Apanteles anapiedrae

General description: 

Type locality. COSTA RICA, Alajuela, ACG, Sector San Cristobal, Finca San Gabriel,
645m, 10.87766, -85.39343.
Holotype. ♀ in CNC. Specimen labels: 1. COSTA RICA, ACG, Sector San Cristobal,
Finca S. Gabriel, 645m, DHJPAR0039721.
Paratypes. 17 ♀, 5 ♂ (BMNH, CNC, INBIO, INHS, NMNH). COSTA RICA,
Alajuela, ACG database codes: DHJPAR0039721, 09-SRNP-3890, 10-SRNP-1054.
Description. Female. Body color: body mostly dark except for some sternites
which may be pale. Antenna color: scape and/or pedicel pale, flagellum dark. Coxae
color (pro-, meso-, metacoxa): dark, dark, dark. Femora color (pro-, meso-,
metafemur): anteriorly dark/posteriorly pale, dark, dark. Tibiae color (pro-, meso-,
metatibia): pale, pale, dark. Tegula and humeral complex color: both dark. Pterostigma
color: dark. Fore wing veins color: mostly dark (a few veins may be unpigmented).
Antenna length/body length: antenna shorter than body (head to apex of metasoma),
not extending beyond anterior 0.7 metasoma length. Body in lateral view: distinctly
flattened dorso–ventrally. Body length (head to apex of metasoma): 2.0 mm or less.
Fore wing length: 2.0 mm or less. Ocular–ocellar line/posterior ocellus diameter: 2.6
or more. Interocellar distance/posterior ocellus diameter: 1.4–1.6. Antennal flagellomerus
2 length/width: 2.0–2.2. Antennal flagellomerus 14 length/width: 1.4–1.6.
Length of flagellomerus 2/length of flagellomerus 14: 1.7–1.9. Tarsal claws: simple.
Metafemur length/width: 2.5 or less. Metatibia inner spur length/metabasitarsus
length: 0.4–0.5. Anteromesoscutum: mostly smooth or with shallow sparse punctures,
except for anterior 0.3 where it has deeper and/or denser punctures. Mesoscutellar
disc: mostly smooth. Number of pits in scutoscutellar sulcus: 11 or 12. Maximum
height of mesoscutellum lunules/maximum height of lateral face of mesoscutellum:
0.2–0.3. Propodeum areola: partially defined by carinae on posterior 0.3–0.5 of its
length, widely open anteriorly. Propodeum background sculpture: mostly sculptured.
Mediotergite 1 length/width at posterior margin: 2.3–2.5. Mediotergite 1 shape:
slightly widening from anterior margin to 0.7–0.8 mediotergite length (where maximum
width is reached), then narrowing towards posterior margin. Mediotergite 1
sculpture: with some sculpture near lateral margins and/or posterior 0.2–0.4 of mediotergite.
Mediotergite 2 width at posterior margin/length: 2.8–3.1. Mediotergite 2
sculpture: mostly smooth. Outer margin of hypopygium: inflexible (without a folded,
transparent, semi–desclerotized area); with no pleats visible. Ovipositor thickness: anterior
width at most 2.0 × posterior width (beyond ovipositor constriction) (?). Ovipositor
sheaths length/metatibial length: 0.4–0.5. Length of fore wing veins r/2RS:
1.4–1.6. Length of fore wing veins 2RS/2M: 0.8 or less. Length of fore wing veins 2M/(RS+M)b: 1.1–1.3. Pterostigma length/width: 3.1–3.5. Point of insertion of vein
r in pterostigma: about half way point length of pterostigma. Angle of vein r with
fore wing anterior margin: more or less perpendicular to fore wing margin. Shape of
junction of veins r and 2RS in fore wing: strongly angulated, sometimes with a knob.
Male. As in female.
Molecular data. Sequences in BOLD: 6, barcode compliant sequences: 6.
Biology/ecology. Gregarious (Fig. 257). Hosts: Tortricidae, Aesiocopa necrofolia.
Distribution. Costa Rica, ACG.
Comments. A. anapiedrae shares with the diatraeae and guadaluperodriguezae
groups a somewhat depressed body (dorso-ventrally), short antenna, and relatively
small body size; however, it has an inflexible (unfolded) hypopygium without any
pleats, a very small smooth area on lateral face of scutellum (0.2 × as high as maximum
height of lateral face), and parasitizes a completely different group of Lepidoptera. The
sculpture of propodeum and the areola shape are similar to species of the diatraeae
group (but the latter group has a pleated hypopygium, a longer ovipositor, and the
smooth area on lateral face of scutellum is at least 0.5 × as high as maximum height of
lateral face). A. anapiedrae does not resemble typical species of Apanteles because of its
propodeal areola and unpleated hypopygium. It is likely to represent a derived speciesgroup
within Apanteles, or it might be placed in another genus. Pending further study
of worldwide genera of Microgastrinae, we decided to describe the species under Apanteles
because is the closest match at the moment.

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith