Parastephanellus binoyi Amal, Girish Kumar, & van Achterberg, 2024

Parastephanellus binoyi Amal, Girish Kumar, & van Achterberg sp. nov.

( Figs 1–9 View FIGURES 1‒5 View FIGURES 6‒9 )

Type material. Holotype female, India: Kerala, Palakkad district, Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, Ezhupatham Palam , Muthuvarachal Section ( 10.379370° N 76.655765° E 528 m), 15.ii.2024, coll. P. Girish Kumar & Party, ( ZSIK) Regd. No. ZSI/ WGRC /I. R.-INV.26527. GoogleMaps

Diagnosis. Frons glossy with irregular striations forming somewhat rugose towards antennal scrobe; temple smooth and shiny with scattered setigerous punctures; occipital carina not complete, disappearing towards the mandibles; neck short, forming a cavity medially, with few strong striations laterally; pronotum irregularly striated, sparsely setose, posterior margin emarginated; fore wing hyaline, 1-M 2.9 × 1-SR, almost straight; vein r reaching pterostigma almost medially; sdc1 2.4 × as long as its maximum width, vein 2-1A obsolete or absent; hind tibia coriaceous with moderate pubescence, 1.13 × as long as hind femur, apical inflated part 2.7 × as wide as narrow basal part, narrow part about half as long as widened part, widened part with weak oblique inverted obsolete V shaped carinae; first tergite 8 × as long as its maximum width, 2.3 × as long as second tergite; visible part of seventh and eighth tergite micro coriaceous, no pygidial protuberance present apically; ovipositor sheath 0.93 × as long as body and 1.66 × as long as fore wing.

Description. Holotype, ♀. Body length 6.15 mm, ovipositor sheath length 5.8 mm, fore wing length 3.5 mm.

Colour. Blackish brown; apex of temple, middle of mandible, antennal segments, extreme base of fore and mid femora, tarsal segments, and ovipositor predominantly yellowish brown; frontal region of head and metasoma except first metasomal segment blackish; wings hyaline, pterostigma blackish brown, its base hardly paler than remainder of pterostigma, and veins brown.

Head. Antenna with 20 antennomeres; frons glossy with irregular striations forming somewhat rugose towards antennal scrobe, with scattered setae; five anterior coronal teeth, antero-medial one largest, followed by two pairs of posterior arcuate ones, which are not connected by a transverse carina; third, fourth and fifth pairs of coronal teeth are weak and each pairs are connected by transverse carina ( Fig. 3 View FIGURES 1‒5 ); vertex beyond the lateral ocellus with somewhat regular transverse carinae except smooth apical one third; temple smooth and shiny with scattered setigerous punctures; occipital carina not complete, disappearing towards the mandibles.

Mesosoma . Neck short, forming a cavity medially, with few strong striations laterally; pronotum irregularly striated, sparsely setose, posterior margin emarginated; propleuron smooth and shiny, with few scattered setigerous punctures laterally; mesonotum glossy with few scattered setigerous punctures, median grove and notauli distinct with foveolate punctures; mesopleuron largely glossy with few weak irregular scattered striations and few scattered setigerous punctures; scutellum smooth and shiny, scutoscutellar sulcus foveolate, and with few scattered setigerous punctures; metapleuron anteriorly almost smooth, posteriorly with weak rugose punctures and few setae; propodeum almost entirely alutaceous, a narrow smooth area delimited by a transverse carina apically joining first metasomal tergite; fore wing hyaline, 1-M 2.9 × 1-SR, almost straight; vein r reaching pterostigma almost medially; sdc1 2.4 × as long as its maximum width, vain 2-1A obsolete or absent; hind coxa robust, without a dorsal teeth and with coriaceous sculpture; hind femur widened, smooth with coriaceous sculpturing and scattered sparse white setae, ventrally with 2 large teeth and few denticles in between; hind tibia coriaceous with moderate pubescence, 1.1 × as long as hind femur, apical inflated part 2.7 × as wide as narrow basal part, narrow part 0.46 × as long as widened part, widened part with weak oblique inverted obsolete V shaped carinae; hind tarsus with three tarsomeres, subparallelsided, first hind basitarsus 6 × as long as wide medially and 3.4 × as long as second tarsal segment.

Metasoma. First tergite 8.0 × as long as its maximum width, 2.3 × as long as second tergite, cylindrical (narrow at the apex and widened medially) with irregular moderately strong rugae throughout its length; second tergite smooth with micro-coriaceous sculpturing; third to sixth tergites finely strigulate except apex and lateral sides micro-coriaceous; visible part of seventh and eighth tergite micro-coriaceous, no pygidial protuberance present apically; ovipositor sheath 0.93 × as long as body and 1.66 × as long as fore wing.

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. Oriental: India ( Kerala).

Biology. Unknown, presumably attacking wood boring beetles infesting fallen wood.

Etymology. The species is named after Dr C. Binoy for his contributions to our taxonomic knowledge of Indian Stephanidae .