Dendrocerus perlucidus Alekseev 1983
Creators: name: Salden, Tobias
name: Peters, Ralph S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Megaspilidae
Dendrocerus
Dendrocerus perlucidus

description: Dendrocerus perlucidus Alekseev, 1983
Fig. 106
Johnson & Musetti 2004: 99.
Mikó et al. 2011: 356, 361, 365–366, 368, 370.
Diagnosis
Harpe claw-shaped in ventral and dorsal view and rounded in lateral view; harpe/gvc index 0.38; dorsomedial margins of harpes not touching at distodorsal margin of gvc, dorsomedial margin of harpe concave and converging and not touching distomedially from base to apex with apical third strongly concave; apex of harpe pointed, oriented medioventrally; apical setae oriented distomedially, distoventrally and medioventrally; legs light brown except joints and tarsi transparent; fore wing venation slightly melanized, fore and hind wing disc hyaline.
Material examined
Plesiotype
SOMALIA • ♂; Afgooye, Shabelle Valley; 16–28 Apr. 1980; M. Olmi leg.; “R. I. Sc. N. B.”; “Prép. microscopique n° 8105/261”; RBINS.
Condition: right antenna, one fore wing, metasoma on slides; male genitalia on slide according to label but we were unable to find it. Rest attached to card.
Non-type specimens
TANZANIA • 1 ♂; Kilimanjaro Region, Mount Kilimanjaro; 3°19′49.2 S, 37°38′35.2 E; 1153 m a.s.l.; 5 Nov 2012; KiLi project leg.; “high ex”; SAV3, savanna; Coloured pan trap; ZFMK; ZFMK- HYM-00037089.
SPAIN • 1 ♂; Zaragoza, Los Monegros, Pina de Ebro, “ Retuerta de Pina ”, Juniperus thurifera; 20 Jun. 1991; J. Blasco Zumeta leg.; “n° 3546”; “Prép. microscopique n° 9112/202”; RBINS.
Condition: right antenna, right fore and hind wings and metasoma missing.
SPAIN • 1 ♂; Zaragoza, Los Monegros, Pina de Ebro, “ Retuerta de Pina ”, Juniperus thurifera; 21 Jul. 1991; J. Blasco Zumeta leg.; “n° 3613”; “26–91 platos sabinar-lastonar”; RBINS.
Condition: right hind leg and left F9 missing.
Description (based on ZFMK-HYM-00037089)
Male
BODY LENGTH. 0.98 mm.
COLOUR. Mesosoma brown, metasoma light brown; legs light brown except joints and tarsi transparent; fore wing venation slightly melanized, fore and hind wing disc hyaline.
MESOSOMA, METASOMA. Mesosoma not compressed laterally. Weber length 425 µm. Mesoscutum setose, setae curved backwards; notaulus incomplete, only in anterior part; median mesoscutal sulcus present; median mesoscutal sulcus adjacent to transscutal articulation; interaxillar sulcus absent (= scutoscutellar sulcus adjacent to transscutal articulation), scutoscutellar sulcus slightly convex; dorsal axillar area sparsely setose, setae curved backwards; mesoscutellum sparsely setose, setae curved backwards or straight. Mesoscutum width 2.00 × mesoscutellum width; posterior mesoscutal width 1.40 × mesoscutellum width; mesoscutellum length 1.36 × mesoscutellum width; mesoscutellum length 0.97 × posterior mesoscutal width; Weber length 1.36 × mesoscutum width; Weber length 2.00 × mesoscutellum length. Anteromedian projection of the metanoto-propodeo-metapecto-mesopectal complex absent; mesometapleural sulcus present; posterior propodeal projection absent; posterior mesosomal comb absent. At least six distinctly short, basal longitudinal carinae on syntergum; pair of translucent patches on metasomal syntergum.
FORE WING. Length 2.50 × width; stigmal vein slightly longer than pterostigma marginal length.
MALE GENITALIA. Genital length 181 µm; Weber length 2.34 × genital length; gvc width 100 µm; genital length 1.81× gvc width; gvc width more than three quarters of gvc length; gvc width 1.36 × distal gvc width. Proximodorsal margin of gvc slightly convex; distodorsal margin of gvc concave in median part, lateral part convex (Fig. 106C); proximoventral margin of gvc concave; distoventral margin of gvc strongly descending proximally and at lateral volsella margin strongly ascending distomedially (Fig. 106A); ventral area of gvc straight; dorsal area of gvc convex (Fig. 106B); proximolateral margin of gvc ascending ventrally; distolateral margin of gvc strongly descending ventrally (Fig. 106B). Harpe claw-shaped in ventral and dorsal view and rounded in lateral view; harpe/gvc index 0.38; lateral articulation site of harpe with gvc not flush (Fig. 106A, C); ventral margin of harpe convex, dorsal margin convex (Fig. 106B), lateral margin convex, widest point of harpe at lateral articulation site with gvc (Fig. 106A, C); dorsomedial margins of harpes not touching at distodorsal margin of gvc, dorsomedial margin of harpe concave and converging and not touching distomedially from base to apex with apical third strongly concave (Fig. 106C), apex of harpe pointed, oriented medioventrally (Fig. 106A, C). Harpe with at least seven lateral setae, longest lateral setae more than half as long as harpe, lateral setae oriented distolaterally, distoventrally and medioventrally; harpe with at least two apical setae, longest apical setae one third as long as harpe, apical setae distinctly crossing and oriented distomedially, distoventrally and medioventrally; harpe with at least three median setae, longest median setae one third as long as harpe, median setae oriented distomedially, distoventrally and proximoventrally; volsella with at least one distal seta, oriented distomedially and distoventrally (Fig. 106A). Aedeagus + gonossiculus more than half as long as harpe, apex of aedeagus + gonossiculus broad (Fig. 106A, C) and dorsal to apex of harpe. Genitalia moderately sclerotized with strongest sclerotization at distal volsella and aedeagus + gonossiculus.
Female
Unknown (Dessart 1985).
Variation
Unknown.
Biology
Host unknown, ZFMK-HYM-00037089 collected with coloured pan trap.
Distribution
Afrotropical: Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Tanzania. Palaearctic: Spain
Type depositories
The male holotype is deposited at the ZMMU and ten males are deposited in the RBINS.
Remarks
Alekseev (1983: 641, fig. 3) provided a drawing of the male genitalia of D. perlucidus, which was also used by Dessart (1985: 445, fig. 89). The male genitalia perfectly match with those of ZFMK- HYM-00037089. The male genitalia are very distinct and can be easily recognised by their claw-shaped harpe, medioventrally oriented apex of the harpe and the distal seta at the volsella. Furthermore, the hyaline fore and hind wing discs with the weakly melanized veins and the transparent tarsi are distinct diagnostic characters of D. perlucidus. Therefore, specimen ZFMK-HYM-00037089 can clearly be assigned to D. perlucidus even without examining the head and antennae (see below).
In ZFMK-HYM-00037089, the head and antennae are missing, thus the complementing description of these body parts was not possible. The metasoma is deformed, thus the body length measurement is not precise.
description: Published as part of Salden, Tobias & Peters, Ralph S., 2023, Afrotropical Ceraphronoidea (Insecta: Hymenoptera) put back on the map with the description of 88 new species, pp. 1-386 in European Journal of Taxonomy 884 (1) on pages 372-375, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.884.2181, http://zenodo.org/record/8177941