Apanteles rhombos 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 rhombos

description: Apanteles rhombos Liu & Chen, sp. nov.   
(Figures 96, 103)  
 Description. Holotype. Female. Body length 3.4 mm, fore wing length 3.7 mm.   
 Head. Transverse in dorsal view, 2.0× as wide as long, slightly (0.9×) narrower than mesoscutum. Vertex between eye and posterior ocellus shiny, without punctures. Temple slightly dull with extremely shallow punctures, slightly constricted. Face 0.8× as high as wide, dull with small shallow punctures, inner margin of eyes parallelsided. Ocelli large, posterior tangent to anterior ocellus weakly transecting posterior ocelli, distance between fore and hind ocellus indistinctly shorter than diameter of hind ocellus, POL:OD:OOL=5.7:2.5:4.0. Antenna almost as long as body length, weakly closely articulated, penultimate flagellomere 1.4× longer than wide.   
 Mesosoma. Length:width:height = 60.0:35.0:38.0. Disc of mesonotum shiny, with small and shallow punctures, finely striate-punctation at posterior end of notaulic courses. Scutellar sulcus nearly straight, narrow with carinae in between, much narrower behind. Scutellum shiny and polished entirely. Lateral polished field of scutellum reaching over half length of scutellum. Propodeum shiny, long, areola nearly complete and lozenge shaped, weakly depressed, spiracle not enclosed with keels, almost smooth entirely, except some carinae posterior to spiracle. Mesopleuron slightly shiny, anterior and upper parts dull with dense punctures.   
 Legs. Hind coxa shiny with small shallow puncture. Spines on outer side of third tibia sparse. Inner spurs of hind tibia 2/5 length of hind basitarsus, outer spur nearly 1/3. Basitarsus of hind leg as long as tarsomeres 2–4 combined, claws small.   
 Wings. Pterostigma 3.0× as long as its widest part. Vein 1-R1 1.2× as long as pterostigma, 4.1× as long as its distance from apex of marginal cell. Vein r arising from middle of pterostigma, perpendicular to it, 1.4× longer than width of pterostigma, 1.7× longer than 2-SR, distinctly angled at junction, 2-M half length of 2-SR, weakly shorter than 1-SR, the latter as long as 2-SR+M, m-cu almost as long as width of pterostigma. First discal cell of fore wing 1.2× wider than high. Second submarginal cell of hind wing subquadrate. Vein cu-a curved. Hind wing broad, l 1- M distinctly shorter than distance between its distal extremity and apex of vannal lobe, and vannal lobe beyond its widest part concave and hairless.   
 Metasoma. Metasoma 1.1× longer than mesosoma. T1 parallel-sided, 2.2× longer than hind width, concave at basal two-fifths, turned-over part slightly shiny with dense punctures laterally, longitudinal channel distinctly concave, smooth, and apical tubercle polished. T2 shiny and smooth, 2.0× wider than long in the middle, sulcus between T2 and T3 indistinct. T3 1.7× longer than T2. Tergites posterior to T2 highly polished, shiny, and pubescent. Hypopygium not longer than apex of metasoma. Ovipositor sheath nearly 1.5× longer than length of hind tibia, narrow of even size, hairs sparse and long.   
 Colour. Black. Tegula brown. Palpi and spurs pale yellowish. Antenna and ovipositor sheath brown. Labrum and mandible dark brown. Legs dark brown, except apical half of fore femur, tibia with tarsus, mid tibia with tarsus, basal 2/5 of hind tibia, basal half of basitarsus yellow. Wing membrane hyaline, 1-R1, C+SC+R, border of pterostigma, r, 2-SR and 2-M brown, other alar veins more or less brownish, pterostigma dark yellowish brown.   
 Variation. Body length 2.6–3.4 mm, fore wing length 3.3–3.7 mm.   
 Male. Unknown.   
 Material examined. Holotype: 1♀, Mt. Tianmu, Zhejiang, 1988.V.16–18, Guo Bai, No. 882959. Paratypes: 1♀, Mt. Gaoligong, Baoshan, Yunnan, 2006.VII.16–17, Zeng Jie, No. 200802133; 1♀, Songyang, Zhejiang, 1989. X.8, Chen Hanlin, No. 897044; 1♀, Mt. Gutian, Zhejiang, 1986.VII.22, Lou Xiaoming, No. 863142.   
 Distribution. China (Yunnan, Zhejiang).   
 Etymology. The specific name “ rhombos ” derives from the Greek, referring to the areola nearly complete and lozenge shaped.   
 Remarks. This species is similar to A. araecri Wilkinson, but differs in the followings: mesoscutum distinctly transverse (as long as broad in latter); punctures on mesoscutum small and shallow (strong and rather coarse in latter); and pterostigma dark yellowish brown (pallid with a darker border 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 193-195, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4807.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3927639