Avga sinaitica Edmardash & Gadallah
Creators: name: Edmardash, Yusuf A.
name: Abu El-Ghiet, Usama M.
name: Gadallah, Neveen S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Avga
Avga sinaitica

description: Avga sinaitica Edmardash & Gadallah
(Figs 1 locality 12, 2A–D; 3A–D)
Material examined: Holotype: ♀, Sharm El Sheikh, Ras Mohammad, Wadi Khreta (near Divers Training Rest) (South Sinai) [27°51’ 18.2” N, 34°18’ 24.8” E], 12.iii.2015, sweep net, leg. Y. Edmardash [EFC], see Fig.1, locality 12. Flagellum broken, only 10 and 9 flagellomeres remaining on right and left antenna respectively.
Colouration: head (except area between stemmaticum and antennal bases dark brown), mesoscutum, scutellum, prosternum and mesosternum reddish to orange; mandible yellow, with black tip; antenna (except basal third of scape yellowish), stemmaticum, propodeum, T 1 and inverted U on T 2 black (middle whitish), rest of tergites brownish except posteriorly as well as middle of T 2 (whitish), sides of scutellum yellowish laterally, ovipositor reddish to orange, with black tip; ovipositor sheath dark brown to black, with reddish tip; legs (except black claws) and palpi pale yellowish; tegula, humeral plates, and metapostnotum laterally are whitish. Fore wing hyaline to very slightly smoky, with pale veins except dark brown C+SC+ R,1- R 1, 1-SR, 1-M and M+CU1 (except basal third); pterostigma uniformly yellowish to pale brown, parastigma blackish.
Description. Body length: 2.6 mm. (excluding ovipositor)
Head. Finely granulate dorsally, frons medially, just behind antennal bases slightly swollen; area between stemmaticum and antennal base distinctly depressed; eyes slightly emarginate above; eye in dorsal view 2.33 × as long as temple; OOL: OD: POL = 6:4:3; malar space 1.2 × as long as basal width of mandible. Scape of antenna slightly longer ventrally than dorsally; pedicel slightly swollen, somewhat shorter than scape; F1 5.2 × as long as broad apically, F2–4 3.0 × as long as broad, F5–8 2.5 × as long as broad. Maxillary palp 0.5 × as long as head height. Mandible with two teeth, inner tooth very short, hardly seen.
Mesosoma. Mesosoma 1.29 × as long as its height. Mesoscutum and mesoscutellum finely granulate; mesoscutum clothed with minute pale setae; notauli very weak to indistinct. Mesoscutellum with weak lateral carina; propodeum finely rugose, with a weak median longitudinal carina at base not reaching posterior margin, diverging apically to form a more or less rounded smooth areola, with two smaller rounded areolae on each side, with few fine, relatively long setae laterally; mesopleuron smooth and shiny, with a deep linear sternaulus ventrally. Fore wings. Vein r arising from middle of pterostigma; SR1 straight, reaching apex of wing; 2-SR+M very short, hardly see; 2- SR slightly bent basally; cu-a postfurcal; CU1b present; length of r slightly less than 0.3 × width of pterostigma; r: 3-SR: SRl = 6: 17.5: 80. Legs long and slender.
Metasoma. Parallel-sided; T1 slightly widened posteriorly, 0.88 × as long as its apical width; coarsely rugose, somewhat smoother medio-posteriorly; T2 with sclerotized inverted U laterally, that is smooth baso-laterally, membranous and skin-like medially; T3 membranous medially; postero-lateral margin of T5 and posterior margin of T6 with short fine pale setae; ovipositor distinctly short, ovipositor sheath slender, slightly less than 0.2 × length of fore wing, 0.92 × width of T1 apically and 0.24 × as long as metasomal length, densely setose along its length, denser apically.
Male. Unknown.
Remarks. The new species closely resembles A. singularis Belokobylskij but differs from it in the following: fore wing r: 3-SR: SRl 6: 17.5: 80 (6: 20: 39 in singularis); T1 widened posteriorly (parallel-sided in singularis); metasoma obviously parallel-sided (pear-shaped in singularis); ovipositor longer, 0.24 × metasomal length (distinctly shorter, 0.1 × in singularis).
Distribution. Egypt.
description: Published as part of Edmardash, Yusuf A., Abu El-Ghiet, Usama M. & Gadallah, Neveen S., 2020, First record of Hormiini Förster, 1863, and Macrocentrinae Förster, 1863 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) for the fauna of Egypt, with the description of a new species, pp. 555-570 in Zootaxa 4722 (6) on pages 556-560, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4722.6.3, http://zenodo.org/record/3610928