Choeras taftanensis Moghaddam & Rakhshani & Achterberg & Mokhtari 2018, sp. n.
Creators: name: Moghaddam, Mostafa Ghafouri
name: Rakhshani, Ehsan
name: Achterberg, Cornelis Van
name: Mokhtari, Azizollah
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Choeras
Choeras taftanensis

description: Choeras taftanensis Ghafouri Moghaddam & van Achterberg sp. n.
[Figs 4–6]
Type material. Holotype: ♀ (DPPZ). Southeastern IRAN: Sistan-o Baluchestan, Khash, Darreh’gol, hillside of Taftan Mt. (28°36’10.205”N, 061°04′48.789”E, 2533m), 05.vi.2016, Swept on Mentha pulegium, leg.: M. Ghafouri Moghaddam.
Paratypes: 7 ♀ and 9 ♂ (DPPZ): Southeastern: 1 ♂, same data as holotype; 1 ♀, same locality, 28.vi.2015, Malaise trap no. 16; 7 ♂, Kerman, Jiroft (28°40'30.4"N, 57°44'13.77"E, 688m), 27.iii.2014, swept in citrus orchards, leg.: N. Amirinasab; 1 ♀, Kerman, Jiroft, Karimabad (28°40’N, 57°44′E, 687m), 10.iv.2014, swept from Mentha pulegium, leg.: N. Amirinasab; 1 ♀, Kerman, Bardsir, Negar (29°51′57.9″N, 56°47′55.5″E, 2095m), 06.vii.2014, swept from weeds, leg.: F. Abdolalizadeh; 1 ♀ and 1 ♂, Kerman, Sirch (30°11′58.5″N, 57°33′50.7″E, 1702m), 11.viii.2014, swept from weeds in orchards, leg.: S. Kazemi; 1 ♀, Kerman, Jiroft (28°40'30.4"N, 57°44'13.77"E, 688m), 31.iii.2015, swept in citrus orchards, leg.: N. Amirinasab. Western: 1 ♀, Kermanshah, Sonqor (34°47’N, 47°36′E, 1681m), 18.viii.2013, swept from Mentha pulegium, leg.: M. Sharifi Ghorveh; 1 ♀, Kermanshah, Harsin (34°16’18.89”N, 47°36′16.63”E, 1568m), 05.vi.2016, Malaise traps in orchards, leg.: M. Zardouei Heidari.
Diagnosis. Penultimate and apical flagellomeres (15th and 16th) slender, 1.1 and 2.1 × as long as wide, respectively (Fig. 4B). Mesoscutum finely, densely punctate, scutoscutellar sulcus with 11 or 12 carinae and/or pits (Fig. 5A). Propodeum shiny, medially with an irregular medio-longitudinal carina, with transverse carina presented by rugae, slightly rugose postero-laterally (Fig. 5B). Tarsal claws less slender and with two teeth, metacoxa 2.6 × as long as wide (Figs. 4A, 5E). Vein r of fore wing 0.9 × as vein 2 RS and curved, vein r-m 1.9 × 3RSa, subbasal cell about 0.6 × of vein 1M and more setose than around of vein 1M (Figs 5F–5G). T1 length 1.7 × its width posteriorly, anterior and posterior half of T1 parallel-sided (anterior width 1.1 × posterior width), anterior half of T1 rather convex, coarsely punctate. T2 laterally long and weakly sloping, apically not straight and short, its posterior width 5.2 × its medial length. T3 with a shape of inverse triangle anteriorly, without sandglass-shaped (Figs 5C–5D).
Description. Holotype, female, length of body 2.8–3.1 mm, length of antenna 2.4–2.7 mm, length of fore wing 2.9–3.2 mm.
Colour. Antenna: scape, pedicel and flagellum dark brown except apex of scape brownish yellow (Fig. 4B). Clypeus darkened and medially dark brown (Fig. 4D). Head, mesoscutum, mesoscutellum, metanotum, propodeum, propleuron mesopleuron, metapleuron and T1–T2 entirely dark and anterior margin T3 dark to dark brown (Figs 4D–4G, 5A–5D). Mediotergites, laterotergites, sternites 4–8 yellow and with a brown spot medially (Figs 5D–5F), hypopygium completely whitish yellow (Fig. 5F). Coxae (pro-, meso-, meta): yellowish orange, the latter two dorsally dark brown and brown ventrally (Figs 4A, 4G, 5E). Femora (pro-, meso-, meta): all yellowish orange except metafemur more or less dark brown apically. Tibiae (pro-, meso-, meta): yellow, but of metacoxa only anterior two-fifths yellow, followed by one-third brown and with apical fifth dark brown (Figs 4A, 5E).
