Taeniogonalos ayyari Binoy, van Achterberg and Girish Kumar, 2022

Taeniogonalos ayyari Binoy, van Achterberg and Girish Kumar sp. nov.

( Figures 1a–e View Figures 1 and 2a–h View Figures 2 )

Type material

Holotype ♀, India: Tamil Nadu, Thirunelveli district, Ambasamudram range ( 8.682°N, 77.548°E; alt. 264 m), 23 August 2019, coll. P. Girish Kumar, ( ZSIK) Regd. No. ZSI/ WGRC / IR/INV.17487. GoogleMaps

Diagnosis

Scutellum black medially and pale yellow laterally; middle lobe of mesoscutum tricoloured ( Figure 2b View Figures 2 ); body markedly setose; outer side of supra-antennal elevations oblique and elevations 0.3× as long as scape; additional pair of oblique elevations at inner margin of eye; occipital carina distinct; head rugose-punctate, area adjoining ocelli smooth, devoid of punctures; interspaces smooth and shiny, punctures sparse on occiput and ventrally on temple; temple dorsally largely smooth except for some punctures; head distinctly wide in dorsal view; posterior margin of second metasomal sternite straight, armature lacking.

Description

Holotype, female, length of body 5.6 mm; fore wing 4.6 mm.

Head. Head in dorsal view 1.6× as wide as long; antenna with 24 antennomeres; frons coarsely rugose punctate, with narrow shiny interspaces; vertex with similar sculpture, moderately setose with medium-sized setae; OOD 2.4× POD, OOD 1.2× OD; temple largely smooth except some sparse setigerous punctation ( Figure 1c View Figures 1 ); interocular distance at middle of face 3.5× distance between antennal toruli ( Figure 1e View Figures 1 ). Eye in dorsal view 1.1× as long as temple; occipital carina distinct; supra-antennal elevation medium-sized, about 0.3× as long as scape, outer margin oblique; a pair of oblique projection on frons at inner eye margin ( Figure 1d View Figures 1 ); clypeus markedly concave medio-apically, setose; mandible large.

Mesosoma . Mesosoma 1.2× as long as high ( Figure 2a View Figures 2 ); transverse mesopleural sulcus indistinct; mesopleuron irregularly rugose anteriorly, indistinct below setation; posteriorly smooth, shiny; notauli deep, moderately narrow and largely crenulate; middle lobe of mesoscutum coarsely transversely rugose-punctate, lateral lobes with similar sculpture, short longitudinal parapsidal line indicated on lateral lobes; scutellar sulcus complete, medium-sized, finely crenulate; scutellum similarly sculptured as mesoscutum, convex, above level of mesoscutum, metanotum medially slightly convex, not protruding, faintly rugose ( Figure 2b View Figures 2 ); propodeum largely longitudinally or obliquely rugose or nearly so; posterior propodeal carina arched ( Figure 2c View Figures 2 ).

Wings. Fore wing: length of vein 1-M 0.9× as long as vein 1-SR, straight; subdiscal and discal cells less setose than remainder of wing ( Figure 2d View Figures 2 ).

Metasoma. First metasomal tergite 2.5× as long as apically wide, smooth ( Figure 2g View Figures 2 ); second metasomal tergite rugose-punctate, shiny, moderately setose; remaining tergites conspicuously rugose punctate, strongly setose ( Figure 2g View Figures 2 ); sternites with similar sculpture as tergites; second sternite with posterior margin straight; third sternite 0.2× as long as second sternite; hypopygium bluntly triangular in ventral view ( Figure 2h View Figures 2 ).

Colour. Black with the following parts differently coloured: head in dorsal view with a distinct V-shaped red band behind stemmaticum extending along occipital line and forming diverging band from occiput towards eye on either side ( Figure 1d View Figures 1 ), pale spots anterior to median ocellus, faint red patch just beyond middle of post-ocellar line; head in frontal view black with following parts variously coloured: patch arising ventrad to lower ocular line, not extending onto middle of face, not meeting medially, on supra-antennal elevation, non-confluent patch on clypeal shield, medially interrupted by black band; mandible yellow with brown-red to black teeth; head in lateral view with yellow patch on outer orbital margin, meeting with red-brown patch from occiput enclosing black patch ( Figure 1e View Figures 1 ); antennomeres testaceous, ventrally pale; mesosoma variably coloured, pronotum black with postero-lateral angle pale yellow; mesoscutum red-brown with the following parts variously coloured: middle lobe of mesoscutum red-brown with antero-medial inverted triangular black patch, lateral corner pale yellow; lateral lobe of mesoscutum redbrown with anterior part darker; axilla red-brown; scutellum black flanked by pale yellow patch on each side, anterior margin red-brown, lateral margin beyond yellow patch redbrown; metanotum pale yellow with median lobe dark ( Figure 2b View Figures 2 ); propodeum black with two pale yellow patches sub-medially ( Figure 2c View Figures 2 ); fore and mid coxae brown with ventral area dark; fore and mid femora dark brown with ventral margin pale brown; fore and mid tibiae brown with apex dark brown; hind coxa pale yellow with ventral margin black; all trochanters pale yellow; hind trochanter pale yellow with ventral margin brown; hind femur brown with apico-ventral area pale; all tarsi brown; fore wing largely fuscous with subapical dark brown patch; first metasomal tergite with pale yellow patch on antero-medial margin; second tergite with narrow subapical yellow band ( Figure 2g View Figures 2 ); fourth and fifth metasomal tergites with non-confluent yellow band/macula on apical margin; sixth tergite yellow ( Figure 2g View Figures 2 ); first–second metasomal sternites with subapical yellow band ( Figure 2h View Figures 2 ).

Biology

Unknown.

Etymology

The species name is a genitive noun from the patronym Ayyar, after the Indian entomologist and pioneer T.V. Ramakrishna Ayyar who described many species including T. fulvoscutellata and T. kerala from southern India.

Distribution

India ( Tamil Nadu).

Remarks

Taeniogonalos ayyari sp. nov. resembles T. kerala (Ayyar) in having the head with rugosepunctate sculpture; supra-antennal tubercles short and obtuse, apico-medial margin of second metasomal sternite of female straight, and metasomal armature lacking. Taeniogonalos ayyari sp. nov. however differs from T. kerala in having the head in dorsal view 1.6× as wide as long (vs 1.4× as wide as long); antenna 24-segmented (vs antenna 22- segmented); mesosoma red-brown (vs brown); second metasomal tergite without any yellow patch on anterior margin (vs second tergite with yellow patch at anterior margin); yellow patch on fourth tergite large (vs yellow patch on fourth tergite comparatively small); hind tibia dark brown without pale basal patch (vs hind tibia brown with pale basal patch); metasoma black with yellow marking (vs metasoma red-brown with yellow marking); yellow band on second metasomal sternite small (vs yellow band on second sternite wider than in alternative); different colour pattern of mesonotum).