Centistes helmuthi Shaw, 2025

Román, Andrea C., Almeida, Luis Felipe Ventura De, Penteado-Dias, Angelica, Shaw, Scott Richard & Sarmiento, Carlos E., 2025, Analysis of morphological variation and description of fifteen new species of the genus Centistes Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Euphorinae: Centistini) with a key of the South American species, Zootaxa 5613 (1), pp. 1-46 : 16-18

Centistes helmuthi Shaw sp. nov.

( Figs. 11A–E )

Diagnosis: Notauli indicated only as smooth depressions lacking coarse sculpture; vein (RS+M)a present and complete, distinctly sinuate; precoxal sulcus present; scutellar sulcus scrobiculate; mesosoma mostly orange except metapleuron and posterior face of propodeum black; legs yellow except apex of hind tibia and all tarsi black; wings evenly infused with dark black color; temple length 0.88 × eye length in dorsal view; mesopleuron with a (small) anterobasal projection; female with fore tarsus displaying a (weak) brush-like pubescence.

Comments: In the key to Neotropical Centistes species provided by Aguirre et al. (2018), Centistes helmuthi sp. nov. keys to couplet 16, where it is most similar to the Costa Rican species C. ornamentum Aguirre, Almeida, and Shaw. These two species are superficially similar in size and coloration; however, they differ quite notably in several distinctive morphological features. The notauli of C. helmuthi are present only as smooth depressions lacking coarse sculpture, whereas in C. ornamentum the notauli are coarsely scrobiculate. The fore wing vein RS of C. helmuthi is well-sclerotized and quite dark over its entire length, whereas this vein is weakly sclerotized and mostly transparent in C. ornamentum (except at the extreme base). The fore wing vein (RS+M)a of C. helmuthi is distinctly sinuate, whereas this vein is straight in C. ornamentum . The hypopygium of C. helmuthi is only sparsely setose and mostly smooth and glabrous, whereas in C. ornamentum the hypopygium ventrally has a well-developed and dense patch of setae (visible in Figure 161 of Aguirre et al. 2017). C. helmuthi sp. nov. is also similar to the Brazilian species, C. grandis sp. nov. sharing that females of both species have well-developed brush-like layers of setae on the fore tarsus, fore coxa ventrally, and mesosternum ventrally. However, these setae are more strongly developed in the Brazilian species C. grandis ; they also differ by the well-developed sculptured notauli in the latter.

Description. Female Body length: 4.6 mm; mesosoma length 2.35 mm; Head ( Figs. 11A–C ): Antenna with 33 flagellomeres; occipital carina complete; scape cylindrical, pubescent; face setose and punctate, its minimum width 1.13 × the clypeus width; face height 0.75 × its maximum width; clypeus setose and punctate, its height 0.6 × its width; gena smooth and sparsely setose; frons smooth, glabrous medially, with some setae laterally; vertex smooth with sparse setae; mandible overlap 0.6 × mandible length; basal width of mandible 0.31 × its length; malar space 0.35 × eye height, and 1.6 × basal width of mandible; eye height 1.8 × its length; ocell-ocular distance 1.6 × ocellar diameter; temple length 0.88 × eye length in dorsal view. Mesosoma ( Figs. 11B–D ): Pronotum in lateral view smooth and entirely glabrous, lacking setae; transverse sulcus of pronotum absent; mesonotal lobes smooth and entirely glabrous; pit on mesoscutum absent; notauli present only as smooth depressions lacking coarse sculpture; mesoscutum width 1.1 × its length; scutellar sulcus scrobiculate; scutellum sparsely setose; posterior scutellar depression scrobiculate; mesopleuron punctate and setose with a glabrous area medially; precoxal sulcus scrobiculate; metapleuron carinate-rugose, with supramesocoxal projection present; propodeum truncate, rugose, without dorsal and ventral areolae, dorsal transverse carina present and complete, posterior median carina very weakly indicated, nearly absent. Legs ( Fig. 11B ): Fore leg with setae on ventral side of tarsus I–IV weakly brush-like; tarsal claw simple; hind coxa faintly rugulose, setose basally. Wings ( Fig. 11B ): Vein (RS+M)a present and complete, distinctly sinuate; stigma length 0.93 × vein R1 length; vein r length 0.14 × stigma length; vein CUa 0.16 × vein CUb. Metasoma ( Figs. 11D–E ): T1 costate, without longitudinal median carinae, its length 1.25 × ovipositor sheath length; hypopygium rounded, sparsely setose (nearly glabrous); ovipositor sheath round and setose, apex roughly rounded, sheath length 2.2 × its width. Coloration ( Fig. 11B ): Head, antenna, wing venation, and metasoma black; mesosoma mostly orange except metapleuron and posterior face of propodeum black; legs mostly yellow except apex of hind tibia and all tarsi black; wings evenly infused with dark black color.

Male: Unknown.

Examined Material: Holotype female: Ecuador, Napo Province, Yanayacu Biological Station , S 00̊ 35.9’ W 77̊ 53.4’, 2163 m, 1–10 February 2008, J. Simbaña, Macucoloma trail, Malaise trap, NSF-BSI-07-17458, S.R. Shaw (deposited in UWIM).

Paratypes: None.

Etymology: This new species is named in honor of Helmuth Aguirre in recognition of his significant contributions to the knowledge of Neotropical braconid subfamily Euphorinae .

Figures

FIGURE 11A–E. Centistes helmuthi sp. nov. (A) Head in frontal view, (B) Lateral habitus, (C) Head and mesoscutum in dorsal view, (D) Propodeum and metasoma in dorsal view, (E) Ovipositor sheaths.