Malagassodynerus monstruosus, Selis, 2025

Malagassodynerus monstruosus sp. nov.

( Figs 43 View FIGURE 43 , 65E View FIGURE 65 )

Diagnosis. Recognized by the following combination of characters: clypeus narrowly and deeply incised ( Fig. 43A View FIGURE 43 ), mesepisternum completely rounded without the slightest hint of epicnemial carina ( Fig. 43E View FIGURE 43 ), pattern with abundant yellow and green markings ( Figs 43A, B; 43D View FIGURE 43 ), female head grossly enlarged with a large, modified area covering most of vertex ( Fig. 43F View FIGURE 43 ). The shape of the clypeus allows an immediate identification within Malagassodynerus . The pattern is very similar to that of M. scutellatus , which is known only from the male holotype, but this species differs from the male of M. monstruosus as follows: apical emargination of clypeus larger and as broad as deep, gena less convex in dorsal view, apical flagellomeres nodose on ventral side, mesepisternum with blunt but distinct epicnemial carina, T 1 in lateral view more convex in the middle, sides of mesosoma and tergites with much denser and deeper punctures, pattern more vividly yellow and without green markings, clypeus with yellow apical half.

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE: ♂ labelled “ MADAGASCAR: Amtsora- / nana, Marojejy , 10.5km NW / Manantenina, XI. 6–12.96 / 1,625m, E. Quinter // [QR code] AMNH _ IZC 00445386 About AMNH // Malagassodynerus monstruosus / HOLOTYPUS ♂ / Det. Marco Selis 2024 [red label]” ( AMNH, code AMNH _ IZC00445386 ) . PARATYPES: Antsiranana, Marojejy , 11 km NW of Manantenina, 14.436656S 49.741655E, 1225 m, 25.X–3.XI.1996, leg. E. Quinter, 1♀ ( AMNH, code AMNH _ IZC00445385 ) GoogleMaps ; Fianarantsoa, PN Ranomafana, radio tower at forest edge, 21.250853S 47.407155E, 1130 m, 4–12.II.2002, leg. R. Harin’Hala, 1♀ ( CAS, code CASENT2046458 ) GoogleMaps .

Description. Male holotype ( Fig. 43B View FIGURE 43 ). Body length 10.5 mm; fore wing length 10.0 mm.

Head 1.25× as wide as high. Clypeus in frontal view 1.1× as wide as long, free apical part about half as long as interocular part, apical margin deeply incised and 0.2× as wide as clypeus, incision as wide as deep, apical teeth subtriangular and strongly convex, area above incision with a shallow longitudinal depression; clypeus in lateral view almost flattened, barely convex in basal third. Vertex 1.45× as long as ocellocular distance, shallowly convex in lateral view and sloping posteriorly. Gena 1.2× as wide as eye at bottom of ocular sinus and strongly convex in dorsal view; occipital carina complete and sharp, fine on vertex and becoming stronger on gena, where it is shortly lamellate and curved in ventral half. F1 2.4× as long as wide and 1.5× as long as F2, F2–F8 longer than wide and becoming proportionally shorter, F9 subquadrate, F11 finger-shaped, in lateral view very weakly curved and rounded at apex, reaching middle of F8, in dorsal view straight. Mandible short and robust, with first two tooth subtriangular and separated from broad and short third tooth by a rounded incision. Mesosoma short and robust, 1.3× as long as wide. Pronotum with straight and strongly converging sides; pronotal carina complete, shortly lamellate above and blunt below pronotal fovea, lamellate portion shorter on middle and on humeri, humeri in dorsal view right-angled; pretegular carina well-developed and sharp, replaced by a deep furrow in front of pronotal lobe. Mesoscutum with shallow notauli in posterior half, becoming deeper in front of scutellum. Scutellum distinctly convex with anterior margin slightly bulging, mid-line shallowly impressed, anterior margin strongly and regularly crenulate; axillary fossa small and elliptical, about half as wide as an ocellar diameter. Metanotum with a very short and irregular horizontal face followed by a much longer vertical face, the two faces are bluntly separated. Tegula slightly longer than wide, outer margin evenly convex, posterior lobe very short and obtuse with blunt apex, not equaling parategula; parategula oblique and depressed on inner face. Mesepisternum evenly convex from anterior to posterior margin, smoothly passing into epicnemium due to complete absence of epicnemial carina; epimeron weakly angularly projecting at its lower end. Dorsal margin of metaepisternum produced in a low and blunt ridge. Propodeum short, in lateral view weakly convex and strongly sloping; dorsal faces of propodeum nearly vertical and reaching submarginal carina, not clearly separated from posterior depression; lateral faces of propodeum flattened, separated from dorsal faces in the dorsal half by strong but blunt lateral carinae but smoothly passing into dorsal faces in ventral half; posterior face of propodeum very weakly concave and forming a sinuate surface with dorsal faces, mid-line with short and narrow basal fovea about half as long as median length of metanotum, barely carinate just below fovea; submarginal carina of propodeum complete above orifice but completely and smoothly fused with valvulae. T 1 in dorsal view triangular and subpetiolate, weakly bell-shaped, sides evenly and strongly converging, longer than apically wide; T 1 in lateral view with dorsal margin very weakly raising from suspensory ligament to just behind middle, then flattened; posterior third of T1 with a shallow and wide longitudinal furrow; apical margin of T1 shallowly thickened with a short hyaline apical border. T 2 in dorsal view about as long as wide, sides convex and evenly diverging, strongly wider than T1 and much wider apically than basally; apical margin of T2 simple. S2 evenly and strongly convex in lateral view; S2 with a shallow longitudinal furrow covering its basal half. Mid femur dorsoventrally flattened, more markedly in basal fourth.

