Ephuta icema Casal 1969
Creators: name: Cambra, Roberto A.
name: Buschini, Maria Luisa Tunes
name: Arias, Diomedes Quintero
name: Brozoski, Fanciele
name: Lustosa, Priscila Rudiak
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Mutillidae
Ephuta
Ephuta icema

description: Ephuta icema Casal, 1969 (Figs 1–7)
Ephuta icema Casal, 1969: 104 –105, ♀, holotype, "Nova Teutonia, S. Catarina, Brasil, 6.iii.1954, F. Plaumann / Holotypus / Ephuta ♀
icema O. Casal sp. n. O.H. Casal 1968 " [AMNH], examined the photos of holotype.
Diagnosis. The male of Ephuta icema Casal runs in Casal’s key (1968: 83) to couplet 41. It is most related to E. guasuncha Casal, 1968, which distributed in Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina. The two species can be separated as follows: in E. icema the dorsum and posterior face of the propodeum are not separated by a transverse carina; the posterior margin of T2 and T3–T7 are totally clothed with dense golden setae concealing most of the integument (Fig. 1); S7 integument mostly yellow. Ephuta guasuncha has the dorsum and posterior face of the propodeum separated by a transverse carina; white setae on the posterior margin of T2 are dense and on T3–T7 are sparse; the S7 integument is black.
Description. MALE (hitherto unknown). (Figs 1–4). Body length 7.3–7.5 mm. Color. Integument black, except red mandible tip, S7 yellow except black apex, tibial spurs pale whitish; wings subhyaline, weakly infuscated; frons with dense, erect and decumbent, pale golden setae; vertex with sparse and erect pale golden setae; clypeus with white setae; pronotum with erect and decumbent pale golden setae, mesoscutum and tegula with black setae; scutellum basal half with long erect black setae, apical half with long erect pale golden setae; metanotum, propodeum, meso- and metapleuron with erect and decumbent white setae; T1 with long erect and decumbent white setae; T2 lateral margin with sparse white setae, disc area with sparse golden setae, posterior margin of T2 and T3–T7 totally with dense long, decumbent and semi-erect, golden setae concealing most of integument; S1–S3 with sparse erect and decumbent white setae; S4–S7 with sparse erect and decumbent golden setae. Head. Transverse in dorsal view, frons, vertex and gena with medium-sized, very close punctures; ocelli small, distance between eye margin and lateral ocellus 4.0 × as long as diameter of ocellus; clypeal carinae subparallel, slightly diverging anteriorly, terminating before anterior margin in a pair of small tubercles; mandible slender, with a small tooth within near tip; ventral margin smooth, without a process or tooth; scape with two longitudinal carina below; first flagellomere approximately as long as second. Mesosoma. Dorsum of pronotum and mesoscutum with large, contiguous punctures, sides of pronotum closely micropunctate; scutellum with medium-sized, very close punctures, evenly convex from anterior to posterior margins, without either posterior face, emargination or projections; tegula with small separated punctures, basal third with a median longitudinal ridge, lateroposterior border convex; dorsum and posterior face of propodeum broadly reticulate, not separated by a transverse carina, without median tubercle, lateral area rounded, not angulate or tuberculate; mesopleuron with medium-sized contiguous punctures, evenly convex throughout; metapleuron with a small area of medium-sized close punctures at ventral margin, otherwise impunctate; forewing (Fig. 2) with three submarginal and two discal cells, veins 3rs-m and 2mcu faintly indicated; coxae without denticle, tubercle or carina. Metasoma. First segment cylindrical, T1 dorsal face, 0.85 × as long as wide; T1 with large close punctures, T2 evenly convex throughout, not at all flattened, with medium-sized close punctures; T3–T7 with small, close punctures; S1 with a median longitudinal keel, only slightly elevated; S2 mostly with medium-sized close punctures; S3–S6 with small, sparse punctures; S7 mainly with small, close punctures; hypopygium apex slightly concave, without denticles or tubercles; paramere (Fig. 3) curved, with apex simple, basal half broad, distal half gradually narrowing toward apex, with a few setae; cuspis (Fig. 3) broad and with many setae; penis valve (Fig. 4) without projections on ventral edge, with large setae on apical margins.
Material examined. BRAZIL: Paraná, Guarapuava, 25°21’06”S 51°28’08”W, nest 590a (1.3) cel. 2, 28.iii.2015 – 7.i.2016, (P.R. Lustosa), 1 ♂ (MIUP); same data but: nest 502 (1.3) cel. 3, 7.xii.2015 – i.2016, 1 ♂ (MIUP); nest 502 (1.3) cel. 1, 7.xii.2015 – 9.i.2016, 1 ♀ (MIUP); nest 502 (1.3) cel. 2, 7.xii.2015, 1♂ (UNICENTRO); nest 590a (1.0) cel. 2, 7.xii.2015 – 1.i.2016, 1♂ (UNICENTRO).
Distribution. Brazil (Santa Catarina, Paraná).
Comments. Ephuta icema Casal was previously known only from the holotype female from Santa Catarina (Figs 5– 7). We reared 4♂ and 1♀ of E. icema from trap-nests placed in Paraná with cells of Auplopus subaurarius Dreisbach, 1963 [♀ 10.6 mm body length, species known only from the original description from Nova Teutonia, Santa Catarina, Fritz Plaumann col., the same locality data and collector as that of E. icema type female, except for collection dates]. Straight line distance between Teutonia (Santa Catarina) and Guarapuava (Paraná) is 220 km and these two municipalities had an original vegetation cover of Araucaria forests, with Araucaria angustifolia forming a stratum of dominant trees (Veloso et al. 1991; Silva & Silvestre 2004).
During the study year the following 101 nests were captured: 8 of Trypoxylon sp. (Crabronidae), 10 of Pisoxylon sp. (Crabronidae), 20 of Ancistrocerus sp. (Vespidae) and 63 of A. subaurarius. Six nests of A. subaurarius were built at 980 m, 17 at 100 m, 14 at 1020 m and 26 at 1050 m. A total of 141 cells (100%) were provisioned by A. subaurarius of which 48 (34%) died. Dead adults, which emerged but did not break through the nest plug, were found in seven cells (5%), and dead immatures in 13 (9.1%), probably due to developmental failure. The most important mortality factor was parasitism that occurred in 28 cells (19.9%): Ichneumonidae the most frequent (12%), followed by Mutillidae (3.6%), Eulophidae (3.6%) and Chrysididae (0.7%). Of the 63 A. subaurarius nests, two were parasitized by E. icema (Fig. 8). These nests were founded in summer, December, at 1050 m and in traps with 1.0 and 1.3 cm diameters. Two males emerged from one of them and two males and a female (dead inside the nest) from the other. The mean weight of the males was 10.53 mg (n = 4; s = 3.46 mg). Ephuta icema did not enter into diapause during completion of its development, approximately in 21 days.
description: Published as part of Cambra, Roberto A., Buschini, Maria Luisa Tunes, Arias, Diomedes Quintero, Brozoski, Fanciele & Lustosa, Priscila Rudiak, 2017, Ephuta icema Casal, 1969 and its host Auplopus subaurarius Dreisbach, 1963 (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae, Pompilidae) from Brazil, pp. 285-290 in Zootaxa 4272 (2) on pages 286-287, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4272.2.9, http://zenodo.org/record/583929