Scelio nitens Brues 1906
Creators: name: Yoder, Matthew
name: Polaszek, Andrew
name: Masner, Lubomir
name: Johnson, Norman
name: Valerio, Alejandro
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Scelionidae
Scelio
Scelio nitens

description: <i>Scelio nitens</i> Brues urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: A600DB0C-21E3-4CA5-86CE-E38953FBBCA2 urn:lsid:biosci.ohio-state.edu:osuc_concepts:5285 Figs 73–78; Morphbank 22 <i>Scelio nitens</i> Brues, 1906: 110 (original description); Kieffer, 1926: 310, 324 (description, keyed); Ferrière, 1952: 118 (diagnosis); Nixon, 1958: 304 (keyed); Masner, 1965b: 300 (lectotype designation); Noonan, 1984: 6 (type information). <i>Scelio</i> (<i>Scelio</i>) <i>nitens</i> Brues, 1910: 74 (subgeneric assignment). <b>Description.</b> Female body length: 2.90–4.00 mm (n=20). Male body length: 2.99 mm (n=1). Color of antenna in female: concolorous, brown to dark brown throughout. Color of head in female: metallic green to dark teal. Color of mesosoma in female: brown to near black except for yellow to light brown anterior pronotum and propleuron, with metallic green to dark teal sheen throughout. Color of coxae in female: brown to dark brown. Color of leg past coxa in female: brown to dark brown. Color of metasoma in female: brown at base (T1–T3), darkening to apex, T4–T6 with slight metallic blue-green sheen. Sculpture of lower frons in female: predominantly transverse to slightly arcuate striae. Sculpture of ventrolateral frons in female: smooth, with only setigerous punctures. Form of malar sulcus in female: sulcus percurrent, slit, groove or carina extremely narrow but course well defined. Sculpture of upper frons of female: fine ru- gulae to slightly transverse sculpture, above ocellus very smooth, with only setigerous punctures. Sculpture of dorsal head between and posterior to lateral ocelli in female: smooth, with only setigerous punctures. Mandible of female: upper tooth typically developed, lower tooth very short but clearly present, truncate to pointed. Transverse pronotal carina in female: well developed, linear or with extremely slight deviations, contiguous with mesoscutum or interrupted by a single subpolygonal cell, anterior shoulder relatively abruptly transitioned to anterior pronotum. Sculpture of medial mesoscutum in female: very smooth, with only setigerous punctures. Sculpture <b>Figures 73</b> <b>–</b> <b>78 <b> .6Ι</b> </b> <i>Scelio nitens</i> Brues (OSUC 211500). <b>73</b> Habitus, dorsal view <b>74</b> Habitus, lateral view <b>75</b> Mesosoma, dorsal view <b>76</b> Mesosoma, lateral view <b>77</b> Head, anterior view <b>78</b> Medial habitus, dorsal view. Abbreviation: <i>ht</i>, hind tibia. Scale bars in millimeters. of notaular course in female: smooth, with only a few micropunctures, or more or less undifferentiated to slightly more robust and coarse relative to medial sculpture. Sculpture of lateral mesoscutum in female: absent, or with obliterated patch that covers at least 1/2 of area. Sculpture of mesoscutellum in female: predominantly smooth,with only scattered setigerous punctures. Sculpture of lateral pronotum in female (excluding interstitial sculpture): predominantly smooth, with slight reticulations along ventral and posterior margin. Pronotal verricule in female: small bump with 1–2 very short setae at center. Pronotal setal patch posteroventral to end of lateral epomial carina in female: very sparse (around 1–3), long, erect setae. Sculpture of mesopleural depression in female: surface smooth or with very faint coriaceous (obliterated) sheen, with minute foveae or grooves along posterior margin. Pilosity of anteroventral metapleuron in female: dense patch of semi-decumbent to erect setae. Dorsal surface of hind tibia in female: typical distribution and moderate length, setae appressed to loosely appressed, more or less straight. Shape of hind femur in female: narrow, dorsal and ventral surfaces relatively symmetrical. Basal pigmented spot of fore wing in female: percurrent from submarginal vein to posterior margin, striplike (a band), divided only by hyaline course of M+Cu. Basal fascia of fore wing in female: