Sycosoter ordinarius Gupta & Belokobylskij & Achterberg & Pattar & Broad & Gracy & Sushil 2024, sp. nov.

Sycosoter ordinarius Gupta & Belokobylskij, sp. nov.

(Figs 11, 12)

Type material. Holotype: female, INDIA: Karnataka: Bengaluru, 1.ix.2023, ex Pongamia pinnata (L.) logs infested with beetle larvae, coll. R. Pattar, Code- NIM/ NBAIR /Hym/Brac/Syco/10923-H; P1 (NIM).

Paratype. Same label, 1 female and 1 male (NIM).

Description. Female. Body length 1.3 mm; fore wing length 1.4 mm; exserted ovipositor 0.6 mm.

Head width (frontal view) 1.3 × its median height, head width (dorsal view) 1.5 × its median length, 1.1 × width of mesoscutum. Head behind eyes (dorsal view) convex-roundly narrowed; transverse diameter of eye 1.4 × length of temple. Ocelli small, arranged in triangle with base 1.3 × its sides; POL 3.4 × Od, 0.45 × OOL. Eye glabrous, 1.1 × as high as broad (lateral view). Malar space about 0.5 × height of eye, about 2.0 × basal width of mandible. Face width 1.2 × height of eye and 1.3 × height of face and clypeus combined. Hypoclypeal depression round, its width 0.6 × distance from edge of depression to eye, 0.35–0.40 × width of face. Head below eyes (front view) curvedly narrowed.

Antenna slender, filiform, with 13 antennomeres, 1.3 × longer than body. Scape 1.3 × longer than its maximum width, 1.5 × longer than pedicel. First flagellomere 5.0 × longer than its apical width, 0.65 × as long as second flagellomere. Penultimate flagellomere 5.5 × longer than wide, 1.4 × as long as first flagellomere, as long as apical segment; latter weakly acuminate apically.

Mesosoma. Length 1.5 × its height. Pronotum (dorsal view) with anterior margin straight and with pointed antero-lateral angles. Pronotal carina present. Mesoscutum (lateral view) almost perpendicularly elevated above pronotum; median lobe with shallow longitudinal median furrow in posterior half (dorsal view). Notauli distinct in anterior 0.3, fine to absent posteriorly. Prescutellar depression (scutal sulcus) deep, rather short, with mid carina, mostly smooth, 0.4 × as long as scutellum. Scutellum weakly convex. Precoxal sulcus deep, straight, smooth, running along anterior 0.5 of lower part of mesopleuron. Metapleuron lobe distinct, wide, rounded apically.

Wings. Fore wing 3.7 × its maximum width. Pterostigma rather narrow, 5.0 × longer than its maximum width. Radial (marginal) cell wide, 3.5 × longer than wide. Metacarp (1-R1) 1.1 × longer than pterostigma. Radial vein (r) arising before middle of pterostigma, first abscissa (r) 1.2 × longer than maximum width of pterostigma. Second radial abscissa (3-SR + SR1) almost straight in apical half and weakly curved at basal half, 6.3 × longer than first radial abscissa (r), 3.1 × longer than first radiomedial vein (2-SR). First radiomedial vein (2-SR) curved, 1.8 × as long as first radial abscissa (r), 1.9 × as long as recurrent vein (m-cu). First medial abscissa (1-SR+M) weakly sinuate. Discoidal (discal) cell 1.3 × longer than wide. Second (posterior) abscissa of basal vein (1-M) 1.4 × longer than first (anterior) abscissa (1-SR), 1.1 × longer than recurrent vein (m-cu). Mediocubital vein (M+CU1) curved. Hind wing 7.6 × longer than wide.

Legs. Hind femur with dorsal protuberance, length 5.0 × maximum width. Hind tarsus subequal to hind tibia. Hind basitarsus weakly thickened, 0.7 × combined length of second to fifth segments. Second segment of hind tarsus 0.3 × as long as basitarsus, 0.9 × as long as fifth segment (without pretarsus).