Head and mesosoma with deep punctures, interspaces densely micropunctate and shagreened, very matte; clypeus densely micropunctate and shagreened, with scattered fine punctures more visible basally; frons and most of vertex very densely punctured, interspaces reduced to irregular ridges, becoming wider on posterior part of vertex and reaching several puncture diameters on gena; dorsal side of mesosoma with interspaces reaching one puncture diameter; mesepisternum with very scattered punctures, all interspaces equal to several puncture diameters; dorsal faces of propodeum with deep punctures smaller than on mesoscutum, very dense on dorsomedial angle and becoming very sparse laterally; lateral faces of propodeum very finely microstriate with scattered small punctures; posterior face of propodeum with hints of short oblique striation. T1 sparsely micropunctate and weakly shagreened, weakly shiny, with deep oblique punctures denser on sides; T2 densely micropunctate and less shiny that T1, with oblique punctures larger and deeper basally and becoming smaller and shallower apically; T3–T7 densely shagreened and matte with sparse punctures becoming progressively finer; S1 with small deep punctures posteriorly; S2 similar to T2 but punctures deeper and less oblique; S3–S7 similar to respective tergites but punctures less evident. Dorsal side of head and mesosoma with bright golden pubescence, with erect apically bent setae which are longer on frons; clypeus and sides of mesosoma with similar vestiture but much paler; propodeum with longer white pubescence and on sides with long fine setae; tergites with brassy dust-like pubescence, long erect setae on T1 and scattered short oblique setae on T2–T6, T7 with dense erect short setae; S1 with erect fine setae becoming longer posteriorly, S2–S7 with pubescence becoming longer and more erect, the last sternites with dense pads of pubescence, and with oblique to erect setae with bent apex; apical margin of S7 with brush of yellow long setae.

Black, with dark green tinge on the following parts: most of face, mandible, scape, line along gena, around yellow markings of pronotum, in middle of mesoscutum, margins of metanotum, legs from middle of femora; pronotum, scutellum and metanotum almost entirely bright yellow; margins of T1 and most of S1 with bright yellowish-green markings. Wings hyaline with orange tinge.

Female ( Fig. 43D View FIGURE 43 ). Larger than male (body length 12.5–13.0mm) and differing as follows: head grossly enlarged and wider than mesosoma, in frontal view genae exceeding outer margin of eyes and vertex angularly projecting just behind ocelli; clypeus more narrowly incised and with coarser punctures; mandible large and robust with regular dentation, gena 1.8× as wide as eye at bottom of ocular sinus and strongly convex, in dorsal view 1.65× as long as dorsal lobe of eye; vertex 2.25× as long as ocellocular distance, almost entirely covered by a raised modified area which is matte, impunctate and covered in dense long setae, anterior margin of modified area raised in a strong transverse ridge; scutellum less convex; metanotum more distinctly produced at anterior margin; lateral carinae of propodeum less developed to nearly absent; pubescence generally shorter; pronotum, scutellum and metanotum more largely yellow, green tinge brighter.

Variability. The female paratype from Marojejy matches with the holotype in most characters, excluding those reported above and relatable to sexual dimorphism and in having a suffused dark orange marking in the middle of the apical margins of T2 and T3. The female paratype from Ranomafana differs from the other female in having denser punctures on the metasoma, the modified area on vertex is black (dark red in the female from Marojejy) and the markings on propodeum and T1 are much more extensive. These differences are here considered as simple intraspecific variability, since the two females match in all other characters.

Distribution. Madagascar: Antsiranana, Fianarantsoa ( Fig. 65E View FIGURE 65 ).

Etymology. The species epithet is the Latin adjective “ monstruosus , - a, - um ” (= strange, monstrous), in reference to the monstrous appearance of the head of this species.

Notes. The male holotype presents a peculiar morphology of clypeus and mandible ( Fig. 43C View FIGURE 43 ), normally observed in the males of many genera or subgenera of Eumeninae but also in the rare aberrant specimens defined as oplomerocephalic ( Blüthgen 1958). In this case the morphology of the clypeus of the male is substantially identical to that of the two female paratypes, indicating that it could also be the normal morphology of the male. The examination of more material will allow clarification of whether Malagassodynerus monstruosus normally presents this morphology or if the holotype is an oplomerocephalic male.