Aulacus pallidicaudis
Creators: name: Jennings, John T.
name: Parslow, Ben A.
name: Austin, Andrew D.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Aulacidae
Aulacus
Aulacus pallidicaudis

description: Aulacus pallidicaudis (Cameron, 1911)
Figs 38, 64.
Aulacinus pallidicaudis Cameron 1911: 344.— Hedicke 1939: 26.
Aulacus pallidicaudis — Smith 2001: 273, comb. nov.; Jennings 2010 [on-line checklist].
Material examined. Holotype. ♀, " Rose Bay (W.W.F.) Sydney, N.S.W. Bred from larvae of Piesarthrius marginellus " (BMNH 3 a. 65).
Other Material examined. NSW: 1 ♂, mounted on same card as holotype (BMNH); 1 ♂, Rose Bay, 28.xi.1894, [W.W.] Froggatt (ASCU); 2♀, Rose Bay, no other data (ASCU); 1 ♂, Sydney, no other data (BMNH).
Description. FEMALE. Length. 7.7 (6.7–8.3) mm, excluding ovipositor.
Colour. Head and mesothorax black (Fig. 38A, B), antenna, mandibles, fore legs, mid tibiae and tarsi, hind tarsus pale brown, metasoma dark brown, ovipositor pale brown except tip of valves black, wings hyaline, brown spot apically on marginal and submarginal cells of fore wing.
Head. 1.3× wider than long when viewed dorsally (Fig. 38C); face rugulose-reticulate, pubescence long; with shallow sub-antennal groove; frons with sinuate lateral medial carina above toruli, rugulose-reticulate, with short pubescence; vertex and gena reticulate, with scattered short setae; posterior margin of head not concave in dorsal view; occipital carina absent; malar space 0.24 (0.22–0.26)× height eye; clypeus 3.4× as wide as high, margin sinuate, with distinct medial process; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 1.1× distance between lateral ocelli; scape 2.6 (2.5–2.7)× length pedicel; first flagellomere as long as scape, 0.67 (0.63–0.70)× as long as second flagellomere.
Mesosoma. Propleuron rugulose, pubescence long, ventro-lateral carina present; pronotum rugose; mesoscutum in lateral view rounded antero-dorsally (Fig. 38E, F), medial and lateral lobes rugose with scattered short setae, admedial lines present; notauli distinct, scrobiculate, broad and deep (Figs 38E, F); scutellum and axillae rugose, scutellum anteriorly with pair of deep depressions, separated by a weak median carina; metapostnotum scrobiculate, posterior margin straight; mesopleuron rugose, with long pubescence; mesepimeron broad, carinate; metapleuron rugose, with short pubescence; propodeum rugose, posterior margin weakly scrobiculate; hind coxa strigate, pubescence long laterally, ovipositor guide absent; hind trochanter imbricate, with scattered short setae; prefemur on hind leg present; hind femur imbricate, with scattered short setae; hind tibia imbricate, pubescence short, with scattered stout emergent setae; hind femur 0.75 (0.73–0.77)× length hind tibia; hind tibia with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines; hind tarsomeres 1–4 with ventro-apical pecten of short spines, tarsomere 1, 2.8 (2.6–3.1)× length tarsomere 2; tarsomere 2, 1.4 (1.3–1.6)× length tarsomere 3; tarsomere 3, 1.7 (1.6–1.8)× length tarsomere 4; tarsomere 4, 0.5× length tarsomere 5; hind tarsal claw 0.4× length tarsomere 5; fore wing veins 2r-m and 3r-m largely spectral; hind wing venation complete, R+Rs, M+Cu, Cu, r-m and 2-M spectral, with 4 hamuli.
Metasoma. Ovate, 1.5 (1.3–1.6)× length of mesosoma (Figs 38A, B); T1 and T2 narrow, punctate-reticulate dorsally (Fig. 38H); ovipositor 5.9 (4.8–6.5) mm.
MALE. Similar to female except: metasoma 1.8× length of mesosoma; digitus about same length as basiparameres.
Distribution. Most specimens were collected from Rose Bay, NSW in the late 19 th Century (Fig. 64). Rose Bay is today a harbourside, eastern suburb of Sydney.
Biology. The females of this species have been bred from the larvae of the feather-horned longicorn, Piesarthrius marginellus Hope (Cerambycidae). In addition, a male specimen from Rose Bay was collected on "Acac. longi.", undoubtedly referring to Acacia longifolia (Fabaceae), the Sydney golden wattle.
Comments. Aulacus pallidicaudis is in a group together with A. aquilus, A. bashfordi, and A. froggatti, which have the mesosoma rounded antero-laterally in lateral view, metasoma ovate, and lack an ovipositor guide on the hind coxae. Aulacus aquilus and A. pallidicaudus both have a lateral medial carina above the toruli, which is absent in the other two species.
Aulacus pallidicaudus and A. aquilus can be readily separated by the sculpturing on the face (rugose in A. aquilus and rugulose-reticulate in A. pallidicaudus).
description: Published as part of Jennings, John T., Parslow, Ben A. & Austin, Andrew D., 2018, Systematics of the parasitoid wasp genus Aulacus Jurine (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Aulacidae) from Australia, pp. 1-113 in Zootaxa 4538 (1) on page 71, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4538.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3771367