Sycophila (Sycophila) annae Lotfalizadeh & Delvare & Cruaud & Rasplus 2024, sp. n.
Creators: name: Lotfalizadeh, Hossein
name: Delvare, Gérard
name: Cruaud, Astrid
name: Rasplus, Jean-Yves
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Eurytomidae
Sycophila
Sycophila annae

description: Sycophila (Sycophila) annae Lotfalizadeh & Rasplus sp. n.   
(Figs 53–55)  
 Type material examined. Holotype ♀: Republic of South Africa, Nelspruit, -25.470950° 30.978929°, 12.iv.1995, ex syconia of Ficus thonningii, Gibernau M. leg. Deposited in CBGP. Paratypes: same data as holotype, 6♀.   
 Etymology. The species is dedicated to Jean-Yves’s wife for her patient devotion to his entomological activities.   
 Diagnosis. Female with funiculars distinctly elongate, 2× as long as wide (Fig. 53A). Basal cell and costal cell bare (Fig. 54E). Propodeum with smooth median band, reaching close to nucha, with a long row of areolae on sides, also reaching close to nucha (Fig. 54B). Gaster smooth with petiole at most as long as broad dorsally, ventral transverse carina between petiole and St1 present (Figs 54C, D).   
Body of male yellowish, basal half of scape yellowish and distal-half dark brown, propodeum yellowish with T-shaped dark brown spot (Fig. 55A). Flagellum with fu1–fu4 much longer than wide, clava short, not longer than the length of all funiculars (Fig. 55B). Fore wing entirely setose, without speculum (Fig. 55D).  
 Description of holotype ♀ (Figs 53–54). Length 4.30 mm. Body yellowish (Fig. 53A), except ocellar area, pronotum dorsomedially, mesosoma dorsally, propodeum medially and anteriorly, petiole and gaster dorsally, flagellum dorsally dark brown; fore wing with a dark brown spot below mv, reaching base of mv, lower margin of mv not obscured by dark brown spot (Fig. 54E); gaster bicoloured with dorsal edge dark brown (Fig. 54C); body setation whitish, setation of fore wing entirely dark.   
 Head 1.48× as broad as high [HW 180 & HH 122] (Fig. 53C); in dorsal view stout, 1.84× as broad as long [HW 258 & HL 140] (Fig. 53D); face mostly coriaceous, vertex coriaceous and sparsely punctulate; malar space 0.54× length of eye, [ms 42 & EH 82]; malar sulcus distinct, straight (Fig. 53E); genal margin regularly curved, edged but not carinate; antennal toruli narrowly separated; interantennal space not raised, carinate laterally; scrobal depression smooth, reaching the median ocellus, not carinate on margin; POL 2.2× as long as OOL [POL 55 & OOL 25] (Fig. 53D); temple rounded, 0.27× the eye length (in dorsal view) [TL 28 & EL 104]; setation of lower face oriented downwards, outwards on the punctuate frons.   
 Antenna. Scape reaching lower margin of median ocellus, 3.28× as long as broad [SL 105 & SW 32; fu1 1.43× as long as broad [fu1L 60 & fu1W 42], distinctly longer than pedicel, not bulging dorsally; funiculars (fu2–fu4) with 2–3 rows of mps and several whorls of adpressed setae; fu2–fu5 slightly longer than broad (Fig. 53B).   
 Mesosoma weakly arched dorsally, with deep sculpture, 1.6× as long as wide (160:100); pronotum with coarse umbilicate punctures (Fig. 54A); notauli conspicuous; mesodiscrimen raised, with piliferous sculpture on epicnemium closer to the anterior end of the discrimen; mesoscutum 0.5× as long as wide (55:105), 0.8× longer than length of pronotal collar (55:70), with umbilicate punctures anteriorly, strigose laterally; notauli impressed, conspicuous; axillar grooves facing notauli on transscutal line deeply and step-like impressed; prepectus bare, with raised sculpture; mesoscutellum and axillae with dense umbilicate punctures and coriaceous interspaces; mesepimeron transversally strigose; metepimeron subtriangular and areolate with long white hairs; propodeum (Fig. 54B) with deep median depression, a smooth median band and two short submedian carinae; lateral rows of areolae absent; basal carina wedge-like, lateral branches relatively straight; width of basal carina about 0.5× width of nucha.   
 Fore wing obliquely subtruncate apically, with short marginal fringe, apically; relatively narrow dark brown spot along posterior margin of mv; basal cell bare or nearly so; mv distinctly enlarged, strongly rounded on posterior margin, not longer than pmv; stv not curved; pmv distinct, longer than stv; ventral side of costal cell sparsely setose, dorsally bare; speculum present; parastigmal bristles absent (Figs 54E, F).   
 Legs. Fore coxa without depression on frontal surface, hind coxa bare basodorsally; fore (30:12) and hind femora (30:13); hind tibia dorsally with more than 15 setae, setae shorter than hind tibia width.   
 Metasoma. Petiole as long as broad dorsally, ventral transverse carina between petiole and St1 present. Metasoma longer than mesosoma, 1.7× as long as wide (170:100) (Fig. 54C), strongly compressed laterally and dorsally angulate (Fig. 54D); ventral transverse carina between petiole and St1 present; petiole in dorsal view not longer than wide, shorter than half length of hind coxa; tergites smooth; Gt4 (in lateral view) much as long as Gt3 (at least 1.5× longer), sinuous posteriorly; Gt5 partly covering Gt6, sinuous posteriorly; Gt3– Gt5 with few setae dorsally, Gt6 entirely but sparsely setose; ovipositor hardly upturned (Fig. 54C).   
 Male (Fig. 55). Length 3.53 mm. Similar to female with longer petiole (Fig. 55A) antennal formula 11143, with funiculars much longer, at least 2× as long as broad; each funicular with 3–4 rows of mps and 2 whorls of relatively short setae (Fig. 55B); fore wing more setose than in female, costal cell with two rows of setae dorsally (Fig. 55D).   
 Variation. Length 2.90–4.30 mm.   
 Host plant. Ficus thonningii.   
 Geographical distribution. Republic of South Africa.
description: Published as part of Lotfalizadeh, Hossein, Delvare, Gérard, Cruaud, Astrid & Rasplus, Jean-Yves, 2024, Morphological phylogeny and revision of Sycophila and Ficomila (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea, Eurytomidae) associated with Afrotropical fig trees (Moraceae, Ficus), pp. 1-190 in Zootaxa 5401 (1) on pages 82-86, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5401.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10524258