide as long, 1.5 times as wide as mesoscutum, smooth, with temple rounded behind eyes. Eye in lateral view 1.9 times as wide as temple medially. Face 1.4 times as wide as high. Clypeus 2.7 times as wide as high. Mandible 1.8 times as long as its maximum width. Upper tooth wide; middle tooth rather wide and long; lower tooth wide. Antennae 29-segmented. First flagellar segment 3.3 times as long as its apical width; 2 nd segment 6.6 times and 3 rd segment 5.0 times as long as their maximum width.
MESOSOMA. In lateral view 1.5 times as long as high. Mesoscutum (in dorsal view) 0.9 times as long as its maximum width. Notauli mainly absent on horizontal surface of mesoscutum. Mesoscutal pit present, oval-elongate. Prescutellar depression smooth, without lateral carinae, about as long as its maximum width. Precoxal sulcus present, crenulate, reaching anterior and posterior margins of mesopleuron. Posterior mesopleural furrow crenulate. Propodeum smooth, with short medio-longitudinal carina and short transverse carinae reaching or not reaching lateral border of propodeum. Propodeal spiracle small, its diameter 0.2 times distance from spiracle to anterior margin of propodeum.
WINGS. Marginal cell ending at apex of wing, 3.7 times as long as its maximum width. Vein r shorter than pterostigma width. Vein 3-SR 6.6 times as long as vein r, 1.4 times as long as vein 2-SR. Vein SR1 1.8 times as long as vein 3-SR.
LEGS. Hind femur 3.9 times as long as its maximum width.
METASOMA. First tergite weakly widened towards apex, 1.1 times as long as its apical width, weakly striate. Visible part of ovipositor sheath 3.3 times as long as 1 st tergite, about as long as metasoma, 1.4 times as long as hind femur.
COLOUR. Body, antenna, legs and pterostigma light brown to brown. Head dark brown. In dorsal view, head darker than mesoscutum. First–third metasomal tergites similarly coloured. Wings hyaline.
VARIATION. Body 2.9–3.3 mm, fore wing 3.0– 3.2 mm, hind wing 2.0– 2.1 mm.Antennae 27–29-segmented. Mandible 1.7–1.8 times as long as its maximum width Second flagellar segment 5.7–6.0 times as long as its maximum width. Vein SR1 1.8–1.9 times as long as vein 3-SR. Hind femur 3.9–4.0 times as long as its maximum width. First tergite 1.1–1.2 times as long as its apical width. Visible part of ovipositor sheath 3.1–3.3 times as long as 1 st tergite, 0.8–1.0 times as long as metasoma, 1.4–1.5 times as long as hind femur.
Male
Length. Body 2.8 mm, fore wing 3.0 mm, hind wing 2.0 mm. Antennae more than 15-segmented (apical segments missing). First flagellar segment 4.0 times as long as width; 2 nd segment 5.0 times and 3 rd segment 6.8 times as long as their maximum width. Hind femur 4.0 times as long as its maximum width. Otherwise similar to female.
Comparative diagnosis
This species is similar to A. zimbabwana sp. nov., but differs from it in having the 1 st metasomal tergite as long as its apical width (1.5 times in A. zimbabwana sp. nov.), antennae without pale antennal segments apically (with pale apical segments in A. zimbabwana sp. nov.), 1 st flagellar segment 3.3 times as long as its maximum width (4.0 times in A. zimbabwana sp. nov.), and visible part of ovipositor sheath 1.4 times as long as metasoma in lateral view (0.3 times in A. zimbabwana sp. nov.).
Distribution
Ethiopia, South Africa (new record), Uganda.
description: Published as part of Peris-Felipo, Francisco Javier, Achterberg, Cornelis Van & Belokobylskij, Sergey A., 2019, Revision of the Afrotropical Asobara Foerster, 1863 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Alysiinae), with the descriptions of twenty five new species, pp. 1-146 in European Journal of Taxonomy 557 on pages 25-26, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2019.557, http://zenodo.org/record/3467434