Apanteles palliditegula Liu & Chen 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Liu, Zhen
name: He, Jun-Hua
name: Chen, Xue-Xin
name: Gupta, Ankita
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Apanteles
Apanteles palliditegula

description: Apanteles palliditegula Liu & Chen, sp. nov.   
(Figures 94, 103)  
 Description. Holotype. Female. Body length 2.0 mm, fore wing length 2.2 mm.   
 Head. Transverse in dorsal view, nearly 2.1× as wide as long, weakly wider than mesoscutum. Vertex between eye and posterior ocellus slightly shiny without puncture. Temple dull with shallow punctures, strongly constricted. Face 0.7× as high as wide, slightly shiny, rough without punctation, inner margin of eyes slightly constricted towards apex. Ocelli very small, posterior tangent to anterior ocellus virtually transecting posterior ocelli, distance between fore and hind ocellus larger than diameter of hind ocellus, POL:OD:OOL=5.0:1.5:3.5. Last nine flagellomeres missing, basal flagellomere 2.4× longer than wide.   
 Mesosoma. Length:width:height = 35.0:24.0:24.0. Disc of mesonotum dull, with close and strong punctures, interspaces shorter than diameter of puncture, impunctate posterio-laterally, rugose-punctation at posterior end of notaulic courses. Scutellar sulcus slightly curved, narrow with carinae in between. Scutellum shiny and polished entirely. Lateral polished field of scutellum reaching over half length of scutellum. Propodeum shiny, two short arms reaching out from orifice, spiracle not enclosed with keels, almost smooth entirely. Mesopleuron highly polished, anterior parts with extremely shallow punctures.   
 Legs. Hind coxa slightly shiny without puncture. Spines on outer side of third tibia long and sparse. Inner spur nearly half length of hind basitarsus, outer spur 2/5. Basitarsus of hind leg almost as long as tarsomeres 2–4 combined, claws slightly longer.   
 Wings. Pterostigma 2.5× as long as its widest part. Vein 1-R1 indistinctly longer than pterostigma, 2.0× as long as its distance from apex of marginal cell. Vein r arising from middle of pterostigma, nearly perpendicular to it, and as long as width of pterostigma, 1.3× longer than 2-SR, actually curved at junction, 2-M half length of 2-SR, weakly shorter than 1-SR, 2-SR+M as long as m-cu. 1st discal cell of fore wing 1.2× wider than high. Second submarginal cell of hind wing 1.5× wider than high. Vein cu-a slightly curved. Hind wing not broad, 1-M hardly shorter than distance between its distal extremity and apex of vannal lobe, and vannal lobe beyond its widest part slightly straight and hairless.   
 Metasoma. As long as mesosoma. T1 parallel-sided, except weakly constricted at apex, 1.6× longer than hind width, concave at basal half, turned-over part dull with extremely shallow punctation, longitudinal channel indistinct, and apical tubercle polished. T2 slightly shiny and smooth, 4.3× wider than long in the middle, curved into T3 apically. T3 2.3× longer than T2. Tergites posterior to T2 highly polished, shiny, and pubescent. Hypopygium not longer than apex of metasoma. Ovipositor sheath slightly shorter than length of hind tibia, narrow of even size, hairs sparse and long, ovipositor strongly curved from base.   
 Colour. Black, tergites posterior to T1 brownish. Tegula pale yellowish. Labial palpi brown, maxillary and spurs pale yellowish. Antenna and ovipositor sheath brown. Labrum and mandible reddish brown. Legs reddish brown, except fore and mid tibia with tarsus yellowish brown. Wing membrane hyaline, 1-R1, C+SC+R, border of pterostigma, r, 2-SR and 2-M light yellowish brown, other alar veins more or less colourless, pterostigma pallid.   
 Variation. Body length 2.0– 2.1 mm, fore wing length 2.1–2.2 mm.   
 Male. Body length 2.1 mm, fore wing length 2.1 mm. Similar to female, except: colouration of vein C+SC+R, border of pterostigma, r, 2-SR and 2-M much lighter to pale, basal flagellomere 3.3× longer than wide, and T2 3.0× wider than long in the middle.   
 Host. Unknown, but it is collected from peanut field.   
 Material examined. Holotype: 1♀, Yacheng, Guangdong, 1966.V.25, He Junhua, No. 66021.18. Paratype: 1♂, ditto.   
 Distribution. China (Guangdong).   
 Etymology. The specific name “ palliditegula ” derives from the Latin “pallidus” and “tegula”, referring to the pale yellowish tegula.   
 Remarks. This species is similar to A. setosus Liu & Chen, sp. nov., but differs in the following: pubescence on disc of mesonotum normal (much longer and silky on posterior half in latter); scutellum shiny and polished entirely (with long pubescence and distinctly punctate in latter); and tegula pale (dark brown in latter).
description: Published as part of Liu, Zhen, He, Jun-Hua, Chen, Xue-Xin & Gupta, Ankita, 2020, The ater-group of the genus Apanteles Foerster (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from China with the descriptions of forty-eight new species, pp. 1-205 in Zootaxa 4807 (1) on pages 189-191, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4807.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3927639