Pristiphora brevitheca Liu & Wei 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Liu, Meng-Meng
name: Li, Min
name: Li, Shuang
name: Li, Ze-Jian
name: Wei, Mei-Cai
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Tenthredinidae
Pristiphora
Pristiphora brevitheca

description: Pristiphora brevitheca Liu & Wei sp. nov.
Figs 1, 2, 3
Material examined.
Holotype, female, China • Hebei Province, Weichang autonomous county of Man and Mongolia minority, Beimandian Substation of Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm, 42°28'28"N, 117°27'16"E, 1850 m, 13 July 2022, leg. Tao Li. Paratypes, 1 female 4 males, China • Hebei Province, Weichang autonomous county of Man and Mongolia minority, Beimandian Substation of Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm, 42°28'28"N, 117°27'16"E, 1850 m, 13 July 2022, leg. Tao Li; 26 females 15 males, China • Hebei Province, Weichang autonomous county of Man and Mongolia minority, Sidaogou Town, Baliang, 42°28'34"N, 117°27'43"E, 1867 m, 5–10 June 2023, leg. Guoquan Yi & Shuang Li; 5 females 6 males, China • Hebei Province, Weichang autonomous county of Man and Mongolia minority, Sidaogou, Baliang, 42°28'34"N, 117°27'43"E, 1867 m, 6 June 2022, leg. Tao Li; 65 females 40 males, China • Hebei Province, Weichang autonomous county of Man and Mongolia minority, Dahuanqi Town, Sandaoyingzi, 42°11'03"N, 117°27'58"E, 1490 m, 2 June 2023, leg. Tao Li.
Diagnosis.
Body mostly black, stigma usually dark (Fig. 1 A); in lateral view, posterior margin of valvula 3 about as long as ventral margin (Fig. 2 H); in dorsal view, valvula 3 slightly tapering from base to apex (Fig. 2 I); in posterior view, valvula 3 with small invagination; lancet with 9 serrulae, sutures without distinct ctenidia (Fig. 3 A); tangium slightly long elliptic; ventral margin of lancet curved upwards (Fig. 3 B); valvispina with dorsal and ventral serrate margins; paravalva abruptly narrowing at apex, narrow at the anterior and broad at the posterior (Fig. 3 D).
Description.
Holotype, female. Body length approximately 6.5 mm (Fig. 1 A).
Color. Body black. Labrum, most parts of clypeus, pale parts of supraclypeal area and facial orbit, stripe of posterior eye, pronotum, tegula, most parts of propleuron, the sides of terga 1–8, tergum 10, most parts of sterna, most of the apical parts of all coxae, all trochanters, most parts of fore and middle femora, the basal small part of hind femur, fore and middle tibiae, basal 2 / 3 of hind tibia, most parts of fore and middle tarsi, cenchrus and most parts of valvifer 2 yellowish-white to yellow. Wings hyaline, without smoky macula, apex of vein C pale, stigma and most parts of veins black-brown (Fig. 1 A, B).
Head. Base of labrum elevated, apex rounded, approx. 2.2 × as wide as long; clypeus short, the median length approximately as long as diameter of the median ocellus, base slightly elevated, apex nearly truncate, with almost no notch, lateral corners indistinct; labrum and clypeus shiny, punctures faint and very sparse, microsculpture indistinct. Malar space 0.8 × as long as diameter of median ocellus. Inner margins of eyes slightly convergent downward in frontal view, distance between eyes 1.9 × as long as height of eyes (Fig. 2 B). In dorsal view, inner margins of eyes subparallel, the length of temple 0.3 × as long as length of eyes; middle fovea longitudinal groove-like and deep; Frontal area flat, less shiny, punctures coarse and dense, with wrinkles; anterior wall faintly elevated, no notched medially, lateral walls very low and blunt. Interocellar and postocellar furrows indistinct, circumocellar furrow indistinct; POL: OOL: OCL = 2.0: 1.7: 1.0 (Fig. 2 A). Vertex and postocellar area slightly shiny, punctures small and slightly dense, with fine microsculpture and some wrinkles; postocellar area slightly convex, middle furrow indistinct, approx. 2.5 × as wide as long, lateral postocellar furrows narrow and shallow, divergent backward (Fig. 2 A). Antenna filamentous, shorter than thorax and abdomen together, antennomere 3 slightly compressed; relative length of antennomere 3: antennomere 4: antennomere 5 = 1.2: 1.0: 1.0 (Fig. 2 E).
