Siobla dian Niu & Wei, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Niu, Gengyun
name: Wei, Meicai
name: Taeger, Andreas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Tenthredinidae
Siobla
Siobla dian

description: Siobla dian Niu & Wei, sp. nov.
(Figs 4 c, 7d, 8f, 12f, 22a)
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6A1F15CA-45A0-4056-8F62-649A92D88ED4
Description. Holotype: Ƥ. Length, 16 mm (Figs 4 c, 7d). Body with strong metallic blue luster; palpi dark brown, labrum and middle of mandible, apical four antennomeres white; apical margin of each coxa and of each trochanter yellow white; all femora, tibiae and tarsi and upper margin of apical sheath orange brown. Apical 1/3 of forewing strongly infuscated, stigma dark brown, hind wing sub-infuscated hyaline. Hairs on dorsum of head pale brown, hairs on thorax pale.
Punctures on head sparse, temple nearly impunctate; punctures on scutum dense, except on lateral sides very sparse (Fig. 22 a); mesoscutellum and metascutellum densely and coarsely punctured, posttergite shiny; mesepisternum densely and coarsely punctured with venter densely punctured, mesepimeron densely microsculptured with dorsum densely punctured; metepisternum shiny, posterior margin of metepimeron shiny, dorsum of metepimeron densely punctured; 1st abdominal tergite shiny, anterior and lateral sides microsculptured with fine punctures, other tergites with transverse microsculpture.
Hairs on dorsum of head straight, slightly shorter than diameter of median ocellus; hairs on mesoscutellum as long as diameter of median ocellus; hairs on other parts of scutum obviously shorter than diameter of median ocellus; hairs on pleuron as long as diameter of median ocellus. Clypeus truncate; malar space 0.8 × transverse diameter of median ocellus; head in front view with eyes converging below, lower interocular distance as long as eye height; anterior margin of supraantennal tubercle elevated, frontal ridge fine; middle fovea round and deep, lateral fovea deep; interocellar and postocellar furrows obvious; postocellar area about 1.2 × as broad as long, elevated, as high as top of ocelli, longitudinal carina obtuse; lateral furrows broad and deep, slightly curved outwards, slightly divergent posteriorly; head behind eyes 0.7 × eyes in length in dorsal view, convex in middle and narrowing posteriorly. Antenna 0.9 × abdomen and 1.2 × head and thorax combined in length. Mesoscutellum acutely elevated, posterior slope shorter than anterior slope, with a narrow and sharp middle carina; posttergite with an obtuse middle carina; mesepisternum angularly elevated, ventral spur faint. Apex of hind tibia distinctly enlarged; metabasitarsus 5 × as long as broad, 0.9 × length of remaining 4 tarsomeres combined; hind inner tibial spur 0.4 × length of metabasitarsus. Hind wing with petiole of anal cell shorter than half length of cu-a. Ovipositor sheath as long as middle tibia, apical sheath and basal sheath subequal in length; lancet as in Fig. 8 f; apical and 4th to 7th serrulae as in Fig. 12 f.
Male: Unknown.
Variation. Body size 14–16 mm. The body colour varies between blue and dark green metallic, sometimes mixed with purple. The colour of the head varies between nearly black (only indistinctly metallic), blue metallic to greenish copper and purple. The pale apex of the antenna may begin already at the apical third of the 5th antennomere or in darker forms at the middle of the 6th antennomere. The density of punctures on the mesonotum and on the upper head is also subject to distinct variation. The punctures on the lateral sides of the median mesoscutal lobe may be very shallow, with distances several times longer than the diameter of the punctures. In more strongly sculptured specimens these distances are not much longer than the diameters of the punctures.
Etymology. “ Dian ” is the Chinese abbreviation of Yunnan, the province of the type locality. The name is a noun.
Specimens examined. Holotype: Ƥ, Heiwadi, Gongshan, Yunnan, 27°58ʹN, 98°59ʹE, alt. 2100 m, 12 June 2009, Xiao Wei leg., CSCSHT 0 0 810034 (CSCS). Paratypes: Yunnan: 1Ƥ, Yaojiaping, Liuku, Yunnan, 25°58.29ʹN, 98°42.36ʹE, alt. 2509 m, 28 July 2008, Nie Shuaiguo leg.; 3Ƥ, Heiwadi, Gongshan, Yunnan, 27°58ʹN, 98°59ʹE, alt. 2100 m, 12 June 2009, Xiao Wei, Zhong Yihai leg.; 1Ƥ, Mt. Baimaxue, Deqin, Yunnan, 28°27.116ʹN, 98°56.452ʹE, alt. 3460 m, 8 June 2009, Wei Meicai leg.; 1Ƥ, Yunnan, Pianma env., N25.973, E98.685, 3150 m, 0 4.06.2009, leg. S.M. Blank, A.D. Liston & A. Taeger (SDEI); 4Ƥ, Yunnan, Gongshan 10km NW, N27.797, E98.585, 2150 m, 0 6.06.2009, leg. S.M. Blank, A.D. Liston & A. Taeger (SDEI); 2Ƥ, Yunnan, Gongshan 10km NW, N27.798, E98.583, 2100 m, 10.06.2009, leg. S.M. Blank, A.D. Liston & A. Taeger (SDEI).
Distribution. China (Yunnan).
Remarks. This species is similar to S. glabroorbita. See the above key for the differences between S. glabroorbita and S. dian.
description: Published as part of Niu, Gengyun, Wei, Meicai & Taeger, Andreas, 2012, Revision of the Siobla metallica group (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), pp. 1-49 in Zootaxa 3196 on pages 7-8, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.280105