Colastes (Colastes) semiflavus 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 semiflavus

description: Colastes (Colastes) semiflavus Belokobylskij & Ku sp. nov.
Figs 3, 4
Type material.
Holotype • female, “ Korea (GN) [= Gyeongsangnam-do]. Namhae-gun, Seo-myeon, Nogu-ri, Temple Mangunsa, 15.X–14.XI.2022 (Malaise trap), Deokseo Ku, Jaehyeon Lee, Hyojin Jeong (NIBR).
Description.
Female. Body length 2.8 mm; fore wing length 2.9 mm. Head width 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 1.6 × longer than temple (dorsal view). Ocelli small, arranged in triangle with base 1.2 × its sides. POL 1.5 × Od, 0.8 × OOL. Eye oval, glabrous, 1.25 × as high as broad (lateral view). Malar space ~ 0.4 × height of eye, almost equal to basal width of mandible. Malar suture indistinct. Face width 1.4 × height of face and clypeus combined, equal to height of eye. Hypoclypeal depression circular, its width 1.1 × distance from edge of depression to eye, 0.4 × width of face. Head distinctly and almost linearly narrowed below eyes. Antenna weakly thickened, almost filiform, 28 - segmented, ~ 1.2 × longer than body. First flagellar segment 3.3 × longer than its apical width, 1.2 × longer than second segment. Penultimate segment 2.3 × longer than wide, ~ 0.6 × as long as first segment, 0.9 × as long as apical segment; the latter acuminate apically and with short ‘ spine’.
Mesosoma 1.9 × longer than its height. Pronotum dorsally with shallow and sculptured transverse groove, with weak transverse pronotal carina. Mesoscutum highly and curvedly elevated above prothorax. Notauli complete, deep in anterior 0.6, shallow in posterior 0.4, crenulate anteriorly. Prescutellar depression short, distinctly crenulate, ~ 0.2 × as long as scutellum. Scutellum without transverse furrow and smooth posteriorly. Precoxal sulcus absent. Wings. Fore wing 2.7 × longer than maximum width. Pterostigma relatively wide, 4.2 × its maximum width, 0.8 × as long as metacarp (1 - R 1). Radial vein (r) arising weakly before middle of pterostigma, from its basal ~ 0.45. Second radial abscissa (3 - SR) 2.8 × longer than first abscissa (r) and forming very obtuse angle with it, 0.5 × as long as the straight third abscissa (SR 1), 1.3 × longer than first radiomedial vein (2 - SR). Recurrent vein (m-cu) distinctly antefurcal. Second radiomedial (submarginal) cell not narrowed distally, its length 2.6 × maximum width, 1.9 × 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) 0.6 × nervulus (cu-a) length. Parallel vein (CU 1 a) arising from posterior 0.4 of distal margin (3 - CU 1) of brachial (subdiscal) cell. Brachial (subdiscal) cell distinctly widened distally. In hind wing, first abscissa of mediocubital vein (M + CU) ~ 0.9 × as long as second abscissa (1 - M). First abscissa of costal vein (C + SC + R) approx. as long as second abscissa (1 - SC + R). Recurrent vein (m-cu) long, unsclerotised, weakly antefurcal, weakly curved. Legs. Hind femur 5.0 × longer than wide. Inner spur of hind tibia ~ 0.2 × as long as hind basitarsus. Hind tarsus as long as hind tibia. Hind basitarsus 0.7 × as long as combined length of second to fifth segments. Second tarsal segment of hind leg 0.45 × as long as basitarsus, 1.7 × as long as fifth segment (without pretarsus).
Metasoma ~ 0.9 × as long as head and mesosoma combined. First tergite comparatively slender, evenly and almost linearly widened from base to apex, with very weak spiracular tubercles, with dorsal carinae distinct in anterior 0.3 and connected subbasally by additional transverse carina. Length of first tergite 1.25 × its anterior width, anterior width 1.7 × its posterior width. Second suture distinct, wide, almost straight, rugulose. Medial length of second tergite 0.8 × its anterior width, 1.3 × length of third tergite. Setose part of ovipositor sheath 0.2 × as long as metasoma, almost as long as first tergite, almost equal to hind basitarsus, ~ 0.1 × as long as fore wing.
Sculpture and pubescence. Vertex and temple smooth; face densely granulate in lateral lower 0.6, smooth or almost smooth on remaining part. Mesoscutum mainly smooth, with striation in medio-posterior 0.4; scutellum and mesopleuron smooth. Metapleuron widely smooth in anterior 0.5–0.6, rugulose-reticulate on remaining posterior part. Propodeum mainly rugose-reticulate, smooth in narrow anterior part, with distinct medial carina in anterior 1 / 2, areola small and weakly delineated by carinae. Legs (including hind coxa) entirely smooth. First metasomal tergite entirely and densely rugose-striate; second tergite entirely distinctly striate, almost without reticulation; third tergite rugose-reticulate in anterior 0.3–0.4, remaining part smooth. Remaining tergites smooth. Mesoscutum mainly glabrous, with sparse, semi-erect, short and pale setae arranged along notauli and in medio-posterior area. Hind tibia dorsally with short, dense and semi-erect brownish setae, length of these setae ~ 0.5 × as long as maximum width of hind tibia.
Colour. Head, mesosoma, first and anterior 1 / 2 of second metasomal tergites black; remaining part of metasoma yellow to brownish yellow. Antenna mainly dark brown to black, two basal segments yellowish brown with faint infuscation. Palpi pale yellow. Legs mainly yellow, hind tibia in distal 1 / 2 and hind tarsus brown. Wings hyaline. Pterostigma pale brown.
Male. Unknown.
Discussion.
This new species is very similar to C. (C.) ussuricus Belokobylskij, 1996, but differs from later by having the face width 1.4 × height of face and clypeus combined (1.1–1.2 × in C. ussuricus), antenna 28 - segmented (32–35 - segmented in C. ussuricus), tergites behind third tergite entirely smooth (fourth in basal 1 / 2 and fifth basally striate in C. ussuricus), metasoma in posterior 1 / 2 yellow to brownish yellow (metasoma black or sometimes partly dark reddish brown in C. ussuricus).
Colastes (C.) semiflavus sp. nov. is also close to C. (C.) interdictus Belokobylskij, 1998, but differs from later by having the face densely granulate in lower 0.6 (in lower 0.3 in C. interdictus), the first flagellar segment 3.3 × longer than its apical width (4.0–5.0 × in C. interdictus), penultimate segment of antenna 2.3 × longer than wide (3.0 × in C. interdictus), prescutellar depression short (relatively long in C. interdictus), radial vein (r) of fore wing arising from basal 0.45 of pterostigma (from basal 0.3 of pterostigma in C. interdictus), third metasomal tergite rugose-reticulate in anterior 0.3–0.4 (third tergite entirely smooth or only sometimes with short striae basally in C. interdictus), metasoma yellow to brownish yellow in posterior 0.5–0.6 (pale reddish brown behind first tergite in C. interdictus), and hind tibia in distal 1 / 2 and hind tarsus brown (hind legs entirely yellow in C. interdictus).
Etymology.
Named from the combination of the Latin words semi (half) and flavus (yellow) because metasoma is yellow in its posterior half.
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