Colastes (Colastes) fragiloides Belokobylskij & Ku 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Belokobylskij, Sergey A.
name: Ku, Deokseo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Colastes
Colastes fragiloides

description: Colastes (Colastes) fragiloides Belokobylskij & Ku sp. nov.
Figs 1, 2
Type material.
Holotype • female, “ Korea (GN) Namhae-gun, Seo-myeon, Nogu-ri, Temple Mangunsa 15.X–14.XI.2022 (Malaise trap), Deokseo Ku, Jaehyeon Lee, Hyojin Jeong, ” (NIBR). Paratypes • 3 females, with same label as in holotype (SMNE, ZISP).
Description.
Female. Body length 2.1–2.5 mm; fore wing length 2.2–2.8 mm. Head width 1.7–1.8 × its medial length (dorsal view), 1.2 × wider than mesoscutum. Temple behind eye weakly convex in anterior 1 / 2 and distinctly curvedly narrowed in posterior 1 / 2. Transverse diameter of eye 1.1–1.3 × longer than temple (dorsal view). Ocelli small, arranged almost in equilateral triangle. POL approximately equal to Od, 0.3–0.4 × OOL. Eye oval, glabrous, 1.25 – l. 30 × as high as broad (lateral view). Malar space ~ 0.4 × height of eye, 1.0–1.2 × basal width of mandible. Malar suture indistinct or very shallow. Face width 1.1–1.2 × height of face and clypeus combined, almost equal to height of eye. Hypoclypeal depression suboval, its width 1.0–1.1 × distance from edge of depression to eye, ~ 0.4 × width of face. Head distinctly and almost linearly narrowed below eyes. Antenna rather slender, filiform, 28–29 - segmented, 1.2–1.3 × longer than body. First flagellar segment 4.0–4.5 × longer than its apical width, 1.05–1.15 × longer than second segment. Penultimate segment 2.8–3.0 × longer than wide, ~ 0.6 × as long as first segment, 0.9–1.0 × as long as apical segment; the latter acuminate apically and without spine.
Mesosoma 1.9–2.0 × longer than its height. Pronotum dorsally with wide, lens-shaped shallow sculptured transverse groove, with distinct and curved medially transverse carina. Mesoscutum distinctly and curvedly elevated above prothorax. Notauli distinct in anterior 0.6, shallow to almost partly absent in posterior 0.4, entirely smooth. Prescutellar depression distinctly rugulose-crenulate, 0.3–0.4 × as long as scutellum. Scutellum without transverse furrow and smooth posteriorly. Precoxal sulcus absent. Wings. Fore wing 2.6–2.8 × longer than its maximum width. Pterostigma narrow, 6.0–7.0 × its maximum width, 0.8–0.9 × as long as metacarp (1 - R 1). Radial vein (r) arising before middle of pterostigma, from its basal 0.3. Second radial abscissa (3 - SR) 2.0–2.7 × longer than first abscissa (r) and forming obtuse angle with it, 0.45–0.50 × as long as the straight third abscissa (SR 1), 1.3–1.4 × longer than first radiomedial vein (2 - SR). Recurrent vein (m-cu) weakly antefurcal. Second radiomedial (submarginal) cell weakly or very weakly narrowed distally, its length 2.4–2.6 × maximum width, 1.7–1.8 × longer than brachial (subdiscal) cell. First abscissa of medial vein (1 - SR + M) weakly sinuate. Distance (1 - CU 1) from nervulus (cu-a) to basal vein (1 - M) 2.0–2.3 × nervulus (cu-a) length. Parallel vein (CU 1 a) arising from posterior 0.3 of distal margin (3 - CU 1) of brachial (subdiscal) cell. In hind wing, first abscissa of mediocubital vein (M + CU) ~ 0.8 × as long as second abscissa (1 - M). First abscissa of costal vein (C + SC + R) 0.5 × as long as second abscissa (1 - SC + R). Recurrent vein (m-cu) short or very short, sclerotised, weakly antefurcal. Legs. Hind femur 5.2–5.5 × longer than wide. Inner spur of hind tibia ~ 0.2 × as long as hind basitarsus. Hind tarsus as long as hind tibia. Hind basitarsus 0.6 × as long as combined length of second to fifth segments. Second tarsal segment of hind leg 0.5 × as long as basitarsus, 1.5–1.7 × as long as fifth segment (without pretarsus).
Metasoma as long as head and mesosoma combined. First tergite slender, evenly and linearly widened from base to apex, with weak spiracular tubercles, with dorsal carinae fused in basal quarter. Length of first tergite 1.2–1.3 × its anterior width, anterior width 2.0–2.2 × its posterior width. Second suture very fine, weakly curved, smooth. Medial length of second tergite 0.80–0.85 × its anterior width, 1.2–1.3 × length of third tergite. Setose part of ovipositor sheath 0.3–0.4 × as long as metasoma, 1.2–1.6 × longer than first tergite, 1.1–1.6 × hind basitarsus, 0.15–0.20 × as long as fore wing.
Sculpture and pubescence. Vertex and temple smooth; face smooth in upper half and densely reticulate-granulate in lower half or in lower lateral 0.7. Mesoscutum entirely smooth, without medio-posterior sculptured area; scutellum and mesopleuron smooth. Metapleuron almost entirely smooth, weakly rugulose anteriorly and posteriorly. Propodeum with medial carina in anterior 1 / 2, without delineated areas, smooth to almost smooth in anterior 0.3–0.4, densely reticulate-striate posteriorly. Legs smooth. First metasomal tergite entirely and densely rugose-striate; second tergite mostly or entirely smooth, rarely obliquely striate basally in short area. Remaining tergites smooth. Mesoscutum with sparse, semi-erect and long pale setae along notauli. Hind tibia dorsally with short, dense and semi-erect pale setae, length of these setae ~ 0.5 × as long as maximum width of hind tibia.
Colour. Body mainly black; metasoma behind first tergite brown to dark brown. Antennae mainly dark brown to black, four or five basal segments reddish brown. Palpi yellow. Legs mainly yellow, hind coxa basally brown. Wings hyaline. Pterostigma pale yellow.
Male. Unknown.
Discussion.
This new species is very similar to Colastes (Colastes) fragilis (Haliday, 1836), but differs from later by having the first metasomal tergite longer, 1.2–1.3 × longer than its apical width (shorter, not longer than its apical width in C. fragilis), the pronotum dorsally with lens-shaped shallow depression (without depression in C. fragilis), the propodeum mostly smooth in basal areas and with distinct basal carina (entirely rugose-reticulate or smooth only on small anterior areas and without basal carina in C. fragilis), fore wing first abscissa of radial vein (r) long and situated distinctly oblique to pterostigma (short and subvertical or only weakly oblique in C. fragilis), upper part of pronotum side and metapleuron mainly smooth (mainly rugose-reticulate in C. fragilis), and the second tergite sometimes striate medio-basally (entirely smooth in C. fragilis).
Etymology.
Named from a combination of the species name fragilis and the Latin suffix - oides (resembling) because the new species is similar to Colastes fragilis.
Distribution.
Korean peninsula.
description: Published as part of Belokobylskij, Sergey A. & Ku, Deokseo, 2025, Genera Colastes Haliday, Colastinus Belokobylskij, and Xenarcha Foerster (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Exothecinae) from the Korean Peninsula with a discussion on the Exothecinae genus and subgenus composition, pp. 141-183 in ZooKeys 1236 on pages 141-183, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1236.148928