Apanteles argiope Nixon 1965
Creators: name: Liu, Zhen
name: He, Jun-Hua
name: Chen, Xue-Xin
name: Gupta, Ankita
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Apanteles
Apanteles argiope

description: Apanteles argiope Nixon, 1965   
 (Figures 10, 98, 104a 1 –a 2)   
 Apanteles argiope Nixon, 1965: 85. Holotype ♀ (examined)— South Africa [NHM, Figs 104a 1 –a 2]. Papp, 1987: 435–456; Shenefelt, 1972: 445.   
 Redescription. Female. Body length 2.3 mm, fore wing length 2.6 mm.   
 Head. Weakly transverse in dorsal view, 1.9× as wide as long, 1.2× wider than mesoscutum. Vertex between eye and posterior ocellus slightly shiny with fine puncture. Temple dull with shallow and confluent punctures, strongly constricted apically. Face 0.8× as high as wide, slightly shiny with rather dense punctures, pubescent, inner margin of eyes subparallel. Ocelli small, posterior tangent to anterior ocellus hardly touching posterior ocelli, distance between fore and hind ocellus longer than diameter of hind ocellus, POL:OD:OOL=5.0:1.5:3.5. Antenna distinctly shorter than body length, weakly articulated, penultimate flagellomere 1.3× longer than wide.   
 Mesosoma. Length:width:height = 41.0:23.5:27.0. Disc of mesonotum slightly shiny, with coarse, dense punctures, interspaces between punctures smaller than diameter of puncture, punctures confluent at posterior end of notaulic courses, smooth and unsculptured medial-apically and parts along hind margin. Scutellar sulcus nearly straight, broad with sparse carinae in between. Scutellum shiny with shallow punctures, not wide posteriorly, median length slightly shorter than basal width. Lateral polished field of scutellum reaching half length of scutellum. Propodeum dull, rugose anterio-laterally, areola well defined with transversal carinae inside, V-shaped apically, with strong costulae, posterio-lateral fields with irregular carinae. Mesopleuron highly polished and with sparse punctures, anterior parts dull with dense and coarse punctures widely.   
 Legs. Hind coxa slightly shiny, surface slightly rough without punctures basally. Spines on outer side of hind tibia relatively sparse. Inner spur of hind tibia 2/5 length of hind basitarsus, outer spur 1/3. Basitarsus of hind leg as long as tarsomeres 2–4 combined.   
 Wings. Pterostigma 2.7× as long as its widest part. Vein 1-R1 as long as pterostigma, 1.7× as long as its distance from apex of marginal cell. Vein r arising from apex of pterostigma, strongly declined outwards and curved, as long as width of pterostigma, r 2.0× longer than vein 2-SR, indistinctly angled at junction, 2-M as long as 2-SR and 2-SR+M, slightly longer than 1-SR, m-cu as long as r. First discal cell of fore wing 1.4× wider than high. Second submarginal cell of hind wing 1.4× wider than high. Vein cu-a curved. Hind wing narrow, vein 1-M not shorter than distance between its distal extremity and apex of vannal lobe. Vannal lobe beyond its widest part straight, with short setae.   
 Metasoma. 1.2× longer than mesosoma. T1 parallel-sided, 2.4× longer than hind width, concave at basal third, turned-over part dull, strongly rugose, longitudinal channel shallow, and apical tubercle highly polished and smooth. T2 more or less rough with wrinkles, trapezoidal, 2.5× wider than long in the middle, nearly straight apically. T3 2.6× longer than T 2 in the middle. Tergites posterior to T2 highly polished, slightly shiny, and pubescent. Hypopygium longer than apex of metasoma. Ovipositor sheath as long as hind tibia, sparsely pubescent.   
 Colour. Body black, except tergites posterior to T2 dark brown. Tegula dark brown. Palpi (except darker basally) and spurs pale yellowish. Antenna and ovipositor sheath dark brown to black. Labrum and mandible dark brown. Legs dark brown to black, except fore and mid legs somewhat yellowish, hind trochanter and tibia yellow basally. Wing membrane hyaline, somewhat brownish, veins brown.   
 Male. Unknown.   
 Host. According to literature, Crocidolomia sp. (Nixon, 1965).   
