Afrepipona punctatissima Selis & Carpenter, 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Selis, Marco
name: Carpenter, James M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Eumenidae
Afrepipona
Afrepipona punctatissima

description: Afrepipona punctatissima sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: C2642C50-2E68-4CA3-97DA-636714881D1F
Figs 15, 27J
Diagnosis
Similar to A. angusta but differing as follows: male clypeus 1.3 × as wide as long, apical teeth bluntly carinate (Fig. 15B); gena depressed in ventral third, forming a crenate furrow along high occipital carina; occipital carina incomplete on vertex; male vertex 1.8 × as long as distance between posterior ocellus and inner eye margin; clypeus finely and sparsely punctate; metanotum marked with yellow. Also similar to A. clonata, differing as follows: carinae of clypeus longer and slightly diverging, reaching middle of clypeus, apical emargination shallower; posterior ocelli as distant from eyes as to each other; F11 not reaching apex of F8 (Fig. 15C); pronotal lamella about ½ × as long as ocellar diameter; interspaces on mesoscutum shorter than half puncture diameter; preapical margin of T2 shallowly depressed with denser and larger punctures; apical decolorate margin of T3 shorter than that on T2 (Fig. 15D); very little red markings. Genitalia in Fig. 27J.
Etymology
The specific epithet refers to the deep and dense punctation of this species.
Type material
Holotype
KENYA • ♂; Samburu, 7 mi SW of Maralal, Laragei Springs; 17–22 Jan. 1973; J.P. Donahue leg.; MSNVE.
Description
Male
MEASUREMENTS. Body length 8.0 mm; fore wing length 7.1 mm.
MORPHOLOGY. Head 1.2 × as wide as long in frontal view. Clypeus 1.3 × as wide as long, apical margin shallowly emarginate with pointed lateral teeth, 0.25 × as wide as maximum width of clypeus, emargination 0.1 × as deep as wide, apical teeth carinate, carinae sharp apically and reaching middle of clypeus as blunt ridges; clypeus evenly convex in lateral view. Vertex 1.8 × as long as distance between posterior ocellus and inner eye margin; gena 0.9 × as wide as eye at bottom of ocular sinus, depressed in lower third and forming a furrow along occipital carina; occipital carina almost complete, fine and medially interrupted on vertex, strong and lamellate on gena, curved in lower half. F1 1.4 × as long as wide and 1.5 × as long as F2, F2–3 and F9 subquadrate, F4–8 transverse, F11 small and elliptical, not reaching basal margin of F9, depressed dorsoventrally and nearly flattened in lateral view, parallel-sided with rounded apex in dorsal view. Mesosoma 1.4 × as long as wide. Sides of pronotum straight and slightly converging anteriorly; pronotal carina complete and lamellate, slightly depressed medially, about half as long as ocellar diameter; pretegular carina fine and sharp near tubercle, duller dorsally. Mesoscutum as long as wide, posteriorly flattened in lateral view. Scutellum flattened, smoothly passing into mesoscutum; anterior margin deeply crenate with a larger pit in middle. Metanotum slightly produced anteriorly. Tegula short and not equaling parategula, outer margin evenly rounded, posterior lobe subtriangular and shallowly depressed; parategula small and right-angled. Epicnemial carina very fine and shallow, barely visible. Propodeum in lateral view shallowly convex and completely oblique; posterior face shallowly concave and not clearly separated from dorsal faces; lateral faces flattened; dorsal, lateral and inferior carinae absent, propodeum entirely rounded. T1 short bell-shaped, 0.6 × as long as wide, sides slightly diverging posteriorly; apically with a duplicated lamellar margin. T2 0.95 × as long as wide in dorsal view, 1.3 × as wide as T1 and separated from it by a constriction; apical translucent margin longer than that on T1, sharply separated from rest of surface by sudden change in coloration and sculpture; preapical area of T2 shallowly depressed. Apical margin of T3 with translucent apical margin, shorter and less defined than that on T2. S2 flattened on disc, then sloping basally; basal longitudinal furrow barely indicated; apical margin lamellate with basal pigmented digitations. S3 with translucent margin similar to S2.
SCULPTURE AND VESTITURE. Clypeus shiny, punctures denser and deeper on sides, becoming shallow and sparse on disc, interspaces finely micropunctate. Frons and vertex with deep rounded punctures, interspaces shallowly convex and shiny with sparse micropunctures, rarely reaching one puncture diameter; gena punctured like vertex but interspaces shinier and exceeding puncture diameter. Scape shagreened with sparse fine punctures. Punctures of mesosoma similar to frons but larger, interspaces narrower than puncture diameter, reaching one puncture diameter on mesepisternum; epicnemium and mesosternum shiny and shallowly shagreened and micropunctate, with deep small punctures posteriorly; metaepisternum with few scattered shallow punctures. Dorsal faces of propodeum with coarse deep punctures, partly arranged in irregular transverse series, interspaces sharp ridge-like; posterior face invaded by sculpture of dorsal faces in upper half and finely striate in lower half; lateral faces sparsely microstriate with dense deep punctures. T1 with deep rounded punctures, sparser on sides and denser on disc, interspaces ranging from half to four puncture diameters, preapical yellow part with some punctures on sides; T2 similar to T1 but punctures more oblique and finer on disc, becoming coarser and very dense preapically; T3–5 similar to T2, but punctures becoming progressively smaller and sparser; T6–7 shagreened and micropunctate, T6 with scattered shallow punctures. S1 matte and shagreened on basal petiole, shiny with irregular longitudinal ridges on posterior part; S2 similar to respective tergite but punctures larger and deeper, not becoming coarser preapically; S3–6 similar to respective tergites but with finer punctures; S7 shiny with dense fine punctures. Head and mesosoma with dense and short pale yellow setae, mixed with many longer right-angled setae; clypeus and lower half of frons with weakly golden pubescence and appressed pale setae; propodeum with dense and long white setae, some of them strongly bent apically; metasoma with dust-like brassy pubescence, scattered erect setae on T1, T7, S1 and S7, other segments with shorter and more appressed setae.
COLORATION. Black; following parts orange to red: mandible, antenna, inner eye margin, cross-shaped marking in interantennal space, gena and sides of vertex, anterior and posterior margin, humeral region and lobe of pronotum, tegula, parategula, lateral margins of T1–3, sides of T4, most of T5–7 and S5–7, legs; following parts yellow: clypeus, base of mandible, narrow line along pronotal carina, anterior margin of metanotum, narrow apical line of T1, broad apical bands on T2–4 becoming progressively narrower, apical half of S1, sinuate apical band on S2–4, irregular spots on mid and hind coxae, small apical spots on mid femur and mid and hind tibiae. Wings hyaline with pale yellowish tinge.
Female
Unknown.
Distribution
Kenya.
description: Published as part of Selis, Marco & Carpenter, James M., 2024, Revision of the Afrotropical genus Afrepipona Giordani Soika, 1965 and description of Afrepsilon gen. nov. (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae), pp. 1-80 in European Journal of Taxonomy 944 on pages 37-39, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2024.944.2607, http://zenodo.org/record/12808564