Trigastrotheca simba van Noort 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Quicke, Donald L. J.
name: Van Noort, Simon
name: Ranjith, Avunjikkattu Parambil
name: Friedman, Ariel L. L.
name: Mejlon, Hans
name: Butcher, Buntika A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Trigastrotheca
Trigastrotheca simba

description: Trigastrotheca simba van Noort sp. nov.
Figs 23, 24
Type material.
Holotype ♀, Tanzania, Mkomazi Game Reserve, Kamakota Hill, 4.14 ° S, 28.24 ° E, 4 Dec 1995, S. van Noort, on Ficus ingens (Miq.) Miq. With ripe fig crop (SAMC). Paratypes: 1 ♂, same data as holotype (SAMC).
Diagnosis.
Similar to T. trilobata but tarsal claw with a smaller, bidentate, and more rounded basal lobe compared to a larger, more foliaceous, and acutely triangular basal lobe in T. trilobata. The postero-lateral margin of T 5 has more prominent teeth (~ 8 or 9) compared to T. trilobata which has only 5 or fewer obvious teeth (Fig. 33 D). Postero-medial protuberance of T 5 acutely rounded, shorter than lateral lobes, with concavities lateral of medial protuberance acutely invaginated, whereas in T. trilobata the medial protuberance is of equivalent length to the lateral lobes; and the concavities lateral of medial protuberance are broadly invaginated.
Description.
Holotype female. Length of body 5.16 mm, fore wing 4.14 mm. Head. Antenna with 36 flagellomeres. Terminal flagellomere with a spicule. First flagellomere equivalent in length to the 2 nd and 3 rd, the latter 1.25 × longer than wide. Width of head: width of face: height of eye = 2.5: 1.3: 1.0. Face with fine transverse striations laterally; with mid-longitudinal ridge dissipating ventrally. Inter-tentorial distance 2.3 × longer than tentorio-ocular distance. Malar suture impressed. Malar space equivalent to basal width of mandible. Frons strongly impressed with a complete mid-longitudinal carina. Shortest distance between posterior ocelli: transverse diameter of posterior ocellus: shortest distance between posterior ocellus and eye = 1.0: 1.0: 2.3. Mesosoma 1.5 × longer than high. Mesoscutum rugose; notauli weakly impressed for entire length with weak crenulations. Scutellar sulcus shallow, narrow, finely crenulate. Scutellum weakly rugose, setose without small pit medially behind sulcus. Median area of metanotum with complete mid-longitudinal carina. Propodeum weakly rugose; mid-longitudinal carina complete, lamelliform, with ~ 9 transverse, curved striae radiating laterally for short distance before grading into rugulosity; posteriorly propodeum with short longitudinal carinae. Wings. Fore wing. Lengths of fore wing veins r-rs: 3 RSa: 3 RSb = 1.0: 1.5: 4.6. Lengths of vein 2 RS: 3 RSa: rs-m = 1.0: 1.3: 1.8. Base of hind wing glabrous. Legs. Lengths of fore femur: fore tibia: fore tarsus = 1.0: 1.2: 1.2. Lengths of hind femur: hind tibia: hind tarsus = 1.0: 1.1: 1.0. Claws with small rounded weakly bilobate basal lobe. Metasoma. T 1 2.0 × wider than long. T 2 0.7 × as long as T 3. TT 1–5 with coarse reticulate sculpture. Second metasomal suture weakly strigose, basal grooves of TT 4 and 5 deep, strigose. T 5 with postero-lateral margin convex, distinctly denticulate (~ 8 or 9 uneven teeth) along anterior 3 / 4 of margin; medial protuberance acutely rounded, shorter than lateral lobes, concavities lateral of medial protuberance acutely invaginated. Coloration. Body mostly yellow except antenna, eyes, and tarsi black, and stemmaticum which is dark brown with orange margins.
Male. Same as female.
Distribution.
Afrotropical (Tanzania).
Host.
Unknown, but both the female and male were hand collected from a Ficus ingens tree with a ripe fig crop, and they may have been locating or recently emerged from arboreal nesting Crematogaster on the tree.
Etymology.
Specific name refers to the presence alongside wild lions of this uniformly pale colored species in the East African savanna (Mkomazi Game Reserve, now a National Park), the provenance of the holotype. Simba is Kiswahili for lion. Noun in apposition.
description: Published as part of Quicke, Donald L. J., Van Noort, Simon, Ranjith, Avunjikkattu Parambil, Friedman, Ariel L. L., Mejlon, Hans & Butcher, Buntika A., 2024, Revision of Trigastrotheca Cameron (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Braconinae) with descriptions of 13 new species, pp. 115-167 in ZooKeys 1205 on pages 115-167, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1205.125014