 Material examined. 2♀♀, Nanjing, Fujian, 1988.VII.28, Lin Xiaolin, Nos. 20005882, 20005853; 1♀, Mt. Qingyun, Yongqin, Fujian, 2002.IX.18, Li Fangfang, No. 20023206; 3♀♀, ditto, Wang Yiping, Nos. 20023358, 20023253, 20023233; 1♀, Xibing, Fu’an, Fujian, 1988.IX.27, Lin Changfu, No. 20008918; 1♀, Fu’an, Fujian, 1985.IX.9, Zhan Tinghu, No. 981001; 1♀, Tianbaoyan, Yongan, Fujian, 2001.VII.15, Piao Meihua, No. 200106761; 1♀, Shaxian, Fujian, 1980.XII, Gong Weili, No. 810004; 2♀♀, Xiamen, Fujian, 1988.VII.28–29, Fan Jinjiang, Nos. 886805, 886814; 1♀, Dazhulan, Mt. Wuyi, Fujian, 1983.VII.31, Ma Yun, No. 832348; 2♀♀, Mt. Wuyi, Fujian, 2007.VIII.22–25, Xie Cuihong, Nos. 200807161, 200807141; 1♀, Zhangzhou, Fujian, 1987.IV, Lin Naiquan, No. 984901; 2♀♀, Meixian, Youxi, Fujian, 1988.X.15, Lin Changfu, Nos. 20005217, 20005236; 3♀♀, Datianding, Dawuling, Guangdong, 2001.X.3–5, Xu Zaifu, Nos. 20021012, 20020643, 20020792; 1♀, Mt. Nankun, Guang- dong, 2002.VI.8, Xu Zaifu, No. 20028847; 2♀♀, ditto, 2003.VII.14–15 /20, ditto, No. 20053812; 1♀, Baiyong, Yangchun, Guangdong, 2002.V.5–6, ditto, No. 20028026; 1♀, Baishui Waterfall, Yangchun, Guangdong, 2002. V.1, ditto, No. 20028393; 2♀♀, Mt. Yunji, Guangdong, 2003.VII.20, Li Ping, Nos. 20053946, 20053977; 1♀, Panlongxia, Deqing, Guangdong, 2003.X.4, Xu Zaifu, No. 20054916; 1♀, Fengxi, Meizhou, Guangdong, 2003. VII.29, Chen Jujian, No. 20048839; 2♀♀, Chebaling, Shixing, Guangdong, 2002.V.25, Xu Zaifu, Nos. 20051127, 20051539; 1♀, Mt. Guangyin, Fogang, Guangdong, 2002.VII.30, ditto, No. 20029484; 1♀, Guangdong, 19?, No. 800925; 1♀, Mt. Daming, Guangxi (846m), 2011.VIII.10, Liu Zhen, No. 201100958; 3♀♀ 12♂♂, Xiuxianzhilv, Mt. Daming, Guangxi, 2011.VIII.6, Yan Chengjin, Nos. 201100989, 201100992, 201100998, 201100985, 201100988, 201100990, 201100994, 201100995, 201100996, 201100997, 201100999, 201101001, 201100986, 201101000, 201100984; 2♀♀ 2♂♂, 9km to Hanjiang bridge, Mt. Daming, Guangxi, 2011.VIII.11, ditto, Nos. 201101022, 201101029, 201101015, 201101012; 2♂♂, Ganlan service center, Mt. Daming, Guangxi, 2011.VIII.7, Liu Zhen, Nos. 201100982, 201101032; 1♀, Hongmaocun, Yinggeling, Hainan, 2007.V.23–25, Zeng Jie, No. 200804475; 2♀♀, Jianfengling, Hainan, 2007.VI.4–7, ditto, Nos. 200710972, 200711339; 1♀, Ruili, Yunnan, 1991.V.1, He Junhua, No. 812401; 3♀♀, Mt. Tianmu, Zhejiang, 1983.IX.10–12, Wang Xingsheng, Nos. 833786, 834106, 834110; 2♀♀, Buyun, Shanghang, Zhejiang, 1988.VII.19–24, Ma Yun, Nos. 885371, 885047.   
 Distribution. China (Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan, Zhejiang) new record; Australia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Vanuatu.   
 Remarks. Characters of the examined specimens mostly agree with the published descriptions and type specimen except wing somewhat brownish (Figs. 10e, 10g) and scutellum with some shallow punctures (Fig. 10c).
description: Published as part of Liu, Zhen, He, Jun-Hua, Chen, Xue-Xin & Gupta, Ankita, 2020, The ater-group of the genus Apanteles Foerster (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from China with the descriptions of forty-eight new species, pp. 1-205 in Zootaxa 4807 (1) on pages 30-33, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4807.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3927639