Fusimirax robusta Whitfield 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Whitfield, James B.
name: Fernandez-Triana, Jose L.
name: Boudreault, Caroline
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Fusimirax
Fusimirax robusta

description: Fusimirax robusta Whitfield sp. nov.
Fig. 5 A – F
Type materials.
Holotype. • Female, Dominican Republic: Barahona Sra. Bahoruco, Loma Remigio, 800 m, cloud forest III-1991, L. Masner, CNC 5342833 (CNC).
Paratypes. None.
Description.
Size. Body length 1.9 mm; fore wing length 2.1 mm.
Coloration. Head, mesosoma (except lighter brown pronotum and propleuron) and metasomal syntergite dark brown to blackish, posterior segments of metasoma lighter brown; scape light yellow-brown; remainder of antenna dark brown; mandible light brown, palpi pale yellowish; legs entirely light yellow-brown; tegulae and pigmented parts of wing venation including pterostigma light brownish; laterotergites of T 1 and T 2 almost white, contrasting with dark syntergite; ovipositor sheaths deep brown.
Morphology. Face smooth, with raised medial ridge; antennae slightly longer than body, with apical flagellomeres roughly twice as long as broad; propleuron with dorsal and ventral grooves represented by very fine and poorly impressed lines; mesoscutum with satiny reflections and distinctly punctate over most of surface except posterolateral corners; notauli indistinct, even anteriorly; scutellum polished and raised centrally, weakly convex, clearly longer than anteriorly broad; mesopleuron weakly roughened, convex, with slight weak depression centrally but no obvious grooves; metanotum mostly sunken, with some abortive cross-ridges but raised medial boss not extending to anterior edge; propodeum finely sculptured, with percurrent longitudinal medial carina splitting at midlength to produce a small elongate areola-like structure, met laterally by angled transverse carinae; T 1 narrow anteriorly, widening to elongate-oval raised broader posterior end with some sculpturing; laterotergal region of T 1 whitish, with central area of striation; T 2 and T 3 fused into elongate sculptured syntergite; T 2 portion bell-shaped (wider posteriorly) with lateral flanges at grooved T 2 / T 3 junction; T 3 roughly parallel-sided; laterotergal regions of T 2 and T 3 whitish, with some striations; T 4 less strongly sclerotized and smooth; hypopygium evenly sclerotized and subtriangular with sharp tip; ovipositor nearly straight; sheaths roughly half as long as hind tibiae with setae over distal half.
Male. Unknown.
Variation. Only one female known.
Distribution.
Same locality as F. masneri (see remarks there).
Biology.
Not known, but host presumed to be a small leaf-mining caterpillar as with other Miracinae.
Notes.
The shape of the syntergite is diagnostic, and the propodeal carinae are unique as well.
Etymology.
The epithet “ robusta ” refers to the anterior metasomal syntergite shape, not to the overall body shape, which is perhaps only slightly more robust than the other species.
description: Published as part of Whitfield, James B., Fernandez-Triana, Jose L. & Boudreault, Caroline, 2025, Two new Neotropical genera of Miracinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) with unusual metasomal morphology, pp. 509-524 in Journal of Hymenoptera Research 98 on pages 509-524, DOI: 10.3897/jhr.98.150254