Paramomirax peckorum Whitfield, 2025

Whitfield, James B., Fernandez-Triana, Jose L. & Boudreault, Caroline, 2025, Two new Neotropical genera of Miracinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) with unusual metasomal morphology, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 98, pp. 509-524 : 509-524

Paramomirax peckorum Whitfield sp. nov.

Figs 2 A – E , 3 A – H

Type materials.

Holotype. • Female, Colombia: Quindio, 21 km E. Calarca , 6-III-1974, 10,000 ’, S. & J. Peck, CNC 5342830 . Deposited in Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Ottawa ( CNC).

Paratype. • 1 female, same data as holotype, CNC 5342831 . Deposited in CNC .

Description.

Size. Body length (excluding ovipositor) 2.3 mm; fore wing length 2.7 mm.

Coloration. Head and mesosoma black except lighter brownish lower genae; antenna black at extreme base (especially scape), pedicel distally and flagellum brown; mandibles and palpi pale brown to golden; legs proximally mostly dark brown, lightening distally on femora and most of tibiae, darker brown tarsi; pigmented parts of wing venation dark brown; metasoma fairly evenly deep brown dorsally, slightly lighter ventrally; ovipositor sheaths deep brown.

Morphology. Face indistinctly punctate, smooth medially; antennae slightly shorter than body, flagellomeres 8–11 only 1.2–1.3 × longer than wide; pronotum laterally with sharp but weakly impressed upper and lower grooves; mesoscutum shiny, very indistinctly punctate, with notauli very weakly indicated on extreme anterior face; scutellum convex, weakly punctate, slightly longer than anteriorly wide, subtriangular but with curved scrobe separating it from mesoscutum; mesopleuron mostly convex and shiny, without any clear central grooves; metanotum mostly sunken relative to shiny raised medial boss; propodeum weakly sculptured, with percurrent longitudinal medial carina, crossed by angular transverse carina at just past midlength; anterior tergite 1 (T 1) narrow anteriorly, expanding into elongate oval posterior 0.75; laterotergal region of T 1 pigmented light brownish but sclerotized and strongly striate; T 2 and T 3 shiny, smooth and evenly sclerotized; typical miracine Y-shaped structure visible only as slightly differently colored areas hidden beneath cuticle; laterotergal regions of T 2 and T 3 evenly sclerotized as on dorsal parts.

T 4 evenly sclerotized and shiny, similar to T 2 + 3; hypopygium evenly sclerotized, darker distally, somewhat acuminate but with blunt tip; ovipositor nearly straight, sheaths as long as hind tibiae and setose over entire distal 0.75.

Male. Not known.

Variation. Only two very similar females from the same locality are known.

Distribution.

Only one locality so far, in paramo vegetation over 3,000 m.

Biology.

Not known, but host presumed to be a small leaf-mining caterpillar as with other Miracinae .

Notes.

This species has by far the fewest desclerotized regions of the anterior metasoma, and the longest ovipositor, of any miracine yet discovered. It is also one of the largest (roughly 10–20 % larger than average).

Etymology.

The specific epithet is meant to honor the collectors, Stewart and Jarmila Kukalova-Peck.

Figures

Figure 2. Paramomirax peckorum Whitfield, holotype female A lateral habitus B head and prothorax, anteroventral view C fore wing D propodeum and metasoma, dorsal view E head and mesosoma, dorsal view.

Figure 3. Paramomirax peckorum Whitfield, paratype female CNC 5342831 A hypopygium and ovipositor mechanism, ventral view B lateral habitus C head, dorsal view D head, anterior view E fore wing F mesosoma and metasoma, dorsal view G metasomal and ovipositor mechanism, dorsal view H head, mesosoma and anterior metasomal tegite 1, dorsal view.