Xyela meridionalis Shinohara 1983
Creators: name: Blank, Stephan M.
name: Shinohara, Akihiko
name: Altenhofer, Ewald
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Xyelidae
Xyela
Xyela meridionalis

description: Xyela meridionalis Shinohara, 1983   
 Xyela meridionalis Shinohara, 1983: 310–312, ♀, type locality: Taiwan, Nantou-Hsien, Puli E 13 km, Nanshanchi.   
 Description. Female. Color. Head yellow with black pattern (brown is absent): two black stripes along frontal furrows meeting black ocellar and postocellar area and black longitudinal spot in middle of frons always present; kidney-shaped spots on vertex separate from black postocellar area (Fig. 40). Antennae brown. Thorax dorsally brown with yellow pattern on pronotum, mesonotal lobes and mesoscutellum, tegulae pale, mesepisternum largely pale brown. Abdominal terga black, lateral parts of terga 8 and 9+10 and preapical sterna brown, valvifer 2 completely pale brown, membrane between valvifer 2 and valvula 3 white, valvula 3 black with small white ventral edge up to distal quarter (Figs 89, 103). Legs pale brown, posterior coxae brown laterally at basal quarter. Wing membrane, venation and pterostigma slightly infuscate.   
Morphology. Fore wing 3.8–4.1 mm long, 3.30–3.50 times longer than ovipositor sheath, vein Rs+M 100–210 µm long, 2r-m meeting Rs proximal to furcation of Rs1 and Rs2. Synantennomere 3 680–740 µm long, antennomere 4 180–210 µm long and 6.0–6.5 times longer than wide distally. Article 3 of maxillary palp 440–500 µm long, 1.45–1.55 times longer than scape and about as wide as synantennomere 3. OOL: POL = 1.55–1.70: 1. Ovipositor sheath 1.15–1.20 mm long, valvula 3 0.85–0.90 times longer than valvifer 2 and 2.7–2.8 times longer than wide at base (Fig. 89, 103). Valvula 3 of ovipositor sheath laterally flattened, in lateral view ca 2 times higher than wide in dorsal view, dorsal 0.75 somewhat rounded in cross-section. Length of pale membranous area longer than high and distally extending up to distal third of valvula 3, dorsal and ventral edge of valvula 3 distally narrowing to round tip, distally with sensilla field directed caudally, bearing most likely 9 (possibly 8) setae. Ovipositor straight. Valvula 1 of ovipositor straight and compressed, aulax terminating preapically, in distal 0.25 evenly tapering to the tip bearing 11 vertical annuli and 5(–6) serrulae, olistether with 4–5 setae. Left and right valvulae 2 fused along dorsal edge up to distal 0.25. Valvula 2 pale brown throughout and sclerotized, basal 0.75 of valvula 2 with scattered sensilla campaniformia and in the middle with 3 shallow protuberances, distal 0.25 tapering toward the tip, distal 0.25 with 6 vertical annuli and 6 dorsal teeth, areas between the annuli each with 1–3 sensilla campaniformia. Posterior tibia 0.90–0.95 mm long, all claws with subapical tooth.  
Male. Color. Similar to female (see Fig. 41 for color pattern of head). Stripes along supraantennal furrows anteriorly indistinct. Hypopygium and partly preapical sterna pale brown.  
Morphology. Fore wing 3.7 mm long, Rs+M 210 µm long, 2r-m meeting Rs proximal to furcation of Rs1 and Rs2. Synantennomere 3 850 µm long, antennomere 4 290 µm long and 8.5 times longer than wide distally. Article 3 of maxillary palp 450 µm long, 1.35 times longer than scape and about as wide as synantennomere 3. OOL: POL = 1.65: 1. Longitudinal apodeme of basiparamere curved, basal portion in lateral position, harpe about as long as wide in lateral view. Lower ergot on valvular stalk small but evident. Valviceps 1.60 times longer than wide on medial lobe, vertical lateral lamella present with proximal and distal edge s-shaped, proximal lobe of penis valve 0.16 times as long as valviceps and 1.05 times as high as medial lobe, excision on lower edge 0.27 as deep as width of medial lobe, valviceps on medial lobe 1.25 times wider than on distal lobe, 2 distal flagella present, tip of longer flagellum reaching 0.95 width of distal lobe (Fig. 135). Valviceps without distinct median longitudinal sclerotization present but slightly infuscate longitudinally, medial lobe almost symmetric, with 23–27 cone-like sensilla along upper edge and scattered on lateral surface, upper edge between medial and distal lobe with dense pattern of setae. Posterior tibia 0.95 mm long, all claws with a subapical tooth.  
 Type material. Holotype ♀: “ Nanshanchi, nr. Puli, Nantou, Taiwan, China, 15.III.1979, A. Shinohara leg.”; [red:] “ Holotype Xyela meridionalis Shinohara, 1983 ”. Left antennomeres 6–12 missing, otherwise in perfect condition, distal part of abdomen in small genitalia vial on pin of type specimen. UOPJ.   
 Host plant. Ο Pinus morrisonicola Hayata.   
 Geographic distribution. Taiwan (Fig. 12).   
 Remarks. The male of Xyela meridionalis has not been recognized until now. The sexes were associated using material collected by A. Shinohara at the same locality, even from the same individual tree, during several years. From this site, only a single unidentified male of the X. julii group was additionally available.   
 This species is very similar to representatives of the X. alpigena group due to, 1, presence of a narrow vertical, s-shaped lamella of the valviceps; 2, upper edge of proximal lobe of valviceps protruding above medial lobe; 3, presence of sclerotization on the dorsal edge of valvula 2 each enclosing one or two sensilla campaniformia. Since X. meridionalis does not share some of the apomorphies of the X. alpigena group, it is treated separately. Xyela meridionalis has the basal part of valvula 3 parallel-sided and the sensilla field directed caudally. In the X. alpigena group valvula 3 is wedge-shaped and the sensilla field directed laterally. The strikingly short valvula 3 is an apomorphy of X. meridionalis, which makes it difficult to assess agreement or disagreement of the shape of its cross section among the taxa. The penis valve of X. meridionalis differs from representatives of the X. alpigena group in the shorter proximal lobe, the deeper excision of the lower edge, and the longer distal flagella.   
 Shinohara (1983) discussed X. meridionalis and the Chinese X. exilicornis as possibly conspecific. The latter is here classified as member of the X. curva group. It has a strikingly different penis valve, e.g., proximal lobe not protruding above medial lobe, and lateral lamella wide and not s-shaped anteriorly.   
 The host plant supposedly is Pinus morrisonicola. The holotype and the material collected in 1991 were swept from the same pine tree belonging to the Pinus (‘ Strobus ’) in an open grove at about 800 m altitude (Shinohara 1983, and present data). Two species of Pinus (‘ Strobus ’) are native to Taiwan, P. armandii Franchet and P. morrisonicola. Pinus armandii can be excluded as host plant, because it is restricted to an altitude of (1,500–) 2,300 –3,000 m, and it is generally found above P. morrisonicola (300–2,300 m) (Mirov 1967, Richardson & Rundel 1998).
description: Published as part of Blank, Stephan M., Shinohara, Akihiko & Altenhofer, Ewald, 2013,  The Eurasian species of  Xyela  (Hymenoptera, Xyelidae): taxonomy, host plants and distribution , pp. 1-106 in Zootaxa 3629 (1) on pages 61-63, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3629.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5261330