Head. Antenna about 0.8 × body length, penultimate flagellomeres slender, subapical antennal flagellomeres somewhat moniliform but longer than wide, flagellomeres finely setose and somewhat woolly, 14th flagellomere 0.8 × as long as 13th flagellomere, first flagellomere 0.9 × as long as second flagellomere, penultimate and apical flagellomeres (15th and 16th) 1.1 and 2.1 × as long as wide, respectively (Fig. 4B). Head and face densely punctate (Figs 4D, 4F). Temple and clypeus rather finely punctate (Fig. 4D–4E). Face with medio-longitudinal ridge and/or prominence (Fig. 4D).
Mesosoma. Mesosoma 1.15 × as long as wide (Figs 4G, 5A). Pronotum rather wide, densely punctate (Fig. 5A); propleuron sparsely punctate. Mesoscutum finely and densely punctate (Fig. 5A). Scutoscutellar sulcus with 11 or 12 carinae and/or pits, mesoscutellum shiny and punctate and lateral face carinate (Figs 5A–5B); lunula obtusely triangular. Mesopleuron densely punctate on anterior half, largely smooth and shiny posteriorly and glabrous (Fig. 4G). Propodeum shiny, medially with an irregular medio-longitudinal carina, with transverse carina represented by rugae, slightly rugose postero-laterally (Fig. 5B).
Legs. Tarsal claws less slender than related species and with two teeth subbasally. Metacoxa punctate with upper surface smooth and shiny, surpassing anterior margin of T3 more or less up to middle of T3 (Fig. 4A, 5E). Metafemur punctate and 0.8 × as long as metatibia (Figs 4A, 5E).
Wings. Fore wing 0.8 × as long as body, vein R1 approx. 1.3 × longer than pterostigma length. Border of pterostigma relatively convex. Vein r of fore wing 0.9 × as long as vein 2 RS and curved, stub of vein r-m of fore wing usually long and unpigmented, and resulting in a largely closed second submarginal cell, vein r-m twice 3RSa. Vein r about 0.6 shorter than width of pterostigma. Vein 2 RS straight. 1Cua 0.8 × 1CUb. Subbasal cell densely setose and about 0.7 × as long as vein 1M. Hind wing: vein cu-a slightly curved (Figs 5F–5G).
Metasoma. Posterior half of T1 parallel-sided and at most slightly narrowed. Anterior half of T1 rather convex, coarsely punctate, and posterior half with strong rugae except smooth median prominence. T2 transversely narrowed, subtriangular, lateral sides long and weakly sloping, apically not straight and short. T2 with strong rugae laterally, smooth and shiny medially. T3 smooth and with a shape of inverse triangle anteriorly (without sandglass- shaped) (Figs 5C–5D). T4–T8 with brown medial spot, but T5 and T6 with a transverse whitish band (Fig. 5D). Hypopygium large and folded with medio-longitudinal creases. Ovipositor sheath slender basally and conspicuously broadening toward apex, smooth and with many long whitish setae especially apically, setose part 0.8 × as long as metatibia (Fig. 5E).
Hosts. Unknown.
Biology. Unknown. The specimens were collected in southeastern and western of Iran from April to August. Based on the collecting data it is most abundant in April–June. However, the collecting device (Malaise trap) was not emptied regularly and so the actual flight dates for the species cannot be considered as very precise.
Distribution (Fig. 11B): Sistan-o Baluchestan, Kerman and Kermanshah provinces (Iran).
Similar species. The most similar species is C. semirugosus Song & Chen, 2014, from China, females of this species have a narrowed T1, basally with a smooth shallow excavation, T2 small and about 4.3 × wider than long, with a long and concave slope, T3 with a large brown spot, fore wing without veins r-m and 3RSa (without areolet), width of subbasal cell about half of vein 1M and less setose, 14th and 15th flagellomeres slightly elongated, metafemur yellow and tarsal claws only setose.
Male (Fig. 6). Length of body 3.2–3.5 mm, length of antenna 3.8–4.1 mm, length of fore wing 3.5–3.8 mm. Similar to female but with darker antenna (Fig. 6A), longer fore wing and body (Fig. 6A), legs completely orange but about apical half of metatibia dark brown (Fig. 6A), darker than pterostigma (Fig. 6B), vein r straight (Fig. 6B), T4–T8 often with large brown band (Figs 6D, 6F).
Etymology. This new species is named after Taftan Mt., which is a famous and important mountain in southeastern Iran. This is the first time that Choeras has been recorded from this province and mountain.
Notes. We observed considerable size differences (up to 10%) in males from Kerman and Sistan-o Baluchestan. It may be due to the size of the host larva, a lack of nutrients, or is possibly connected to a slightly later emergence.
description: Published as part of Moghaddam, Mostafa Ghafouri, Rakhshani, Ehsan, Achterberg, Cornelis Van & Mokhtari, Azizollah, 2018, A study of the Iranian species of Choeras Mason (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae), with the description of a new species, pp. 455-476 in Zootaxa 4446 (4) on pages 462-466, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4446.4.3, http://zenodo.org/record/1444404