Apanteles anabellecordobae

General description: 

Type locality. COSTA RICA, Guanacaste, ACG, Sector Cacao, Sendero Circular,1185m, 10.92714, -85.46683. Holotype. ♀ in CNC. Specimen labels: 1. COSTA RICA, Guanacaste, ACG,
Sector Cacao, Sendero Circular, 01/05/2001, Mariano Pereira. 2. 01-SRNP-6021,
Achlyodes selva, Zanthoxylum melanostictum. 3. DHJPAR0001550.
Paratypes. 68 ♀, 11 ♂ (BMNH, CNC, INBIO, INHS, NMNH). COSTA
RICA: ACG database codes: See Appendix 2 for detailed label data.
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): anteriorly
dark/posteriorly pale, dark, dark. Tibiae color (pro-, meso-, metatibia): pale,
pale, anteriorly pale/posteriorly dark. Tegula and humeral complex color: tegula pale,
humeral complex dark. Pterostigma color: dark with pale spot at base. Fore wing veins
color: mostly dark (a few veins may be unpigmented). Antenna length/body length:
antenna about as long as body (head to apex of metasoma); if slightly shorter, at least
extending beyond anterior 0.7 metasoma length. Body in lateral view: not distinctly
flattened dorso–ventrally. Body length (head to apex of metasoma): 2.7–2.8 mm,
2.9–3.0 mm or 3.1–3.2 mm. Fore wing length: 2.9–3.0 mm, 3.1–3.2 mm or 3.3–3.4
mm. Ocular–ocellar line/posterior ocellus diameter: 1.7–1.9. Interocellar distance/
posterior ocellus diameter: 1.4–1.6. Antennal flagellomerus 2 length/width: 2.6–2.8.
Antennal flagellomerus 14 length/width: 1.4–1.6. Length of flagellomerus 2/length of
flagellomerus 14: 2.0–2.2. Tarsal claws: with single basal spine–like seta. Metafemur
length/width: 3.0–3.1. Metatibia inner spur length/metabasitarsus length: 0.4–0.5.
Anteromesoscutum: mostly with deep, dense punctures (separated by less than 2.0 ×
its maximum diameter). Mesoscutellar disc: with punctures near margins, central part
mostly smooth. Number of pits in scutoscutellar sulcus: 9 or 10. 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: mostly sculptured. Mediotergite 1 length/
width at posterior margin: 4.1 or more. 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: 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 3.0–5.0 × posterior width (beyond ovipositor constriction).
Ovipositor sheaths length/metatibial length: 0.8–0.9. Length of fore wing
veins r/2RS: 2.3 or more. Length of fore wing veins 2RS/2M: 1.1–1.3. Length of fore
wing veins 2M/(RS+M)b: 0.7–0.8. 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: distinctly but not strongly angled.
Male. Similar to female.
Molecular data. Sequences in BOLD: 29, barcode compliant sequences: 24,
haplotypes: 2. Biology/ecology. Gregarious (Fig. 244). Hosts: Hesperiidae, Achlyodes busirus,
Achlyodes pallida.
Distribution. Costa Rica, ACG.
Coments. Five specimens (4 ♀ and 1 ♂ ) were reared from the same Achlyodes
pallida caterpillar as the barcoded specimen DHJPAR0005308 (all of them with ACG
code 97-SRNP-984). The sequenced specimen clusters apart from the rest of the
species, differing by 2.45 % base pairs. Additionally, the locality for specimens with
code 97-SRNP-984 is at a lower altitude (90m) compared with the rest of the species
(mostly found between 500-1140 m, with only four specimens between 280-290m).
Those five specimens might represent a different species, but lacking the support of
morphological data and host records (which do not seem to differ) we have decided
to keep them under this species for the time being. We have, however, excluded them
from the paratypes series.

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