Pseudoscolia anuae Saini 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Saini, Varun
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Crabronidae
Pseudoscolia
Pseudoscolia anuae

description: Pseudoscolia anuae Saini, sp. nov.
(Figs 1−21)
Diagnosis. The new species is close to North African species, P. dewitzi (Kohl, 1889), sharing with it the following characters: mandibles yellow except at apex; pronotal collar light yellow and notched medially, laterally rounded; head behind compound eyes distinctly narrow; mid basitarsus with four spines; pygidial plate rounded apically. The new species differs from P. dewitzi and other related species of Pseudoscolia by the body size, free margin of clypeus slightly emarginate mesally, basomedian area slightly emarginate apically; postocellar area densely punctate; compound eyes not reaching mandibles; pronotal collar with shallow notch medially; scutellum completely black; mesopleuron densely reticulo-punctate dorsally; fore basitarsus with five spines; Gt 1 -Gt 5 each with yellowish white fascia, densely punctate antero-dorsally, Gs 1 -Gs 5 immaculate, pygidial plate triangular, broad basally with lateral carina, micro-sculptured. New species also differs from the species described from Central Asia and Arabia by the body size, emarginate clypeal median lobe, scutellum coloration, medial notch on pronotal collar, coloration & bands on metasoma and punctation on body as described below.
Description. Holotype ♀. Body length= 5.2−5.5 mm; forewing length= 2.7−3.0 mm; pygidial plate= 0.76−0.90 mm.
Colour and pubescence. Body shiny black, except the following whitish yellow: clypeus, pronotal collar, pronotal lobe, metanotum, tegula, apical bands on Gt 1 -Gt 5, apical spot on all femora, all tarsomeres and tibiae except venter light brown spot; mandible yellow except at apex; wing stigma light brown; wing veins, last antennal flagellomere, Gt 1 -Gt 3 antero-dorsal, Gt 4 -Gt 5 basally, Gs 1 except medially, Gs 2 -Gs 3 completely, Gs 4 except laterally, all femora baso-ventrally, yellowish-brown; pygidial plate brown; antenna, mandible apically dark brown. Body mostly covered with sparse, creamish-white setae; mandible dorsally and laterally, dorsal surface of all legs and lateral surface of head dorsally with sparse creamish-white setae; scape with small silvery pubescence; clypeus laterally, scapal basin and lateral side of propodeum with dense silvery setae; vertex with small creamish-white setae; mesosternum with dense creamish-white setae; Gt 1 -Gt 5 dorsally and laterally covered with small creamish-white pubescence; pygidial plate laterally covered with small sparse light brown setae (Figs 1−3).
Head. Shiny, black; distinctly punctate dorsally, punctation dense near ocular region and on postocellar area, laterally with sparse punctation, punctures less than 1 diameter apart, punctures near to occipital carina 1 diameter apart (Figs 4−5); length of malar space less than 0.35 × basal mandibular width; clypeus markedly convex medially, medio-dorsally with sparse punctures more than 2 diameters apart (Figs 6−7); lateral side of compound eyes and medio-apical margin of clypeus closely punctate with punctures less than 1 diameter apart, free margin of median clypeal lobe slightly emarginate with angulate tooth laterally, more prominent angulate tooth sublaterally, basomedian area slightly emarginate apically, longitudinal sulcus below antennal socket absent (Fig. 8); ocellocular distance 2.2–2.3× hindocellar width; eyes slightly convergent above; lateral margin of compound eye with fine carina, reaching mandibular articulation; frons dorsally more closely punctate, punctures less than 0.5 diameter apart; gena usual, shiny, with punctures about 1-2 diameters apart; antennal sockets non-contiguous; flagellomere I 1.4× as long as wide apically, flagellomere II longer than pedicel, flagellomere III 1.25× as long as width, flagellomeres IV−IX longer than wide, flagellomere X depressed apically, 2× longer than flagellomere I; scape ecarinate; relative lengths of scape: pedicel and flagellomeres I: II: III: IV: V: VI: VII: VIII: IX and X= 3.1: 1.2: 1.8: 1.2: 1.6: 1.6: 1.7: 1.8: 1.6: 1.6: 1.7 and 2.6; tongue pointed.
Mesosoma. Shiny; dorsally covered with small silvery setae; pronotal collar with shallow notch medially (Fig. 10), lateral angle rounded, continuous with pronotal lobe, antero-lateral side of pronotum with punctures 1−2 diameters apart, propleuron with distinct angulate carina not reaching fore coxae; punctures on scutum averaging many diameters apart, denser toward anterior and antero-lateral margins, sparser mesally, with well-defined admedian and parapsidal lines; interspaces shiny with scattered micropunctures; punctation on scutellum similar as on scutum; metanotum smooth and shiny (Fig. 11); mesopleuron reticulo-punctate, with punctures averaging about 0.5−1 diameter apart and shiny interspaces between apex of pronotal lobe and mid coxa; metapleuron shiny, with very fine striae (Fig. 16); mesosternum on each side of discrimen, with punctures about 1−2 diameters apart and with silvery setae (Fig. 9); propodeum shiny, antero-dorsal surface triangular, shiny, with distinct transverse striae, anterior and posterior surfaces separated by fine carina, posterior surface dorsally punctate with elongate silvery setae, punctures about 1 diameter apart, with longitudinal furrow, dorso-lateral surface of propodeum punctate, about 0.5−1 diameter apart, covered with elongate silvery pubescence, lateral surface of propodeum shiny, with punctures about 0.5 diameter apart (Figs 14−15); apex of marginal cell more than width of vein R1 (Fig. 12); trochanters and femora of all legs with sparse, long, suberect setae; fore tibia middorso-laterally and fore basitarsus dorso-laterally with setal comb; fore basitarsus with 5 spines (Fig. 13).
Metasoma. Brown except terga IV−V and sternum V; tergum I with continuous, non-emarginate, tergum II with continuous, emarginate, terga III−V with continuous except dorsal spots, yellowish white fascia at apex (Figs 17−18); tergum I with shallow, narrow longitudinal groove basally, both sides of groove glabrous and finely punctate, about 0.5−1 diameters apart, impunctate medially, most punctures of terga I−V 0.5−2 diameters apart, punctures becoming progressively sparser toward metasomal apex; large punctures on sterna III−V, about 1−3 diameters apart (Fig. 19); pygidial plate wide with lateral carina, triangular, rounded apically, micro-sculptured (Fig. 20).
MALE. Unknown.
Distribution. India (Haryana) [Fig. 21].
Etymology. The species is named is in honour of the author’s wife, Mrs. Anu for her continuous support and encouragement.
Material examined. Holotype ♀. India: Haryana: CCS HAU, Botanical Garden, Hisar (29°08’31” N 75°42’49” E, 231 m a.s.l.) 07.II.2024, coll. Varun Saini (DEIM−CCSHAU). Paratype: 1♀, same data as holotype.
description: Published as part of Saini, Varun, 2024, Discovery of the digger wasp genus Pseudoscolia Radoszkowski, 1876 (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae: Philanthinae: Pseudoscoliini) in Indian Subcontinent, with description of a new species, pp. 593-600 in Zootaxa 5541 (4) on pages 594-599, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5541.4.10, http://zenodo.org/record/14241190