Metasoma 0.7 × as long as head and mesosoma combined. First tergite short, evenly widened from base to apex, with distinct dorsope. Maximum width of first tergite 1.8 × anterior width; length 0.8 × posterior width, 0.9 × length of propodeum. Second suture absent. Median length of second and third tergites combined 0.6 × anterior width of second tergite. Ovipositor sheath (lateral view) 1.1 × as long as metasoma, 1.1 × as long as mesosoma, and 0.5 × as long as fore wing.

Sculpture and pubescence. Vertex and temple smooth. Face mostly smooth. Mesoscutum weakly and finely granulate-reticulate. Scutellum and mesopleuron smooth. Propodeum with undulate median longitudinal carina in anterior half, areola present, lateral transverse carinae adjacent to areola and sublateral longitudinal carinae present. Hind coxa dorsally finely rugulose, mainly smooth. First tergite striate, with complete, submedian converging dorsal carinae. Second and following tergites smooth. Vertex with short and very sparse yellow setae, otherwise almost glabrous. Mesoscutum with sparse and semi-erect pale setae arranged in narrow stripes along notauli and marginally. Hind tibia dorsally with short, rather dense and semi-erect pale setae; length of these setae 0.7 × maximum width of hind tibia.

Colour. Body mainly yellowish brown or light reddish brown, apex of mandibles and vertex with dark brown tint; mesoscutum with darker tint laterally; second and following tergites darker, brown. Antenna with scape, pedicel, first and second flagellomeres yellowish, remaining segments dark brown. Palpi pale yellow. Legs yellow, hind leg infuscate. Ovipositor sheath dark brown. Fore wing infuscate near many veins. Pterostigma pale brown but distinctly brownish in distal third, pale yellow in proximal half.

Paratype (female). Body length 1.5 mm; fore wing length 1.6 mm; exserted ovipositor 0.8 mm.

Male. Body length 1.8 mm; fore wing length 1.3 mm, antenna 1.5 mm. Antenna with 14 antennomeres. First flagellomere 5.0 × longer than its apical width, 0.74 × as long as second segment. Metasoma narrow and elongate. Otherwise similar to female.

Comparative diagnosis. Sycosoter ordinarius sp. nov. differs from the only other known Indian Sycosoter, S. topali (Papp, 1993) (Papp 1993), by the following characters: 1) eye 1.4–1.5 × as long as temple in dorsal view (1.2 × in S. topali); 2) antenna with 13 antennomeres (with 15 antennomeres in S. topali); 3) mesosoma 1.5 × longer than high (almost 2.0 × in S. topali); 4) first medial abscissa (1-SR+M) arising before middle of basal (1-M) vein (almost from middle in S. topali); 5) pterostigma pale yellow, brownish only in distal third (brownish with pale basal spot in S. topali); 6) precoxal sulcus smooth (crenulate-rugulose in S. topali).

The new species is similar to the Western Palaearctic S. caudatus (Ruschka, 1916) (Gebiola et al. 2015) but differs from the latter in the following features: 1) ovipositor long, about as long as the metasoma (short, less than half the length of the metasoma in S. caudatus); 2) second abscissa of medial vein (2-SR+M) of fore wing very long, longer than first radiomedial vein (2-SR) (short, distinctly shorter than first radiomedial vein (2-SR) in S. caudatus); 3) first abscissa of basal vein (1-SR+M) arising before middle of basal vein (1-SR + 1-M) (arising from middle in S. caudatus); 4) radial vein (r) arising distal to middle of pterostigma (arising from middle in S. caudatus); 5) mesoscutum mainly smooth in posterior half (weakly granulate in S. caudatus).

Finally, S. ordinarius sp. nov. also resembles the Eastern Palaearctic S. arephini (Belokobylskij, 1993) (Belokobylskij 1993) (Figs 13, 14), especially in the fore wing venation, but differs from the latter in the following characters: 1) first metasomal tergite short, distinctly less than its maximum width posteriorly (equal to maximum width in S. arephini); 2) precoxal sulcus rather distinct (almost absent in S. arephini); 3) proximal one-third of fore wing less narrow (distinctly narrow and elongate in S. arephini); 4) prescutellar depression with only median carina, no lateral carinae (two lateral carinae also present in S. arephini); 5) anterior margin of mesoscutum (dorsal view) curved and without distinct lateral corners (almost straight with distinct lateral corners in S. arephini).