Apanteles ligdus Slater-Baker, Fagan-Jeffries, Fernández-Triana, Portmann & Oestmann, 2025

Apanteles ligdus Slater-Baker, Fagan-Jeffries, Fernández-Triana, Portmann & Oestmann sp. nov.

Fig. 5 A View Figure 5 ( distribution), Fig. 46 (holotype View Figure 46 )

Type material.

Holotype. Australia • ♀; QLD, Specimen Hill, Herberton ; - 17.3823, 145.372; 14 Mar. 2021; E. P. Beaver, M. F. Braby leg.; Reared from Instar III larva of Ogyris iphis ( Lepidoptera : Lycaenidae ) collected 05 March 2021 on Dendrophthoe sp. ; wasp larva emerged and pupated same day. Adult eclosed 14 March 2021; BOLD Process ID: AUMIC 729-23 ; QM: T 261208 GoogleMaps . Paratype. Australia • ♂; as previous except: wasp larva emerged and pupated 14 March 2021, adult eclosed 21 March 2021; BOLD Process ID: AUMIC 728-23 ; QM: T 261209 GoogleMaps .

Diagnostic description.

Size: Total body length: 3.4 mm; fore wing length: 2.8 mm. Head: anterior scape colour similar or only very slightly paler than head colour; F 2 L / W ratio: 2.3; F 14 L / W ratio: 1.4. Mesosoma: scutoscutellar sulcus with 13 pits; mesoscutellar disc with punctures in outer regions, centre smooth; propodeal areola complete, or mostly so; propodeum mostly rugose; coxae colour (pro, meso, meta): dark all; metafemur colour mostly dark. Wings: centre of pterostigma pigmented to same degree as the outer edges; fore wing r vein length / 2 RS vein length ratio: 1.6. Metasoma: T 1 shape mostly parallel, T 1 medial length / anterior width between 1–2 × longer than wide; T 1 mostly rugose; T 2 with fine sculpture; ovipositor sheath length / metatibia length ratio: 0.4.

Apanteles ligdus can be separated from most other species of Apanteles in Australia that have a dark metacoxa and metafemur, the pterostigma without a pale centre, and the ovipositor sheath length <0.5 × the metatibia length, by T 1 parallel sided; the median length of propodeum 1.2 × the maximum width of areola. Apanteles ligdus can be separated from A. ethanbeaveri by the scutoscutellar sulcus narrower and with much smaller pits, T 2 comparatively more transverse and T 2 with posterior margin more or less straight or very slightly curved.

Etymology.

The species epithet references Ligdus from Greek mythology, who threatened to kill his child (Iphis) if it was born female; relevant because the new species parasitises and kills the lepidopteran Ogyrus iphis. The epithet is a noun in apposition.

Distribution.

Apanteles ligdus is currently only known from one collection event in northern QLD, from two different host individuals of Ogyris iphis on Dendrophthoe sp.

Molecular information.

The two sequences of A. ligdus are currently in BIN BOLD: AFF 1514. The COI sequences are at least 2.4 % divergent from any of the other species treated here, or any available sequence on BOLD. The wg sequence of the holotype is ≥ 1 bp different to A. ethanbeaveri , and ≥ 10 bp different to any other species. The molecular delimitation of this species relative to A. ethanbeaveri is poorly resolved: BINs, a 2 % threshold, COI PTP and the wg haplotypes split the two species, COI ASAP and wg ASAP and wg PTP grouped the two species together.

Remarks.

The collectors who reared the type series are professional lepidopterists, and therefore the host records of this species should be treated with reasonable confidence. The species is closely related to A. ethanbeaveri and may potentially be conspecific. We feel the available evidence at present supports considering them as being distinct species (multiple subtle morphological differences,> 2 % COI divergence, wg barcodes 1 bp different, non-overlapping host species) but a larger sample size and further study may change this species hypothesis.