Apanteles pellucidus Slater-Baker, Fagan-Jeffries, Fernandez-Triana, Portmann & Oestmann 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Slater-Baker, Mollie-Rosae
name: Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P.
name: Oestmann, Katherine J.
name: Portmann, Olivia G.
name: Bament, Tiahni M.
name: Howe, Andy G.
name: Guzik, Michelle T.
name: Bradford, Tessa M.
name: McClelland, Alana R.
name: Woodward, Alice
name: Clarke, Sylvia
name: Ducker, Nathan
name: Fernández-Triana, José
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Apanteles
Apanteles pellucidus

description: Apanteles pellucidus Slater-Baker, Fagan-Jeffries, Fernández-Triana, Portmann & Oestmann sp. nov.
Fig. 5 B (distribution), Fig. 52 (holotype)
Type material.
Holotype. Australia • ♀; QLD, Kuranda; - 16.8154, 145.643; 16 Mar. 2017; M. S. Moulds leg.; Malaise trap; BOLD Process ID: AUMIC 333-18; QM: T 261207.
Diagnostic description.
Size: Total body length: 2.1 mm; fore wing length: 2.3 mm. Head: anterior scape colour similar or only very slightly paler than head colour; F 2 L / W ratio: 2.9. Mesosoma: scutoscutellar sulcus with nine pits; mesoscutellar disc mostly smooth, or with very shallow scattered indentations; propodeal areola complete, or mostly so; propodeum mostly rugose; coxae colour (pro, meso, meta): dark all; metafemur colour mostly dark. Wings: centre of pterostigma paler (more hyaline) than outer edges; fore wing r vein length / 2 RS vein length ratio: 0.6. Metasoma: T 1 shape mostly parallel, T 1 medial length / anterior width between 1–2 × longer than wide; mostly rugose; T 2 mostly smooth; ovipositor sheath length / metatibia length ratio: 0.9.
Apanteles pellucidus can be separated from most of the other described species of Apanteles known from Australia with a dark metafemur and metacoxa and the centre of the pterostigma pale / hyaline by fore wing vein 1 CUa pigmented whilst fore wing veins M + CU and 1 M pigmented no more than half of their lengths. We do not morphologically diagnose this species against A. rufiterra, but as the species are not closely related based on molecular data, they can be identified through DNA barcoding and the placement of the sequences on a phylogeny in the context of the holotype barcodes.
Etymology.
The species epithet is a Latin adjective meaning ‘ clear / transparent’ and relates to the hyaline centre of the pterostigma.
Distribution.
Apanteles pellucidus is currently only known from one collection locality in northeastern QLD.
Molecular information.
The holotype sequence of Apanteles pellucidus is currently in BIN BOLD: ADL 5338. The COI sequence is at least 8 % divergent from any of the other species treated here, or any available sequence on BOLD. The wg sequence of the holotype is at least 5 bp different to any other species. Most delimitation methods resolved A. pellucidus as a discrete species, however and wg ASAP grouped the species with A. amicalis and A. sp. MRSB 26 (undescribed lineage).
description: Published as part of Slater-Baker, Mollie-Rosae, Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P., Oestmann, Katherine J., Portmann, Olivia G., Bament, Tiahni M., Howe, Andy G., Guzik, Michelle T., Bradford, Tessa M., McClelland, Alana R., Woodward, Alice, Clarke, Sylvia, Ducker, Nathan & Fernández-Triana, José, 2025, DNA barcoding, integrative taxonomy, citizen science, and Bush Blitz surveys combine to reveal 34 new species of Apanteles (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) in Australia, pp. 1-128 in ZooKeys 1227 on pages 1-128, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1227.130467