Grotea romeri Mazón, 2024

Mazón, Marina, Bordera, Santiago & Broad, Gavin R., 2024, New Species of Grotea (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Labeninae) from Ecuador, with New Records and a Key to the Neotropical Species, Neotropical Entomology 53 (4), pp. 868-879 : 871-875

Grotea romeri Mazón , sp. nov.

Diagnosis. Grotea romeri sp. nov. can be distinguished from all described species of the genus by the following combination of characters: postgenal process very short; antenna black with 36 flagellomeres, without any white or yellow band; area lateralis of propodeum more than 2 times longer than wide, lateral carina complete; ovipositor about 2.4-2.5 times longer than hind tibia; orbits yellow, not interrupted at vertex; mesopleuron black with a yellow spot in the middle; ovipositor sheath black.

Description. Female: Body length 13.5-13.8 mm. Fore wing length 8.7-8.8 mm.

Head. Transverse, 0.6 times as long as wide; gena in dorsal view slightly constricted posterior to eye, rounded, smooth and shiny with very short dense setae, about 0.4-0.5 times as long as eye ( Fig. 3c ). Postgenal process present, laterally indistinct (gena with ventroposterior angle modified to form a short but acute tooth) ( Fig. 3f , arrow). Frons and vertex smooth and shiny with very short and dense setiferous punctures, frons conspicuously concave ventrally, dorsally slightly convex. Occipital carina complete, rounded dorsally. Posterior ocellus separated from eye by 1.2-1.7 times maximum ocellar diameter; distance between posterior ocelli 0.7 times maximum ocellar diameter. Face slightly convex, finely, and densely shallowly punctate on a smooth and shiny background, setae very short and dense ( Fig. 3b ). Clypeus almost flat, 2.5-2.6 times as wide as long, same microsculpture as face, ventral part concave, showing labrum. Mandible teeth subequal in length. Eye glabrous. Malar space 0.4-0.5 times basal mandibular width, about 0.1 times as long as eye in frontal view, same microsculpture as face. Antenna with 36 flagellomeres; first flagellomere 7 times as long as wide; flagellum slightly widened towards apex, filiform.

Mesosoma. All mesosoma very shallowly and densely punctate, with very short and dense setae. Pronotum mostly smooth and shiny, very shallowly and sparsely punctate, epomia absent. Mesoscutum 1.7-1.8 times as long as wide, uniformly convex, setae only on perimeter; notauli absent ( Fig. 3c ); prescutellar groove deep, smooth, without striae; scutellum flat, without lateral carinae. Mesopleuron with speculum smooth and glabrous; epicnemial carina complete, almost straight, reaching anterior margin at ventral third of pronotum; mesopleural suture conspicuous, more or less vertical ( Fig. 3d ). Metapleuron with same microsculpture as rest of mesosoma; submetapleural carina strong and complete, forming a right angle anteriorly. Propodeum about 1.0 times as long as broad; anterior transverse carina slightly indented centrally, posterior transverse carina absent, pleural carina complete and rather strong; propodeum mostly smooth and shiny, with very fine and shallow setiferous punctures in area lateralis and area spiracularis; area basalis very short and wide; area lateralis very long and narrow, about 3.2-4.0 times as long as broad, almost confluent with area postero-externa, with posterior transverse carina not entirely separating both areas; spiracle long and arched, touching lateral longitudinal and anterior transverse carinae. Hind femur and coxa long, length of hind femur 3.7-4.3 times its height. Hind tarsal claws thin, right-angled curved. Wings with moderately long and dense setae. Fore wing with areolet pentagonal, abscissa of Rs between 2 rs-m and 3 rs-m 0.6-0.8 times as long as vein 3 rs-m; 2 m-cu sinuous, with two very short bullae; abscissa of Cu 1 between 1 m-cu and Cu 1 a about as long as Cu 1 b. Hind wing with distal abscissa of Cu 1 long, distinctly pigmented until margin of wing; vein cu-a + first abscissa of Cu 1 slightly angled, intercepted at its mid length.

Metasoma. Tergite I smooth and shiny, with very dense short setae, very long, 4.2-4.7 times longer than posteriorly broad, clearly upcurved posterior to spiracle; thyridium very short, inconspicuous; other tergites longer than wide, with same microsculpture as tergite I. Ovipositor about 2.0 times as long as hind tibia; apex of ventral valve of ovipositor covering dorsal valve, with about 5 teeth, without subapical nodus.

Colour. Mostly black with yellow marks ( Fig. 3a ); flagellum dark brown, without a white mark; face, clypeus, labrum, scapus, pedicel and first flagellomere ventrally, a wide uninterrupted band on orbits, except ventral part of eyes, triangular marks between anterior and posterior ocelli, a posterior mark posterior to ocelli, bands on anterior and dorsal part of pronotum, two posterior convergent lines on mesoscutum, scutellum, postscutellum, a large central spot on mesopleuron, tegulae, subtegular prominence, mesepisternum, central longitudinal band, posterior margin and anterior spot to spiracle of propodeum, light yellow. Fore and mid legs mostly light yellow, coxae dorsally, trochanters and trochantelli partially dark brown to black; hind legs from dark brown to black, with yellow marks on femur and tibia. Metasoma with all tergites from dark brown to black with median and lateral longitudinal bands.

Variation. One of the paratypes has the face centrally black, yellow spots on the interocellar area and vertex less conspicuous, and the median longitudinal line on the first tergite interrupted.

Male: Body length 12.3 mm. Fore wing length 7.5 mm.

Head. Gena in dorsal view slightly constricted posterior to eye, about 0.7 times as long as eye. Distance between posterior ocelli 0.85 times maximum ocellar diameter. Clypeus 2.2 times as wide as long, ventral margin slightly concave, almost straight. Antenna with first flagellomere 8.2 times as long as wide.

Mesosoma. Hind wing with distal abscissa of Cu 1 not distinctly pigmented to margin of wing.

Metasoma. Tergite I 4.0 times longer than posteriorly broad.

Colour ( Fig. 3e ). Mandibles not entirely black, somewhat lighter. Yellow mark on subtegular prominence extended anteriorly. Propodeum with spot on spiracle extended, forming an uninterrupted anteroposterior band.

Other features as in female.

Etymology. The species has been named in honour of Oscar Romero, a parataxonomist who has helped to collect and identify most of the material from Ecuador.

Distribution. Ecuador.

Type material. 2 ♀♀, 1 ♂. Holotype. ECUADOR: 1 ♀, Zamora Chinchipe, San Francisco Scientific Station , area under restoration, 1858 m, coordinates 713360 and 9560405, 6-20/I/2016, Malaise trap ( LOUNAZ) . Paratypes. ECUADOR: 1 ♂, Zamora Chinchipe, San Francisco Scientific Station , degraded area, 1839 m, coordinates 713276 and 9560692, 30-XI/17-XII/2015, Malaise trap ( LOUNAZ); 1 ♀, Pichincha, Alluligula , 09/05/1992, Leg. V. Yanez ( QCAZ) (antennae and ovipositor broken) .

New records for Ecuador

Figures

Fig.3 Grotea romeri sp. nov., female holotype (a – d) and male paratype (e – f): a – habitus (lateral view); b – head (frontal view); c – head and mesosoma (dorsal view); d – head and mesosoma (lateral view); e – habitus (lateral view); f – head, postgenal process (arrow). Scale bar: 2 mm (a, e); 1 mm (c, d); 0.3 mm (b, f)