Parastephanellus reductus Binoy, Girish Kumar & Santhosh 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Binoy, C.
name: Achterberg, C. Van
name: Kumar, P. Girish
name: Santhosh, S.
name: Sheela, S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Stephanidae
Parastephanellus
Parastephanellus reductus

description: Parastephanellus reductus Binoy, Girish Kumar & Santhosh sp. nov.
(Figs 84–94)
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 1EBB1316-6C62-499F-96E0-B9CCC2A19C5D
Type material. India: Tamil Nadu, Kanyakumari district, Kanyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary, Alagiapandiapuram (8°18’27.7”N & 77°26’19.1”E, 30m), 16.ii.2020, Coll. Souvik Sen & party, (ZSIK). Reg. No. ZSI/ WGRC /IR/ INV.14261.
Diagnosis. The new species possesses an important and unique character in having the fore wing with vein 2- SR+M absent. Head in dorsal view rounded behind eyes; neck moderately emarginated; pronotum posteriorly well emarginate, forming a gap between a lower mesoscutum; hind coxa with strong transverse rugae and without a dorsal tooth; first metasomal tergite almost equal to rest of metasoma (excluding ovipositor), 6.7× as long as its maximum width with strong irregular coarsely transverse rugae anteriorly, proceeding as annulate sculpturing beyond.
Description. Holotype, ♀. Body length 6.01 mm, ovipositor sheath length 3.82 mm, fore wing length 3.26 mm.
Colour. Black; tegula and palpi dark brown; scape brown with apical tip honey brown, pedicel, F1–F4, F5 and F6 basally honey brown, rest of flagellomeres deep brown; frons brown with yellowish patches near inner orbits and on lower face along the toruli; malar space with a pale yellow patch below eyes (Fig. 86) extending to the occiput posteriorly; mandibles yellowish brown with apices black (Fig. 88); all tibia liver brown, paler apically; all tarsi yellowish brown to testaceous, hind basitarsus pale yellowish; wings hyaline, pterostigma translucent, margins brown, veins mostly translucent brown; first metasomal tergite apically and second metasomal tergite basally brownish; second tergite onwards pale orange brown apical margins; apical tip of hypopygium orange brown; ovipositor sheath brownish black with a small pale spot on expanded ventral and apical area.
Head. Antenna with 29 antennomeres; F2 onwards surface distinctly pitted; frons with subparallel uniform rugae, medially coarse, few scattered setae; coronal area smooth with few strong rugae; clypeus projecting, rugose, with apical brush of setae; five anterior coronal teeth, antero-medial one largest, reddish brown, followed by a pair of arcuate ones and blunt ones posteriorly; behind the posterior teeth a couple of straight carinae present; vertex faintly rugose beyond the lateral ocellus along the eye margin, medially bare, almost smooth (Fig. 87); temples non-angulate, largely smooth and shiny (Fig. 86); occipital carina strong, complete, almost straight, reaching the mandibles anteriorly.
Mesosoma. Neck short, emarginate anteriorly, in level with pronotum without forming a cavity medially; pronotum medially moderately rugose without any distinct carinae, sparsely setose, posteriorly smooth, shiny with margin emarginated; pronotal margin forming a large gap at pronotal-mesoscutal margin; propleuron smooth and shiny forming buttressing ridges ventrally, sparsely setose; mesoscutum with medial foveolate furrow; anteriorly imbricate to alutaceous, medially with irregular fovea and a pair of converging accessorial carina beyond middle, 0.7× as wide as long, sparsely setose; scutellum large, as long as wide, alutaceous with scattered punctures and sparsely setose; axillae separated from each other by a deep and an indistinct fovea (Fig. 89); mesopleuron alutaceous with moderately dense white setae, smooth posteriorly (Fig. 90); propodeum with large irregular areola and smooth to imbricate interstices, inside of areola smooth, a transverse curving carina present sub apically (Fig. 89); fore wing hyaline with scattered minute setae concentrated more on apically, 2-SR+M absent, 1-M 1.43× 1-SR, almost straight; vein r reaching before the apex of pterostigma; 3-CU 1 obsolete, 2-1A absent (Fig. 91); hind coxa robust, without a dorsal teeth and with strong rugae anteriorly, turning annular posteriorly; hind femur moderately widened, smooth, alutaceous sculpturing and scattered sparse long white setae, ventrally with 2 large teeth and several denticles in between and beyond apical teeth, basal tooth wide, faintly rugose; hind tibia with uniform rugae ventrally, moderately pubescent, 1.27× as long as hind femur, apical inflated part (i.e., apical part with sculpture different from basal petiolate part) 1.06× as wide as narrow basal part, widened part with distinct oblique inverted obsolete V shaped carinae; hind tarsus with three tarsomeres, sub-parallel sided 4× as long as second tarsal segment (Fig. 92).
Metasoma. First tergite 8.6× as long as its maximum width, 0.73× as long as remaining metasomal tergites, cylindrical with irregular strong rugae throughout the length, apically smooth (Fig. 93); second tergite smooth and shiny medially, fine alutaceous laterally and apically; fifth to seventh tergites finely reticulate to alutaceous with scattered small white setae; eighth tergite finely reticulate, setose and furcate apically, no pygidial protuberance present apically; ovipositor sheath 0.63× length of the body and 1.17× as long as fore wing (Fig. 94).
Male. Unknown.
Distribution. Oriental: India (Tamil Nadu).
Biology. Unknown.
Etymology. The species is named after the peculiar feature in having vein 2-SR+M of fore wing reduced/absent.
description: Published as part of Binoy, C., Achterberg, C. Van, Kumar, P. Girish, Santhosh, S. & Sheela, S., 2020, A review of Stephanidae (Hymenoptera: Stephanoidea) from India, with the description of five new species, pp. 1-51 in Zootaxa 4838 (1) on pages 40-43, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4838.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4403367