Aulacus mareebaensis Jennings & Parslow & Austin 2018, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Jennings, John T.
name: Parslow, Ben A.
name: Austin, Andrew D.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Aulacidae
Aulacus
Aulacus mareebaensis

description: Aulacus mareebaensis Jennings & Austin, sp. nov.
Figs 32, 62.
Material examined. Holotype. ♀, “ ex Malaise Trap, 16km Davies Ck, Rd Mareeba NEQ, 6Nov -2Dec 1984, Storey & Halfpapp (ASCU). Left fore leg missing tarsomeres 3–5, right leg missing tarsi, left mid leg missing femora, tibia and tarsus.
Description. FEMALE. Length. 7.5 mm, excluding ovipositor.
Colour. Orange (Figs 32A, B), except darker dorsally on most surfaces, scape and pedicel orange, antennal flagellomeres 1–5 brown, 6–12 cream, basal 5 th of metasomal T1 dark brown dorsally, ovipositor sheath brown, with cream band from about 50–80% of length of sheaths. Wings hyaline except for broad band of brown infuscation apically on the marginal and third submarginal cells of fore wings (Fig. 32B).
Head. 1.1× wider than long when viewed dorsally (Fig. 32C); face rugose, scattered short setae, distinct subantennal groove; frons without lateral medial carinae above toruli, rugose, punctures laterally, scattered short setae; vertex and gena, scattered punctures and a few strigations medially, imbricate microsculpturing, scattered short setae; gena becoming smoother ventrally; posterior margin of head concave in dorsal view; occipital carina absent; malar space 0.24× height eye; clypeus 3.5× as wide as high, margin sinuate, medial process present; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 0.83× distance between lateral ocelli; scape 1.6× length pedicel; first flagellomere 1.06× as long as scape, 0.4× as long as second flagellomere.
Mesosoma. Propleuron rugose, long scattered setae ventro-lateral carina present; pronotum rugose; mesoscutum in lateral view angular antero-dorsally, medial and lateral lobes coarsely strigate, with scattered short setae (Figs 32C,E), admedial lines present; notauli distinct, carinate, narrow and deep (Fig. 32D); scutellum and axillae coarsely strigate, scutellum with two deep depressions, separated by a weak median carina; metapostnotum broad, carinate, posterior margin convex; mesopleuron rugose dorsally, areolate ventrally, pubescence long; mesepimeron broad, carinate; metapleuron areolate, scattered short setae, patch anteriorly before spiracle smooth; propodeum areolate, posterior margin rugose medially, smoother with several carinae laterally; hind coxa strigate dorsally and laterally, scattered short setae, ovipositor guide somewhat medial, oblique, long setae on posterior margin (Fig. 32F); hind trochanter imbricate, pubescence short; prefemur on hind leg distinct; hind femur imbricate, pubescence short; hind tibia imbricate, pubescence short, with scattered stout emergent setae; hind femur 0.72× length hind tibia; hind tibia with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines; hind tarsomeres 1–4 with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines, tarsomere 1, 2.6× length tarsomere 2; tarsomere 2, 1.7× length tarsomere 3; tarsomere 3, 2.1× length tarsomere 4; tarsomere 4, 1.0× length tarsomere 5; hind tarsal claw 0.57× length tarsomere 5; fore wing veins 2r-m and 3r-m largely spectral; hind wing venation complete, M+Cu, Cu, r-m and 2-M spectral, with 3 equidistant hamuli.
Metasoma. Ovate, 1.5× length of mesosoma (Fig. 32B); T1 and T2 narrow, T1 smooth, glabrous, T2–T8 imbricate, short setae, become denser towards T8; ovipositor 5.7 mm.
MALE. Unknown.
Etymology. This new species is named after the type locality, Mareeba, Queensland.
Distribution. This species is known only from Mareeba, Queensland (Fig. 62).
Biology. Nothing is known of the biology of this species.
Comments. This species keys out in together with A. confusus. See comments above under the latter species.
description: Published as part of Jennings, John T., Parslow, Ben A. & Austin, Andrew D., 2018, Systematics of the parasitoid wasp genus Aulacus Jurine (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Aulacidae) from Australia, pp. 1-113 in Zootaxa 4538 (1) on pages 60-62, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4538.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3771367