Thorax. Mesonotum slightly shiny, the anterior part with coarse and dense punctures, and with wrinkles, the posterior part with small and slightly dense punctures, microsculpture indistinct; median mesoscutal groove shallow and thin; mesoscutellum shiny, with fine and slightly sparse punctures, without microsculpture, and slightly elevated, middle ridge faint, the length as long as wide; mesoscutellar appendage shiny, with fine and sparse punctures, microsculpture faint, about 0.2 × length of scutellum, middle ridge low and blunt (Fig. 2 C). Distance between cenchri 1.6 × as long as breadth of a cenchrus. Mesepisternum shiny, with fine setigerous punctures, without microsculpture; mesepimeron smooth and shiny, punctures and microsculpture indistinct; metepisternum shiny, posterior part with some fine punctures, microsculpture indistinct; metepimeron shiny and smooth, punctures and microsculpture indistinct (Fig. 2 D). Vein M of forewings longer than vein R + M, cross-vein cu-a joining cell 1 M at basal 0.6, cell 2 Rs 2.4 × as long as cell 1 R 1, petiole of anal cell of hindwing 1.8 × as long as cu-a, and cu-a curved.
Abdomen. All abdominal terga shiny, with some small and shallow punctures, microsculpture fine and weak. Ovipositor sheath smooth and shiny, punctures and microsculpture indistinct; sheath 1.7 × as long as metatarsomere 1 and 0.9 × as long as front tibia, valvula 3 0.7 × as long as valvifer 2; in lateral view, posterior margin of valvula 3 truncate and about as long as ventral margin (Fig. 2 H); in dorsal view, valvula 3 with small invagination, cercus shorter than valvula 3, angle between most lateral setae of valvula 3 about 80 ° (Fig. 2 I). Lancet with 9 serrulae and ventral margin curved upwards, serrula almost without denticle (Fig. 3 A); annular suture 1 oblique and straight, all sutures without setae bands; cypsellae indistinct; tangium long and 4.8 × as long as annulus 1, radix 2.5 × as long as lamnium, the basal angle rounded and obtuse, with a protruding dorsal edge (Fig. 3 A, B).
Legs. Protarsomere 1 0.8 × as long as combined length of tarsomeres 2–4; hind tibia 1.2 × as long as hind tarsus, inner apical spur of hind tibia 0.5 × as long as metatarsomere 1, metatarsomere 1 0.6 × as long as combined length of metatarsomeres 2–5; tarsal claw with inner tooth very short (Fig. 2 G).
Male. Body length approximately 5.0 mm. Body color and structure similar to the female except for following characters (Figs 1 C, D, 2 J, K): labrum, clypeus, supraclypeal area, most parts of facial orbit, most parts of genal orbit, antennae with flagellum dorsally black brown, ventrally yellowish-white to light brown; large spot on the anterior part of mesepisternum, the sides of all abdominal tergites and all femora except for black stripes on the ventral sides yellowish-brown; antennomere 3 strongly compressed (Fig. 2 F); gonoforceps as shown in Fig. 3 C, harpes 1.3 × as long as wide at the base, apical margin roundish; paravalva slightly broad and abruptly narrowing at apex, pseudoceps slightly narrow, valvispina slightly bent, with dorsal and ventral thinned and serrate margins (Fig. 3 D).
Distribution.
China (Hebei).
Variation.
Body length 6.5–7.0 mm in the females; pale parts of the facial orbit yellowish white to yellowish brown; stripe of posterior eye yellowish brown to brown; mesepisternum with brown spots in some individuals; the Rs vein in the forewing vestigial or absent. Body length 4.5–5.0 mm in the males.
Host plants.
Picea meyeri (Fig. 4).
Remarks.
The new species is similar to P. jacutica Beneš, 2014, but it can be distinguished from the latter by its body color and characteristics of the external genitalia: In the female of P. jacutica, antennae with scape and pedicel at least dorsally black, flagellum dorsally piceous, ventrally brownish; stigma brownish-yellow to yellowish-brown; mesoscutellum laterally with small inconspicuous paler spots; antennomere 3 subequal to antennomere 4; valvula 3 about 0.3 × as long as valvifer 2, in dorsal view, cercus about as long as valvula 3; the two basal annuli nearly perpendicular. In the male, antennae with scape and pedicel testaceous, flagellum dorsally light brown, ventrally light amber yellow; all femora yellowish; hind tarsi yellowish; the middle of the apex of paravalva slightly concave.
description: Published as part of Liu, Meng-Meng, Li, Min, Li, Shuang, Li, Ze-Jian & Wei, Mei-Cai, 2025, A new species of Pristiphora Latreille (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinidae), a defoliator of Picea meyeri in China, pp. 525-543 in Journal of Hymenoptera Research 98 on pages 525-543, DOI: 10.3897/jhr.98.152315