Phytodieus (Weisia) kasarani Varga & Kostro-Ambroziak 2020, sp. n.
Creators: name: Varga, Oleksandr
name: Kostro-Ambroziak, Agata
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Ichneumonidae
Phytodieus
Phytodieus kasarani

description: Phytodieus (Weisia) kasarani Varga & Kostro-Ambroziak, sp. n. (Figs 1–2)
Material examined. Holotype. KENYA: female, nr. Nairobi, Kasarani, ICIPE, Duduville campus, ‘ Eco-farm’, 1°13’18.0”S, 36°53’48.0”E, 16–21.xii.2012, leg. A. Gumovsky (deposited in: SIZK).
Diagnosis. Phytodietus kasarani sp. n. can be easily distinguished from other congeners from the Afrotropical region by the combination of the following characters: fore wing with areolet opened (vein 3 rs-m absent), epicnemial carina present, propodeum and first metasomal tergite entirely black.
Description. Female. Holotype (Fig. 8). Body length approximately 4.5 mm.
Head (Figs 1B, D). Face about 0.6× as long as wide, convex medially, smooth, densely punctate. Clypeus 0.7× as long as wide, evenly convex, without transverse bend, smooth, sparsely punctate; apical margin weakly rounded, without a central notch. Upper tooth of mandible slightly longer than lower tooth. Malar space 0.5× basal width of mandible, subocular groove present. Frons and vertex smooth, densely punctate, but punctures weak. Area between ocelli swollen, granulate, impunctate (Figs 1D; 2B). Antenna with 30 flagellomeres, first flagellomere 7.0× as long as wide, flagellomeres 1 to 4 unspecialized, not broader than distal one. Occipital carina distinct and complete, its lower end weak, joining hypostomal carina far from the mandibular base. Temples behind eyes strongly narrowed, but finely curved (Fig. 1D).
Mesosoma (Figs 2A, B, C) smooth and impunctate, sparsely pubescent. Propleuron smooth, densely punctate and pubescent. Pronotum smooth, impunctate, epomia absent. Mesoscutum 1.2× as long as wide, smooth with only traces of punctures on proximal and lateral parts; notauli absent. Scutellum and metascutellum smooth (Fig. 2B). Mesopleuron smooth, indistinctly punctate ventrally. Epicnemial carina present laterally, but short and visible only on central part of mesopleuron. Metapleuron smooth, indistinctly punctate distally; submetapleural carina complete and strong, but not forming a lobe in front of mid coxae. Propodeum smooth, impunctate, with carinae absent; pleural carina absent, with only a distinct groove after spiracles indicating a place of this carina (Fig. 2A).
Legs slender, hind femur 6.0× as long as wide. Hind tibia with relatively strong bristles. Lateral spur of hind tibia 0.6× as long as first metatarsus. Hind tarsus with fifth tarsomere 0.75× as long as third tarsomere; tarsal claws pectinate to apex.
Wings (Figs 1A, 2A, E). Fore wing 3.5 mm, with marginal cell 2.6× as long as wide; areolet opened (3 rs-m absent); distance between 2 rs-m and 2 m-cu 2.0× length of 2 rs-m; M distinct; cu-a nearly vertical, opposite to Rs&M. Hind wing 1.9 mm, with a second abscissa of Cu 1 absent, first abscissa of Cu 1 joining cu-a in a straight line.
Metasoma (Figs 1A, C; 2A, C) generally smooth, impunctate, densely pubescent. First tergite 1.8× as long as apical width; median basal pit of first tergite shallow; median dorsal carinae absent; dorsolateral carinae present only proximally, not reaching spiracles; glymmae present; dorsolateral edge of first tergite a little angled from base to spiracle, from spiracle to apex rather rounded. Second tergite 0.6× as long as apical width, smooth. The remaining tergites the same sculpture as previous tergites. Ovipositor 1.8× as long as hind tibia, with the apical teeth (Fig. 2D); ovipositor sheath (one lost) densely pubescent.
Colour. Head yellow, with exception of frons and occiput black; antenna (except first flagellomere dorsally) and mandibles apically brownish. Mesosoma generally ivory with black marks (Figs 2 A–C). Coxae, trochanters and trochantelli ivory with black marks on outher side. Fore and mid femora with narrow black line dorsally; hind femur and all tibiae widely brown dorsally, hind tarsus brownish. Wings hyaline. Metasoma generally black dorsally: first tergite entirely black, tegites 2–3 apicolaterally yellow, the remaining tergites pale yellow laterally. Ovipositor sheath dark brown.
Male. Unknown.
Distribution. Kenya.
Etymology. This species is named after the type locality.
description: Published as part of Varga, Oleksandr & Kostro-Ambroziak, Agata, 2020, The genus Phytodietus Gravenhorst, 1829 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae Tryphoninae) in Kenya, with the description of a new species, pp. 196-200 in Zootaxa 4778 (1) on pages 197-200, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4778.1.8, http://zenodo.org/record/3823730