Ficomila carolae Lotfalizadeh & Delvare & Cruaud & Rasplus 2024, sp. n.
Creators: name: Lotfalizadeh, Hossein
name: Delvare, Gérard
name: Cruaud, Astrid
name: Rasplus, Jean-Yves
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Eurytomidae
Ficomila
Ficomila carolae

description: Ficomila carolae Lotfalizadeh & Rasplus sp. n.   
(Figs 21‒23)  
  Type material examined. Holotype  ♀: Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, Lamto, 6.222197° -5.024070°, ex syconia of Ficus laurifolia (=ovata), 11.v.1995, Kerdelhué C. leg. Deposited in CBGP. Paratypes: same data as holotype, 12♀ & 5♂. United Republic of Tanzania, Mazumbai, ex syconia of Ficus chirindensis, 16.iii.1996, Rasplus J.-Y. & Kerdelhué C. leg., 12♀ & 4♂.   
 Etymology. The species is named in honor of our colleague Carole Kerdelhué who sampled the holotype.   
 Diagnosis. Female body dark brown (Fig. 21A), clava entirely or at least two distal clavomeres yellowish-orange. POL short, less than 2× as long as OOL (Fig. 21D). Flagellum with fu2–fu4 as long as broad, fu5 wider than long (Fig. 21B). Mesoscutum coriaceous with sparse umbilicate punctures (Fig. 22A). Gaster of female compressed laterally, dorsally angulate (Fig. 22D).   
Male body yellowish, robust, partly dark, clava dark or dark brown, femora enlarged (Fig. 23A). Flagellum with fu2–fu5 elongate, longer than broad (Fig. 23B). Propodeum with short median carina, with a U-shaped carina below basal carina (Fig. 21C). Fore wing and mv extremely setose (Fig. 23D).  
 Description of holotype ♀ (Figs 21–22). Length 4.08 mm; generally dark (Fig. 21A), except gaster, femora, funiculars brown and tibia, tarsomeres, femora distally, pronotum anterolaterally, scape and clava yellowish; fore wing with a dark brown spot below mv, lower margin of mv obscured by dark brown spot, dark brown spot reaching base of mv (Fig. 22E); gaster uniformly coloured (Fig. 22C); body setation whitish, setation of fore wing entirely dark.   
 Head 1.51× as broad as high [HW 234 & HH 155] (Fig. 21C); in dorsal view transverse, 2.18× as broad as long [HW 234 & HL 108] (Fig. 21D); face coriaceous with sparse punctures, vertex mostly coriaceous; malar space 0.38× length of eye [ms 50 & EH 130]; malar sulcus distinct, straight (Fig. 21E); lower margin of gena sinuous, edged but not carinate; antennal toruli widely separated, interantennal space not raised, carinate laterally; scrobal depression slightly sculptured dorsally, reaching the median ocellus, not carinate on margin; POL 1.79× as long as OOL [POL 50 & OOL 28] (Fig. 21D); temple margined, 0.38× the eye length (in dorsal view) [TL 55 & EL 147]; setation oriented downwards on face, outwards on the punctuate frons.   
 Antenna. Scape not reaching median ocellus, 4.36× as long as broad [SL 96 & SW 22]; fu1 1.41× as long as broad [fu1L 48 & fu1W 34], distinctly longer than pedicel, bulging dorsally; funicular (fu2–fu4) with two rows of mps and several whorls of adpressed short setae; fu2–fu4 not longer than broad; fu5 slightly wider than long (Fig. 21B).   
 Mesosoma weakly arched dorsally, 1.55× as long as wide (170:110), with obliterate punctures (Fig. 22A); pronotum with sparse umbilicate punctures; mesodiscrimen with a ring-like process, adjacent to mesocoxa; mesoscutum 0.6× as long as wide (65:110), 0.7× longer than length of pronotal collar (65:95), coriaceous, sparsely umbilicate; notauli conspicuous, slightly obliterated by mesoscutum sculpture; prepectus bare, with raised sculpture; mesoscutellum shallowly umbilicate laterally and coriaceous medially; mesepimeron transversally strigose; metepimeron subtriangular and areolate with long white hairs; propodeum (Fig. 22B) with deep median depression, without smooth median band, with two short submedian carinae; lateral rows of areolae long and extending at least over posterior half of propodeum; inverted U-shaped basal carina, lateral branches relatively straight, width of basal carinae less than 0.5× width of nucha.   
 Fore wing with short marginal fringe; proximally subtruncate (pointed anteriorly); dark brown spot below mv; basal cell bare or nearly so; mv distinctly enlarged, normally broadened, in lower margin concave; stv curved up; pmv not distinct; costal cell ventrally and dorsally bare; speculum present; parastigmal bristles absent (Figs 22E, F).   
 Legs. Fore coxa without depression on frontal surface, hind coxa bare basodorsally; fore (30:13) and hind femora (32:14); hind tibia dorsally with more than 10 setae, setae shorter than basal tibial width.   
 Metasoma. Petiole shorter than broad dorsally, ventral transverse carina between petiole and St1 present. Metasoma 1.65× as long as wide (175:110) (Fig. 22C), longer than mesosoma, strongly compressed laterally, dorsally angulate (Fig. 22D); ventral transverse carina between petiole and St1 present; petiole in dorsal view not longer than wide, shorter than half-length of hind coxa; tergites finely sculptured; Gt4 (in lateral view) slightly as long as Gt3, sinuous posteriorly; Gt5 mostly covering Gt6, sinuous posteriorly; Gt4 with few setae dorsally, Gt6 sparsely setose ventrally; ovipositor upturned (Fig. 22C).   
 Male (Fig. 23). Length 3.77–4.92 mm. Similar to female with longer petiole (Fig. 23A); exhibiting different colouration, mostly yellowish, clava dark brown, median tergites dark brown; antennal formula 11143 (Fig. 23B); each funicular with 2 rows of mps and several whorls of relatively short adpressed setae; Propodeum with short median carina, with a U-shaped carina below basal carina (Fig. 21C); fore wing more setose than in female, without speculum, with a second dark brown V-shaped spot at base (Fig. 23D).   
 Variation. Length 3.60–4.91mm. Legs yellowish-brown.   
 Host plants. Ficus chirindensis and F. laurifolia.   
 Geographical distribution. Republic of Côte d’Ivoire and United Republic of Tanzania.
description: Published as part of Lotfalizadeh, Hossein, Delvare, Gérard, Cruaud, Astrid & Rasplus, Jean-Yves, 2024, Morphological phylogeny and revision of Sycophila and Ficomila (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea, Eurytomidae) associated with Afrotropical fig trees (Moraceae, Ficus), pp. 1-190 in Zootaxa 5401 (1) on pages 42-45, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5401.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10524258