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

Slater-Baker, Mollie-Rosae, Fagan-Jeffries, Erinn P., Oestmann, Katherine J., Portmann, Olivia G., Bament, Tiahni M., Howe, Andy G., Guzik, Michelle T., Bradford, Tessa M., McClelland, Alana R., Woodward, Alice, Clarke, Sylvia, Ducker, Nathan & Fernández-Triana, José, 2025, DNA barcoding, integrative taxonomy, citizen science, and Bush Blitz surveys combine to reveal 34 new species of Apanteles (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) in Australia, ZooKeys 1227, pp. 1-128 : 1-128

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1227.130467
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:627B3463-87D6-4CA6-AAE1-B6F3CB412D75
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14852515
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/7260D59A-87FF-52FD-8AF1-3D95F93B1ACC
treatment provided by	ZooKeys by Pensoft
scientific name	Apanteles pellucidus Slater-Baker, Fagan-Jeffries, Fernández-Triana, Portmann & Oestmann
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

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

Fig. 5 B View Figure 5 ( distribution), Fig. 52 (holotype View Figure 52 )

Type material.

Holotype. Australia • ♀; QLD, Kuranda ; - 16.8154, 145.643; 16 Mar. 2017; M. S. Moulds leg.; Malaise trap; BOLD Process ID: AUMIC 333-18 ; QM: T 261207 . GoogleMaps

Diagnostic description.

Size: Total body length: 2.1 mm; fore wing length: 2.3 mm. Head: anterior scape colour similar or only very slightly paler than head colour; F 2 L / W ratio: 2.9. Mesosoma: scutoscutellar sulcus with nine pits; mesoscutellar disc mostly smooth, or with very shallow scattered indentations; propodeal areola complete, or mostly so; propodeum mostly rugose; coxae colour (pro, meso, meta): dark all; metafemur colour mostly dark. Wings: centre of pterostigma paler (more hyaline) than outer edges; fore wing r vein length / 2 RS vein length ratio: 0.6. Metasoma: T 1 shape mostly parallel, T 1 medial length / anterior width between 1–2 × longer than wide; mostly rugose; T 2 mostly smooth; ovipositor sheath length / metatibia length ratio: 0.9.

Apanteles pellucidus can be separated from most of the other described species of Apanteles known from Australia with a dark metafemur and metacoxa and the centre of the pterostigma pale / hyaline by fore wing vein 1 CUa pigmented whilst fore wing veins M + CU and 1 M pigmented no more than half of their lengths. We do not morphologically diagnose this species against A. rufiterra , but as the species are not closely related based on molecular data, they can be identified through DNA barcoding and the placement of the sequences on a phylogeny in the context of the holotype barcodes.

Etymology.

The species epithet is a Latin adjective meaning ‘ clear / transparent’ and relates to the hyaline centre of the pterostigma.

Distribution.

Apanteles pellucidus is currently only known from one collection locality in northeastern QLD.

Molecular information.

The holotype sequence of Apanteles pellucidus is currently in BIN BOLD: ADL 5338. The COI sequence is at least 8 % divergent from any of the other species treated here, or any available sequence on BOLD. The wg sequence of the holotype is at least 5 bp different to any other species. Most delimitation methods resolved A. pellucidus as a discrete species, however and wg ASAP grouped the species with A. amicalis and A. sp. MRSB 26 (undescribed lineage).