Grotea akakana Mazón & Bordera, 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 : 869-871

Grotea akakana Mazón & Bordera , sp. nov.

Diagnosis: Grotea akakana sp. nov. can be distinguished from all described species of the genus by the following combination of characters: postgenal processes long, almost touching; antenna with about 45 flagellomeres, without a white band; ovipositor about 3 times longer than hind tibia; mesopleuron black with two yellow spots separated by a red one.

Description. Female: Body length 16.2 mm. Fore wing length 10.8 mm.

Head. Transverse, 0.5 times as long as wide; gena in dorsal view clearly constricted posterior to eye, slightly rounded, densely and shallowly punctate, shiny with long dense silver setae, about 0.5 times as long as eye ( Fig. 1e ). Postgenal process present, laterally indistinct (gena with ventroposterior angle modified to form a long spatulate rectangular tooth, both teeth touching each other) ( Fig. 1d , arrows). Frons and vertex shiny, densely punctate, slightly convex. Occipital carina complete, rounded dorsally. Posterior ocellus separated from eye by 1.4 times maximum ocellar diameter; distance between posterior ocelli 0.9 times maximum ocellar diameter. Face and clypeus slightly convex, finely and densely punctate on a smooth and shiny background, setae dense, ventral part of clypeus concave, showing labrum ( Fig. 1b ). Clypeus weakly convex, 2.5 times as wide as long. Ventral tooth of mandible slightly shorter than dorsal tooth. Eye glabrous. Malar space very short, 0.3 times basal mandibular width, about 0.1 times as long as eye in frontal view, smooth and shiny. Antenna with 45 flagellomeres; first flagellomere 5 times as long as wide; flagellum slightly widened towards apex ( Fig. 1a ).

Mesosoma. Entirely covered in dense, long silver setae ( Fig. 1c ). Pronotum mostly smooth and shiny, very shallowly and densely punctate; epomia distinct. Mesoscutum 1.4 times as long as wide, convex, very densely and shallowly punctate ( Fig. 1e ); notauli absent; prescutellar groove deep, smooth, without striae; scutellum slightly convex, with same microsculpture as mesoscutum, without lateral carinae. Mesopleuron very densely and shallowly punctate, with very dense and rather long silver setae, setae only absent on speculum; epicnemial carina complete, slightly curved at its dorsal end, ending at level of centre of pronotum; mesopleural suture conspicuous, curved dorsally surrounding yellow spot of mesopleuron. Metapleuron finely punctate, with irregular striae posteriorly, densely pubescent; submetapleural carina strong and complete, forming an obtuse angle anteriorly. Propodeum about 0.7 times as long as broad; anterior transverse carina indented centrally, posterior transverse carina mostly absent, only present between lateral longitudinal and pleural carina, pleural carina complete but thin; propodeum mostly smooth and shiny, setae long and dense ( Fig. 1f ); area basalis short and wide; area lateralis about 1.1 times as long as broad; spiracle long and arched, touching lateral longitudinal carina. Hind femur and coxa long, length of hind femur 3.9 times its height. Hind tarsal claws thin, evenly curved. Wings with moderately long and dense setae. Fore wing with areolet pentagonal, abscissa of Rs between 2rs-m and 3rs-m 0.3 times as long as vein 3rs-m; vein 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 1b. Hind wing with distal abscissa of Cu 1 long, distinctly pigmented to margin of wing; vein cu-a + first abscissa of Cu 1 strongly angled, intercepted clearly above its mid length.

Metasoma. Tergite I smooth and shiny, with very few shallow dense setiferous punctures, evenly upcurved, 3.9 times longer than posteriorly broad; thyridia very conspicuous, broad; other tergites with very dense setiferous punctures, more or less shiny. Ovipositor long, about 2.6 times as long as hind tibia; apex of ventral valve of ovipositor covering dorsal valve, with about 7 teeth, without subapical nodus.

Colour. Mostly black with yellow marks ( Fig. 1a ); flagellum black, without a white mark; central spot on face, scapus and pedicel ventrally, a narrow band on orbits (only interrupted at vertex and between face and frons), small lateral spots on clypeus, a narrow continuous band posterior to ocelli confluent with orbits, bands on anterior and dorsal margin of pronotum, two longitudinal bands and two lateral and a posterior mark on mesonotum, posterior part of scutellum, postscutellum, a big anterodorsal spot on mesopleuron (interrupted by a brown band), anterior part of metanotum and a wide posterior band of propodeum, light yellow. Fore and mid legs orange and brown, with coxae and trochanters black; hind legs mostly black with yellow/brown marks on femur and tibia. Metasoma mostly dark brown, tergites I-II with yellow bands surrounding all borders (bands almost touching each other at anterior part of tergite I), and a yellow longitudinal central line from middle of tergite I to anterior third of tergite III; other tergites with yellow band only posteriorly, sometimes a yellow spot anteriorly to spiracle; apex of metasoma somewhat reddish.

Male: unknown.

Etymology. The species name refers to Akakana mountain where the holotype was caught; it is part of the cosmovision of Saraguro indigenous people.

Distribution. Ecuador.

Type material. 1 ♀. Holotype. ECUADOR: 1 ♀, Loja, San Lucas, Akakana community , area under restoration, 2940 m, 25-VII/6-VIII/2018, Malaise trap ( LOUNAZ).

Figures

Fig.1 Grotea akakana sp. nov., female holotype: a – habitus; b – head (frontal view); c – head and mesosoma (lateral view); d – head, postgenal process (arrows); e – head and mesosoma (dorsal view); f – propodeum. Scale bar: 2 mm (a); 1 mm (c, e); 0.5 mm (f); 0.3 mm (b); 0.2 mm (d)