Belyta knudhoejgaardi Brazidec & Vilhelmsen 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Brazidec, Manuel
name: Vilhelmsen, Lars
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Diapriidae
Belyta
Belyta knudhoejgaardi

description: Belyta knudhoejgaardi sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 618161BD-F876-422B-9C35-62BAD18B2457
Figs 1A, 2A–D, Table 1
Diagnosis
Head nasiform; antennal shelf strongly projecting forward; scape as long as head; F1 longest; following flagellomere shorter but gradually lengthening (Fig. 2A); mesopleuron with one prominent longitudinal ridge (Fig. 2B); median propodeal keel simple (Fig. 2C); radial cell open, Rs fading before reaching fore margin; marginal vein hardly longer than r-rs (Fig. 1A); petiole 1.7 times as long as wide; gaster fusiform (Fig. 2B–C).
Etymology
We dedicate this species to the Knud Højgaard Foundation, who generously contributed to funding for purchasing the amber pieces studied. The specific epithet is to be treated as a noun in genitive case.
Type material
Holotype NHMD-608408, a complete female; paratype NHMD-608400, a slightly damaged female.
Locality and horizon
Baltic amber is considered to be of Bartonian–Priabonian age, ca 34–38 Ma.
Description
Female
BODY. BL = 4.8–5.3 mm. Body slightly pubescent, smooth and shiny. Head nasiform (HeL = 0.77– 0.89 mm), with sparse short hairs posteriorly; eye almond-shaped, glabrous; antennal shelf strongly prominent; antenna 15-segmented, with short heterogeneous setae; scape as long as head; pedicel thinner; F1 one and a half times as long as pedicel or other flagellomeres; F2–F13 gradually lengthening; F13 tapering at apex and slightly shorter than F1 (antennomere length of holotype, in mm: Sc-0.72; P-0.19; F1-0.29; F2-0.11; F3-0.12; F4-0.11; F5-0.12; F6-0.10; F7-0.11; F8-0.13; F9-0.13; F10-0.14; F11-0.15; F12-0.15; F13-0.28); mandibles simple.
MESOSOMA. Almost as long as metasoma, flattened (MsL = 1.62–1.90 mm); pronotum with epomia extending from front coxa to posterodorsal pronotal corners; posterior margin of pronotum curved; mesoscutum with several hairs; notauli complete and deeply impressed; scutellum without posterior scutellar pits; mesopleuron with prominent longitudinal keel; propodeum with plicae, median propodeal keel simple. Fore wing hyaline, micro-pubescent, extending beyond metasoma (FwL = 2.74–3.78 mm); C, Sc+R, M+Cu, basal vein, marginal vein and r-rs pigmented; marginal vein shorter than its distance from basal vein; postmarginal vein barely longer than r-rs, pigmented on half length of radial cell; Rs nebulous proximally and pigmented distally from r-rs, projecting distally to postmarginal vein but fading before reaching wing margin; radial cell open. Hind wing hyaline, reduced and narrow (HwL =?– 2.39 mm). Legs slender, with hind femur and coxa enlarged, covered with scattered setae; tibial spur formula 1-2-2; tarsal claws simple.
METASOMA. Petiole glabrous, longitudinally striated and with transverse keels, 1.7 times longer (PtL = 0.50 mm) than wide (PtW = 0.30 mm); gaster fusiform, depressed (GL = 1.90–1.95 mm, GH = 0.48– 0.58 mm); S2 and T2 longest, covering two-thirds of gaster, T2 striated at junction with petiole; four ringlike segments distinguishable beyond large tergite, hypopygium bearing several long setae; ovipositor not exerted.
Male
Unknown.
Comments
Using Nixon’s (1957) key, Belyta knudhoejgaardi sp. nov. keys out to Belyta because of the following characters: macropterous, notauli present, mandibles of ordinary form, scutellum without a row of foveae along posterior margin, marginal vein shorter than its distance from basal vein, pronotum elongate, without a hollow on each side (= pronotal pits), epomia present, median keel of propodeum simple, petiole more than one and a half time as long as wide. The flattened body is generally accepted to diagnose Belyta spp. (Macek 1996) and is present in Belyta knudhoejgaardi, strengthening the placement of the species in Belyta.
Following the key to European species of Belyta of Macek (1996), Belyta knudhoejgaardi sp. nov. keys out between B. subclausa Kieffer, 1916 and B. validicornis Thomson, 1858. It differs from the first by having a marked epomia and from the second by having the median propodeal keel simple (Macek 1996). The diagnostic character for Belyta knudhoejgaardi is the curiously marked longitudinal keel on the mesopleuron, which is absent in other species of Belyta. From the Eocene of Florissant is known B. mortuella Brues, 1910 (attributed to Belyta s. lat.), which differs from B. knudhoejgaardi by being shorter and having a less flattened body (Brues 1910).
description: Published as part of Brazidec, Manuel & Vilhelmsen, Lars, 2022, New species of belytine and diapriine wasps (Hymenoptera: Diapriidae) from Eocene Baltic amber, pp. 57-86 in European Journal of Taxonomy 813 on pages 61-62, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2022.813.1733, http://zenodo.org/record/6468167