Aphanogmus cecidovorus Ranjith & Ayiswarya & Niveditha & Priyadarsanan 2023, sp. n.
Creators: name: Ranjith, A. P.
name: Ayiswarya, S. V.
name: Niveditha, B.
name: Priyadarsanan, D. R.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Ceraphronidae
Aphanogmus
Aphanogmus cecidovorus

description: Aphanogmus cecidovorus Ranjith sp. n.
(Figures 2–3)
Type material
Holotype, female, INDIA: Kerala, Malappuram, Calicut University Campus, collected 5 March 2023, emerged 15 March 2023, from leaf galls of Pongamia pinnata induced by Aceria pongamiae, coll. B. Niveditha and S.V. Ayiswarya. Paratypes, 3 females with same data as holotype (AIMB).
Description
FEMALE. Body length 0.8 mm, forewing 0.4 mm.
Head
Head 1.6 × as wide as long in dorsal view (Figure 2D), 1.2 × as wide as mesosoma (Figure 2B); POL: OOL: LOL = 3.5: 1.0: 2.0. Head 1.1 × as wide as high in frontal view (Figure 2C); malar space 0.6 × as long as eye height; lateral margin of torulus distinctly raised (Figure 2C); intertorular carina indistinct (Figure 2C); frontal depression granulate (Figure 2D); ocellar foveae present (Figure 2D); preocellar pit present (Figure 2D); facial pit absent (Figure 2D); preoccipital furrow present and extending from anterior ocellus to occipital foramen (Figure 2B); preoccipital carina present (Figure 2B,F); preoccipital lunula present (Figure 2B,F); occipital carina present (Figure 2B,F); occipital depression absent (Figure 2B,F); occiput faintly sculptured (Figure 2B,F). Antenna 10-merous (Figure 2E); scape about 0.7 × as long as height of head, as long as distance between inner orbits; pedicel 2.5 × as long as flagellomere 1; the following flagellomeres gradually widened (Figure 2E); flagellomere 7 about 4.0 × as wide as flagellomere 1; club 1 merous (Figure 2E). Mesosoma
Mesosoma 1.1 × as long as wide (Figure 2A); 1.3 × as high as wide; ventral pronotal pit indistinct (Figures 2A and 3A); mesoscutum granulate, sparsely setose (Figure 2B,F); setal base slightly pustulate (Figure 2B,F); median mesoscutal sulcus indistinct to absent (Figure 2B,F); notaulus absent (Figure 2B,F); parapsidal line absent (Figure 2B,F); interaxillar sulcus indistinct (Figure 2B,F); mesoscutal humeral sulcus distinct. Scutoscutellar sulcus straight, shallow, continuous with interaxillar sulcus (Figure 2B,F); dorsal axillar area and mesoscutellum sculptured as mesoscutum, with distinct lateral carina that connects posterior mesoscutellar sulcus (Figures 2B,F and 3C); mesoscutellum 1.3 × as long as wide (Figure 2B,F); anterior mesopleural sulcus distinct (Figures 2A and 3A); mesopleural area finely reticulate anteriorly with several setae (Figures 2A and 3A); dorsal mesometapleural carina slightly curved (Figures 2A and 3A); intersection of anterior mesopleural sulcus and dorsal mesometapleural carina forms obtuse angle (Figures 2A and 3A); metapleural carina distinct, extends near dorsal mesometapleural carina (Figures 2A and 3A).
Wings
Forewing about 2.7 × as long as wide, with a darkly pigmented band central two-third (Figure 3D); radial vein 1.8 × as long as marginal vein (Figure 3D).
Legs
Metacoxa bare dorsally (Figure 3A); longitudinal metacoxal carina present at base (Figure 3A); meta femur 2.5 × as long as wide.
Metasoma
Syntergum with distinct transverse carina anteriorly, as long as wide, smooth, occupying 0.6 × total length of metasoma (Figures 2B,F and 3C); syntergum with short longitudinal striae (Figures 2B,F and 3C).
Colour
Body yellow except scape, basal flagellomeres, mesoscutum, mesoscutellum, forewing medially, syntergum subposteriorly brown.
Male
Unknown.
Distribution
India (Kerala).
Biology
Reared from Microdiplosis pongamiae Mani, which feeds on the gall mite Aceria pongamiae Kieffer.
Etymology
The species is named after the peculiar host association as it parasitises the cecidomyiid which feeds on the gall-inducing mites.
Comparative diagnosis
This new species belongs to the tenuicornis (sensu Evans et al. 2005) species group in having the mesoscutum without a median sulcus, and the metasoma with a basal transverse carina. Currently, there are only three species known to be associated with acariphagous cecidomyiids (A. floridanus, A. fulmeki and A. flavigastris). Among these, only A. floridanus, which also belongs to the tenuicornis species group, shows some resemblance to A. cecidovorus sp. n. Based on the character combination of the tenuicornis species group, we can exclude the other two species. Furthermore, the new species can be distinguished from A. fulmeki and A. flavigastris, by its distinct body colour pattern. In addition to the differences in general body colour, and colour of antennae and legs, the new species can be distinguished from A. floridanus from the positioning of the transverse band on the forewing, which extends from subbasally to the basal half of the radial vein (transverse band present before marginal vein in A. floridanus); the distinctly curved radial vein (straight in A. floridanus), which is 1.8 × as long as the marginal vein (1.5 × in A. floridanus); and metasoma 1.4 × as long as mesosoma (metasoma not longer than mesosoma in A. floridanus).
description: Published as part of Ranjith, A. P., Ayiswarya, S. V., Niveditha, B. & Priyadarsanan, D. R., 2023, A new species of Aphanogmus Thomson (Hymenoptera: Ceraphronidae) parasitising predatory cecidomyiids in mite-induced galls of Pongamia pinnata in India, pp. 1963-1971 in Journal of Natural History 57 (41 - 44) on pages 1965-1968, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2023.2279237, http://zenodo.org/record/10478540