Apanteles altus 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 altus

description: Apanteles altus Liu & Chen, sp. nov.   
(Figures 3, 98)  
 Description. Holotype. Female. Body length 2.5 mm, fore wing length 3.0 mm.   
 Head. Transverse in dorsal view, 2.0× as wide as long, hardly 0.9× as wide as mesoscutum. Vertex between eye and posterior ocellus somewhat shiny, densely, shallowly punctate. Temple slightly shiny, rough, indefinitely punctate, with transverse striation at the bottom, slightly constricted. Face 0.8× as high as wide, somewhat dull and almost impunctate, weakly striation near antennal socket, inner margin of eyes, slightly but distinctly, constricted towards apex, sparsely pubescent. Ocelli not large, posterior tangent to anterior ocellus just touching posterior ocelli, distance between fore and hind ocellus nearly as long as diameter of hind ocellus, POL:OD:OOL=5.0:2.5:4.5. Antenna nearly as long as body length, thick, loosely articulated, penultimate flagellomere subcubic.   
 Mesosoma. Length:width:height = 50.0:32.8:35.0. Disc of mesonotum slightly shiny with small punctures, weakly rugulose and confluent at end of notaulic courses, without longitudinal striations, interspaces not smaller than diameter of puncture. Scutellar sulcus slightly curved, narrow with carinae inside. Scutellum with satin-like sheen, superficially punctate, convex, median length not longer than basal width. Lateral polished field of scutellum reaching over half length of scutellum. Propodeum dull and strongly rugose-punctate anterio-laterally, areolation well defined with V-shaped apex and short medial keel basally, costulae wanting, spiracle enclosed by strong keels, shiny and polished inside areolation and posterio-laterally. Mesopleuron with satin-like sheen, anterior part with distinct, fine punctures, extremely weakly strigulate on sternaulus.   
 Legs. Hind femur relatively thick, 2.8× longer than wide. Hind coxa somewhat shiny with strong, large punctures above (basally). Spines on outer side of third tibia stout, dense. Inner spurs of hind tibia half length of hind basitarsus, outer spur 0.3. Basitarsus of hind leg slightly longer than tarsomeres 2–4 combined (19.0:18.0), claws of normal size.   
 Wings. Pterostigma 2.9× as long as its widest part. Vein 1-R1 almost as long as pterostigma, nearly 3.0× as long as its distance from apex of marginal cell. Vein r arising from middle of pterostigma, nearly perpendicular to the latter, almost as long as width of pterostigma, r weakly longer than 2-SR, distinctly angled at junction, 2-M half length of 2-SR, and weakly shorter than 2-SR+M, the latter as long as 1-SR, and cu-a slightly shorter than 2-SR. First discal cell of fore wing 1.2× wider than high. Second submarginal cell of hind wing weakly (1.1×) wider than high. Vein cu-a curved. Hind wing broad, length of 1-M much shorter than distance between its distal extremity and apex of vannal lobe, and vannal lobe beyond its widest concave and without setae.   
 Metasoma. Nearly as long as mesosoma (48.0:50.0). T1 parallel-sided, long, 1.5× longer than hind width, concave at basal third, turned-over part nearly quadrate, shiny and shallowly punctate medially, weakly longitudinally striate laterally, apical trough broad and smooth, apical tubercle shiny and polished. T2 shiny and smooth, transverse, 4.4× wider than long in the middle, nearly straight apically. T3 1.9× longer than T2. Tergites posterior to T2 shiny, smooth, pubescent. Hypopygium slightly longer than apex of metasoma. Ovipositor sheath slightly longer than length of hind tibia. Ovipositor relative thick, without apical attenuation.   
 Colour. Black. Tegula black. Palpi and spurs pale yellowish. Antenna and ovipositor sheath dark brown. Labrum and mandible dark reddish brown. Legs black, except most part of fore femur, fore tibia with tarsus yellow, middle tibia with tarsus pale yellowish brown, basal half of hind tibia and basal half of hind basitarsus yellowish brown. Wing membrane hyaline, vein C+SC+R, 1-R1, border of pterostigma, r, 2-SR and 2-M brown, pterostigma whitish yellow and the rest more or less pale yellowish.   
 Variation. Body length 2.0– 3.3 mm, fore wing length 2.1–3.2 mm. Some specimens with pallid or pale yellow pterostigma and T1 slightly narrower.   
 Male. Unknown.   
 Material examined. Holotype: 1♀, Qingliangfeng, Lin’an, Zhejiang, 2005.VIII.8, Zhang Hongying, No. 200607096. Paratypes: 3♀♀, Jianyang, Fujian, 1985.X, Liu Fuming, Nos. 854149, 854132, 854139; 1♀, Mt. Longqi, Jiangle, Fujian, 1991.VII.8, ditto, No. 20006910; 1♀, Yongchun, Fujian, 1985.IX.8, Chen Xijin, No. 9610286; 1♀, Rongshui, Guangxi, 2003.VIII.5, Wang Yiping, No. 20038038; 1♀, Zhangjiashan Park, Yaan, Sichuan, 2006.VII.14, Zhang Hongying, No. 2006135451 ♀, Wencheng, Zhejiang, 1985.IX, Liu Fuming, No. 853100.   
 Distribution. China (Fujian, Guangxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang).   
 Etymology. The specific name “ altus ” derives from the Latin, referring to the hind coxa with strong and large punctures above (basally).   
 Remarks. This species is similar to A. oenone Nixon, but differs in the following: metacarp at most 3.0× as long as its distance from apex of marginal cell (4.0× in latter); vertex densely, shallowly punctate (rugose in latter); and antenna thick (rather thin 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 17-19, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4807.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3927639