Foenatopus chareshi Binoy, van Achterberg & Girish Kumar 2020, sp. nov.

Foenatopus chareshi Binoy, van Achterberg & Girish Kumar sp. nov.

(Figs 4–20)

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 5B58D9E8-F54F-40DB-9393-816A512A96A1

Type material. Holotype ♀, mounted on triangular card, India: Tamil Nadu, Thirunelveli district, Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (8°41’04.7”N & 77°18’30.5”E, 1800 m), 28.ix.2017, Coll. C. Charesh, (ZSIK) Regd. No. ZSI/ WGRC /IR/INV.13591. Paratypes: 4 ♂ (ZSIK) Regd. Nos. ZSI/ WGRC /IR/INV.13592 13595, same collection data as that of holotype.

Diagnosis. Frons finely and transversely rugose; vertex with fine transverse striae; pronotum slender, anteriorly transversely rugulose to weakly carinate and posteriorly coriaceous; scutellum microsculptured; propleuron and mesopleuron coriaceous; propodeum areolate with medium-sized, circular areola and with imbricate to coriaceous interspaces, inside of areola imbricate; 2-CU 1 of fore wing absent; subapical part of ovipositor sheath ivory. This species comes close to Foenatopus punctatus Elliott, 1919 in having length of ovipositor subequal to body, subapical ivory patch on the ovipositor sheath and first metasomal tergite shorter than combined lengths of post-petiolar segments. But can be distinguished by the combination of the following characteristics: vertex with two carinae (in F. punctatus vertex with 3 carinae); pronotum anteriorly weakly carinate proceeding as coriaceous posteriorly (pronotum strongly trans-rugose in F. punctatus); and hind femora bidentate ventrally (hind femora tridentate in F. punctatus). The species comes close to F. achterbergi Gupta & Gawas 2020 in having the pterostigma more than 10.0× longer than its maximum width, ovipositor sheath shorter than body and vertex with two carinae between the ocelli, but varies from the same in having the subapical pale band of the ovipositor sheath 1.6× apical dark part (subapical pale band in F. achterbergi 0.9× apical dark part); ventral teeth of hind femora more or less equilateral (in F. achterbergi femoral teeth of varying length, basal one nearly equilateral and apical one narrow, much longer than wide). The species runs to the Oriental species F. flavidentatus (Enderlein) (Hong et al. 2011) in having hind femur bidentate ventrally, pygidial impression of female deep and reverse V-shaped, ovipositor sheath 0.9× length of body and with a subapical ivory patch. It differs from F. flavidentatus as follows: vertex with two carinae (in F. flavidentatus vertex with three distinct carinae); pronotum granulate to reticulate sculpturing (in F. flavidentatus pronotum weakly carinate); scutellum finely alutaceous (in F. flavidentatus scutellum smooth); 2-CU 1 absent (in F. flavidentatus 2-CU 1 present basally); first metasomal tergite 0.8× as long as length of remaining metasomal tergites combined (in F. flavidentatus first metasomal tergite 0.9× as long as length of remaining metasomal tergites combined).

Description. Holotype. ♀ (Figs 4 & 5–14). Body length 10.1 mm; ovipositor sheath length 9.5 mm; fore wing length 5.2 mm.

Colour. Reddish brown with the following parts as follows: frons with short ivory streaks through the inner eye margin and medially, not reaching level of anterior coronal tooth; temple brown with ivory streak along lower half of the eye, streak becoming narrow apically to brown occiput (Fig. 6); lower face with base of mandible yellow (Fig. 8); subapical ivory-white part of ovipositor sheath about as long as apical black part (Fig. 14).

Head. Antenna with 29 distinct antennomeres; first flagellomere 5.0× as long as wide, and 0.68× as long as second flagellomere; three anterior coronal teeth large and acute, both posterior ones short and wider; frons finely and transversely rugate; coronal area with weak longitudinal carinae (Fig. 8), with two transverse carinae between ocelli; vertex finely and transversely striate (but medially rugose) and with a shallow medio-longitudinal furrow (Fig. 7); temple non-angulate, smooth and shiny.

Mesosoma. Pronotum slender and mostly coriaceous turning microreticulate or granulate posteriorly, without transverse rugulae anteriorly; weakly carinate dorso-medially and laterally; neck anteriorly deeply emarginated, neck at slightly lower level than middle part of pronotum; anterior half of mesoscutum finely rugose to coriaceous with irregular areola, posterior half with a median carina (Fig. 10); scutellum, propleuron and mesopleuron coriaceous to micropitted (Fig. 9); scutellum separated from axilla by means of a large furrow, not differentiated in the form of fovea with scattered small setae; axillae separated from each other by a large alveola; propodeum with medium-sized, circular areola with wide coriaceous interspaces, inside of foveae imbricate to alutaceous; fore wing with 2-CU1 absent; pterostigma elongate and subparallel-sided, turning acute apically; vein r and vein SR1 obtusely-angled, vein r ends 0.2× length of pterostigma behind level of apex of pterostigma; vein SR1 subparallel to costal margin (Fig. 11); hind coxa weakly striate, ventrally with moderate striae; hind femur microreticulate, ventrally with two large acute teeth and with two smaller tubercle basally, three denticles in between the large teeth and a stub like lobe apically; hind tibia faintly coriaceous, as long as hind femur, basal narrow part of hind tibia 1.1× as long as widened part, inner side of widened part basally distinctly depressed, followed by convex and setose area, apically densely setose; hind tarsi densely setose (Fig. 12).

Metasoma. First tergite rugose with faint transverse striae, weakly annulate, sparsely setose, 13× as long as its maximum width, 2.6× as long as second tergite and 0.9× as long as remainder of metasoma (Fig. 13); post-petiolar tergites largely smooth to weakly coriaceous; pygidial area distinctly differentiated, pygidial impression moderate, reverse V-shaped; length of ovipositor sheath 0.94× as long as body length, length of subapical whitish band 1.6× length of its dark apex (Fig. 14).

Male. Description. Paratypes. ♂ (Figs 15–20). Body length 7.3–8.5 mm; fore wing length 3.0– 4.7 mm;

Colour. Black with following parts different: lower face with an ivory patch below eyes; posterior rim of pronotum yellowish golden; post-petiolar sternites reddish brown; fore and mid tibia and all tarsi brown; mid tibia brown with basal part paler (Fig. 15).

Frons finely striate with shallow median grove; vertex with 2 carinae, scattered setae (Fig. 17); pronotum alutaceous with scattered setae, without strong carinae, dorso-medially four weak ridges; scutellum smooth to finely alutaceous with scattered setae, separated from axillae by wide ridges; axillae separated from one another by a pair of irregular alveola; propodeum with large imbricate irregular to circular areola with alutaceous wider interspaces than in females, inside of pits imbricate to alutaceous (Fig. 18); wing venation similar to that of female (Fig. 19); mesopleuron antero-dorsally with moderately dense silvery setae; metapleura rugose carinate; hind femora with 2 tooth with basal one white (variable within specimens) (Fig. 20).

Distribution. Oriental: India (Tamil Nadu).

Host. Unknown.

Etymology. The species is named after C. Charesh (Laboratory Assistant at Western Ghat Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Kozhikode), who collected the type specimens.