subrectangular, striplike, percurrent from anterior to posterior margin. Apical fascia of fore wing in female: absent, fore wing past marginal vein gradually lightening. Sculpture of dorsal T 1 in female: polygonal-reticulate, interstices more or less smooth. Sculpture of dorsal T 2 in female: fine parallel to slightly reticulate striae with minutely colliculate to transverse sculpture within interstices. Sculpture of anterior T2 through anterior depression in female: percurrent. Sculpture of dorsal T 3 in female: fine parallel to irregular longitudinal striae, with reticulation absent to moderately present. Medial sculpture of T 4 in female: obliterated to smooth. Medial sculpture of T 5 in female: obliterated to smooth. Sculpture of T2–T5 curved transition from dorsal to lateral terga in female: obliterated to smooth. Profile of female metasoma in lateral view: ventral surface more or less flat, dorsal surface weakly to strongly arched from T2–T6 highest point between T4–T5, evenly curved to T6. Sculpture of lateral T2–T 6 in female: scattered variously obliterated faint fine irregular rugulae. Pilosity of laterotergites in female: glabrous, or apparently so. <b>Diagnosis.</b> This species is most similar to <i>S. paranitens</i>, which shares the smooth mesoscutum and highly metallic coloration throughout. It differs from <i>S. paranitens</i> by the absence of the fore wing apical fascia and the appressed pilosity of the hind tibia (fascia present, setae erect in <i>S. paranitens</i>). <b>Link to distribution map.</b> [http://osuc.biosci.ohio-state.edu/HymOnline/maplarge.html?id=5285] <b>Material examined.</b> Lectotype female: <b>SOUTH AFRICA</b>: Eastern Cape Prov., Algoa Bay, 29.XI.1896, H. Brauns, MCZ 31019 (deposited in MCZC). Paralectotypes: <b>SOUTH AFRICA</b>: 2 females, OSUC 244168–244169 (MCZC). Other material: (44 females, 1 male) <b>BOTSWANA</b>: 33 females, 1 male, OSUC 211451, 211482, 211495, 211523, 211560 (CNCI); OSUC 164233–164236, 164238–164240, 164258–164259, 164261, 164263, 164371–164374, 212085–212086, 212091, 212095, 234737–234738 (OSUC); OSUC 171138 – 171140, 207575–207577, 211814, 211820 (USNM). <b>NAMIBIA</b>: 1 female, OSUC 254455 (BMNH). <b>SOUTH AFRICA</b>: 9 females, OSUC 254456 (BMNH); OSUC 211500, 211502–211503, 211511–211512, 211521–211522, 211534 (CNCI). <b>ZIMBABWE</b>: 1 female, OSUC 254457 (BMNH). <b>Comments.</b> The syntype series of Brues consisted of two species, as hinted at by an annotation in Masner (1965b). Masner (1965b) designated the lectotype of <i>S. nitens</i> which is conspecific with one of the paralectotypes. A third specimen (OSUC 244169) belongs in <i>Scelio paranitens</i>. Th e fore coxa is frequently lighter in color than the mid and hind coxae. See also Comments section for <i>S. paranitens</i>.
description: Published as part of <i>Yoder, Matthew, Polaszek, Andrew, Masner, Lubomir, Johnson, Norman &amp; Valerio, Alejandro, 2009, Revision of Scelio pulchripennis - group species (Hymenoptera, Platygastroidea, Platygastridae), pp. 53-118 in ZooKeys 20 (20)</i> on pages 91-94, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.20.205, http://zenodo.org/record/576507
description: {"references": ["Brues CT (1906) Descriptions of parasitic Hymenoptera from Cape Colony. Bulletin of the Wisconsin Natural History Society 4: 103 - 112 .30", "Kieffer J-J (1926) Scelionidae. Das Tierreich. Vol. 48. Walter de Gruyter &amp; Co., Berlin, 885 pp. 36", "Ferriere C (1952) Deux nouveaux parasites des oeufs de Locusta migratoria migratorioides en Afrique. Bulletin de la Societe Entomologique de France 56: 114 - 118. 32", "Nixon GEJ (1958) A synopsis of the African species of Scelio Latreille (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupoidea, Scelionidae). Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 110: 303 - 318 .44", "Masner L (1965 b) Th e types of Proctotrupoidea (Hymenoptera) in the Charles T. Brues collection at the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Psyche 72: 295 - 304 .42", "Noonan GR (1984) Type specimens in the insect collections of the Milwaukee Public Museum. Milwaukee Public Museum Contributions in Biology and Geology 58: 1 - 14 .45"]}