Apanteles aidalopezae

Type locality. COSTA RICA, Alajuela, ACG, Sector Pitilla, Bullas, 440 meters,
10.98670, -85.38503.
Holotype. ♀ in CNC. Specimen labels: 1. DHJPAR0042048. 2. Voucher:
D.H.Janzen & W.Hallwachs, DB: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu, Area de Conservación
Guanacaste, COSTA RICA, 11-SRNP-7011.
Paratypes. 6 ♀, 1 ♂ (CNC, NMNH). COSTA RICA: ACG database codes:
DHJPAR0038184, DHJPAR0038224, DHJPAR0042041, DHJPAR0042043,
DHJPAR0042044, DHJPAR0042062, DHJPAR0042425
Description. Female. Body color: body mostly dark except for some sternites
which may be pale. Antenna color: scape, pedicel, and flagellum dark. Coxae color
(pro-, meso-, metacoxa): dark, dark, dark. Femora color (pro-, meso-, metafemur): pale,
dark, dark. Tibiae color (pro-, meso-, metatibia): pale, pale, mostly dark but anterior
0.2 or less pale. Tegula and humeral complex color: tegula pale, humeral complex half
pale/half dark. Pterostigma color: strongly white. Fore wing veins color: mostly white
or entirely transparent. Antenna length/body length: antenna very short, barely or not
extending beyond mesosoma length. Body in lateral view: not distinctly flattened dorso–
ventrally. Body length (head to apex of metasoma): 2.3–2.4 mm. Fore wing length:
2.5–2.6 mm. Ocular–ocellar line/posterior ocellus diameter: 2.6 or more. Interocellar
distance/posterior ocellus diameter: 2.0–2.2. Antennal flagellomerus 2 length/width:
1.7–1.9. Antennal flagellomerus 14 length/width: 1.1–1.3. Length of flagellomerus 2/
length of flagellomerus 14: 1.7–1.9. Tarsal claws: simple. Metafemur length/width:
2.8–2.9. Metatibia inner spur length/metabasitarsus length: 0.4–0.5. Anteromesoscutum:
mostly with shallow, dense punctures (separated by less than 2.0 × its maximum
diameter). Mesoscutellar disc: mostly smooth. Number of pits in scutoscutellar sulcus:
7 or 8. Maximum height of mesoscutellum lunules/maximum height of lateral face
of mesoscutellum: 0.6–0.7. Propodeum areola: completely defined by carinae, including
transverse carina extending to spiracle. Propodeum background sculpture: partly
sculptured, especially on anterior 0.5. Mediotergite 1 length/width at posterior margin: 2.9–3.1. Mediotergite 1 shape: mostly parallel–sided for 0.5–0.7 of its length, then narrowing
posteriorly so mediotergite anterior width >1.1 × posterior width. Mediotergite
1 sculpture: mostly smooth. Mediotergite 2 width at posterior margin/length: 3.2–3.5.
Mediotergite 2 sculpture: mostly smooth. Outer margin of hypopygium: with a wide,
medially folded, transparent, semi–desclerotized area; usually with 4 or more pleats.
Ovipositor thickness: anterior width 3.0–5.0 × posterior width (beyond ovipositor constriction).
Ovipositor sheaths length/metatibial length: 0.4–0.5. Length of fore wing
veins r/2RS: 1.7–1.9. Length of fore wing veins 2RS/2M: 1.1–1.3. Length of fore wing
veins 2M/(RS+M)b: 0.5–0.6. Pterostigma length/width: 2.6–3.0. 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: distinctly but not strongly angled.
Male. The specimen available for study is in poor condition, but resemble the
females.
Molecular data. Sequences in BOLD: 10, barcode compliant sequences: 10.
Biology/ecology. Solitary. Hosts: Crambidae, Omiodes cuniculalis, Prenesta Janzen196.
Comments. This species is characterized by a very distinctive hypopygium (with
a relatively wide fold where no pleats are visible), ovipositor sheaths (very short and
shaped as a broad spatula) and ovipositor (short and strongly curved downwards); it is
further distinguished by antenna much shorter than body, white pterostigma, white or
transparent fore wing veins, and elongate glossa. The unique hypopygium, ovipositor
sheaths, and ovipositor, suggest that this species may be placed in a new genus when
there are more studies on the phylogeny of Microgastrinae. Because that is beyond the
scope of this paper, we describe this species in Apanteles.