Eucremastus flavus Gadallah, Soliman & Dhafer, 2017, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Gadallah, Neveen S.
name: Soliman, Ahmed M.
name: Al Dhafer, Hathal M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Ichneumonidae
Eucremastus
Eucremastus flavus

description: Eucremastus flavus sp. nov. Gadallah & Soliman
(Figs 4 A–D, 5ĀD, 6ĀD, 7ĀD)
Material examined. Holotype ♀: Saudi Arabia, Muzahimiyah, Al-Khararah [24°24´21ʺN, 46°14´40ʺE], light trap, 30.iii.2011 (leg. Al-Dryhim et al.) [KSMA]. Paratype 1♂: Saudi Arabia, Muzahimiyah, Al-Khararah [24°24'21"N, 46°14'40"E], light trap, 17.vi.2011 (leg. Al-Dryhim et al.) [KSMA].
Description. FEMALE (holotype). Body length 10.0 mm, fore wing length 6.0 mm, ovipositor length 4.0 mm.
Head. Antenna with flagellum missing. Gena short, constricted behind eyes (Fig. 4 D). Occipital carina very weak, only seen very thin laterally (Fig. 4 B). Occiput nearly smooth, broadly concave (Fig. 4 B). Vertex shallowly but densely punctate, distance between punctures about 1.0 × puncture diameter. Ocelli distinctly large (Fig. 4 C); MOD 1.5 × OOD (Fig. 4 B, C); IOD about 2.7 × OOD (Fig. 4 B, C). Face densely punctate, becoming coarser and closer on lower face, less dense along inner eye orbits (Fig. 4 C). Clypeus slightly convex in profile (Fig. 4 D), with fewer coarse punctures, punctures separated from each other by a puncture diameter, with distinctly rounded ventral margin (Fig. 4 C). Malar space about 0.7 × as long as mandibular basal width. Mandible with inner tooth distinctly shorter (0.5 ×) than outer tooth (Fig. 4 C).
Mesosoma. Densely punctate; mesoscutum finely and closely punctate anteriorly, while coarsely punctulate on scutellum (Fig. 4 B); mesopleuron densely punctate, separated from each other by less than puncture diameter (Fig. 4 D); metapleuron with fewer and shallower fine punctures, separated by about a puncture diameter. Propodeum areolate, with complete lateral and transverse carinae, with dense punctures in between. Transverse carina of mesosternum complete. Epicnemial carina complete. Sternaulus indistinct. Notauli weak, not reaching posterior margin of mesoscutum (Fig. 4 B). Legs with very thin short claws, each with three sharp inner teeth; hind metatarsus about as long as following tarsomeres combined; middle tibiae each with a single spur (Fig. 5 C).
Wings. Fore wing with vein Rs distinctly concave ventrally (Fig. 5 A); veins 1m-cu and 2m-cu each with a large bulla; pterostigma broadly triangular, about 2.9 × as long as broad; vein R1 about as long as pterostigma (Fig. 5 A); veins Rs & M interstitial with cu-a. Hind wing with 6 hamuli; vein r-m distinctly and peculiarly angulate (not straight) (Fig. 5 B), vein Cu1 indistinct.
Metasoma. T1 about as long as T2; T1 with two postero-lateral longitudinally arranged punctures similar to those on scutellum. T2 finely longitudinally striated. T1 extended laterally to meet ventrally, thus obscuring S1 at least medially. Ovipositor very slightly curved apically (Fig. 5 D), with preapical notch; ovipositor sheath cylindrical along almost its whole length, but laterally flattened apically, ending in a single fine hair, surrounded laterally with short fine sensory setae along its whole length (Fig. 5 D).
Colour. Body generally lemon yellow (Fig. 4 A, B), with inner orbits of eyes, clypeus, mandible (except black teeth), antennal scape and pedicel are paler to whitish; coxae, trochanters of all legs, middle and hind tibiae, all tarsi are whitish (Fig. 4 A); outer surface of hind tibia with a dark band extending from apex but not reaching middle; claws of all legs dark brown. Ovipositor black, but reddish brown apically (Fig. 5 D); ovipositor sheath entirely black (Fig. 5 D).
Comments. The female of this species is similar to the female of E. villiersi (Benoit), but differs from it as follow (based on Benoit 1953):
1. Metasomal T6 with a black spot, antenna and ovipositor entirely black; clypeus densely punctate; scutellum almost smooth, with some longitudinal ridges apically; antennal flagellomeres obliquely truncate apically; fore wing vein Rs nearly straight;
vein r-m of hind wing normal, slightly convex to straight; metasomal T1 smooth and shiny............ E. villiersi (Benoit)
- Body entirely yellow without any black (Fig. 4 A, B), scape and pedicel of antenna whitish (rest of antenna lost), ovipositor reddish brown apically (Fig. 5 D); clypeus with fewer coarse punctures (Fig. 4 C); scutellum puncto-striate, not smooth; fore wing vein Rs distinctly concave (Fig. 5 A); vein r-m of hind wing peculiarly angular, not straight (Fig. 5 B); metasomal T1 with some punctures arranged longitudinally, especially laterally...................................... E. flavus sp. nov.
MALE (paratype). Body length 11.0 mm, fore wing length 6.5 mm.
Resembles female except for the following combination of characters: body generally more slender than in female (Fig. 6 A, B), similar colour except for some dark brown to black markings on the following body parts: scuto-scutellar sulcus, a dark tint on T1 medially, T2 with two large rounded spots medio-laterally, T3 with two longitudinal slit-like black markings sub-laterally at base (Fig. 6 A, B); face here paler yellow to whitish than in female (except ocellar triangle which is yellow) (Fig. 6 C), antenna with whitish scape and pedicel, flagellum dark brown (Fig. 6 D); hind femur slightly darker than rest of legs, hind tibia with a dark band extending along its whole length externally (Fig. 7 D). MOD distinctly larger (about 1.7 ×) than OOD; IOD about 3.0 × as long as OOD (Fig. 6 D); clypeus with broadly rounded ventral margin (Fig. 6 C); malar space about 0.8 × as long as mandibular base (Fig. 7 B); mandible with inner tooth about 0.75 × as long as outer tooth (Fig. 6 C); notauli indistinct (Fig. 7 A); fore wing with bulla on vein 2m-cu relatively small in relation to that in female (Fig. 7 C); pterostigma narrowly triangular, 3.3 × as long as broad; R1 shorter than pterostigma (0.8 ×); hind wing with 8 hamuli; metasomal T1 hardly longer than T2 (1.15 ×) (Fig. 6 B).
Remarks. Both male and female specimens belong to type 0 of Mazón & Bordera (2015), i.e. the normal Eucremastus character state with both mid tibiae having a single long spur (Figs 5 C, 7D).
Etymology. The name flavus is the Latin noun for “yellow” denoting the yellow colouration of the body.
description: Published as part of Gadallah, Neveen S., Soliman, Ahmed M. & Al Dhafer, Hathal M., 2017, First record of the genus Eucremastus Szépligeti, 1905 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Cremastinae) from the Arabian Peninsula, with the description of three new species, pp. 339-354 in Zootaxa 4216 (4) on pages 344-349, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.242266