Aclitus sappaphis Takada

Aclitus sappaphis Takada & Shiga, 1974 Aclitus sappaphis Takada & Shiga, 1974 Materials Type status: Other material. Occurrence: sex: 1 female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 6F6E1534-552C-50AD-B770-135E130CBBC3; Taxon: scientificName: Aclitus sappaphis Takada & Shiga, 1974; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Hymenoptera; family: Braconidae; genus: Aclitus; specificEpithet: sappaphis; scientificNameAuthorship: Takada & Shiga, 1974; taxonRemarks: species; Location: higherGeography: East Asia; country: South Korea; countryCode: KR; stateProvince: Gangwon-do; municipality: Yanggu-gun; locality: DMZ Botanical Garden, Mandae-ri, Haean-myeon; Event: startDayOfYear: 04 Jul 2017; endDayOfYear: 18 Jul 2017; year: 2017; Record Level: type: Dried specimen; institutionCode: KNA, Korean National Arboterum Type status: Other material. Occurrence: sex: 1 female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 076AF26F-F2E1-5928-A091-E400CC6C856C; Taxon: scientificName: Aclitus sappaphis Takada & Shiga, 1974; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Hymenoptera; family: Braconidae; genus: Aclitus; specificEpithet: sappaphis; scientificNameAuthorship: Takada & Shiga, 1974; taxonRemarks: species; Location: higherGeography: East Asia; country: Japan; countryCode: JP; stateProvince: Hokkaido; municipality: Sapporo; Identification: identificationRemarks: Amonoctonus watanabei (Takada, 1965) reared from Hamamelistes betulinus (de Horváth, 1896) (original label: Amonoctonus watanabei (Takada, 1965) reared from Mansakia shirakabae (Monen, 1927)); Event: eventDate: 08 Jun 1967; year: 1967; Record Level: type: Dried specimen; institutionCode: IECA, České Budějovice Type status: Other material. Occurrence: sex: 1 female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: E995C060-5A67-5187-92B3-6DB18646BBB8; Taxon: scientificName: Aclitus sappaphis Takada & Shiga, 1974; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Hymenoptera; family: Braconidae; genus: Aclitus; specificEpithet: sappaphis; scientificNameAuthorship: Takada & Shiga, 1974; taxonRemarks: species; Location: higherGeography: East Asia; country: Japan; countryCode: JP; stateProvince: Hokkaido; municipality: Sapporo; Identification: identificationRemarks: Amonoctonus watanabei (Takada, 1965) reared from Hamamelistes betulinus (de Horváth, 1896) (original label: Amonoctonus watanabei (Takada, 1965) reared from Mansakia shirakabae (Monen, 1927)); Event: eventDate: 08 Jun 1967; year: 1967; Record Level: type: Slide specimen; institutionCode: IECA, České Budějovice Diagnosis Female from South Korea. Length of body in lateral view 3.5 mm (Fig. 1 A). Length of antennae 1.6 mm (Fig. 1 B) and fore wing 1.8 mm (Fig. 1 I). Head. Head transverse (width / median length in dorsal view = 1.4), wider than mesosoma at tegulae (width head / mesoscutum in dorsal view = 1.2) with sparse long erect hairs (Fig. 1 A). Eye small, oval, sparsely setose (Fig. 1 G, N). Face sparsely setose, width / height ratio 2.8 (Fig. 1 D). Tentorial index 0.7 (Fig. 1 D). Clypeus oval with 10 long setae. F 1 longer than F 2 (length F 1 / F 2 = 1.3) (Fig. 1 C). F 1 and F 2 2.8 x and 2.2 × their basal width, respectively. F 1 without longitudinal placodes, F 2 with three, and F 3 – F 12 with at least four longitudinal placodes (Fig. 1 B, C). Mesosoma. Mesoscutum dorsal surface smooth, with 28–30 long setae along the dorsolateral part of mesoscutum each side (Fig. 1 E). Scutellum without scutellar sulcus carina; nearly triangular, bearing 30 long setae (Fig. 1 E). Propodeum with 10 long setae on each side, length / width of areola = 0.7 (Fig. 1 F). Pterostigma (= stigma) narrow and elongated; length equal to vein R 1 (= metacarpus). Vein r and 3 RSa extended into center of fore wing. Veins 3 RSb and 3 M extended, but not reaching wing margin, vein r-m weakly sclerotised, colorless. Vein m-cu extended to center of fore wing, colorless at base. Vein 2 CU developed, but colorless at base (Fig. 1 I). Legs with sparse erect hairs. Fore femur maximum length / width = 3.7; fore tibia maximum length / width = 6.6, with one tibial spur; fore femur length subequal to fore tibia (length fore femur / fore tibia = 1.1); fore tarsus with five tarsomeres (Fig. 1 L); fore basitarsus (= 1 st tarsomere) with a single row of densely comb-shaped hairs (Fig. 1 L); fore basitarsus short (fore tarsus / fore basitarsus = 3.3) (Fig. 1 J), claws acute (Fig. 1 M). Tibia of middle and hind legs with two tibial spurs. Hind femur maximum length / width = 3.8; hind tibia maximum length / width = 7.9, hind femur shorter than hind tibia (hind femur / hind tibia length = 0.6); hind basitarsus without densely comb-shaped hairs; hind basitarsus long (hind tarsus / hind basitarsus = 2.6) (Fig. 1 K). Metasoma. Petiole short and transverse, widening gradually towards posterior (petiole length / width at level of spiracles = 0.9, petiole length / width at terminal = 1.3). (Fig. 1 F, H). Ovipositor sheath elongately triangular with long hairs; dorsal with three and ventral with four long setae respectively (Fig. 1 O). Color. Antenna yellowish-brown and partly brown; scape, pedicel, F 1 and F 10–12 yellowish-brown, F 2–9 yellowish-brown to brown, and again yellowish-brown gradually. Head, face and clypeus dark brown, mouth-parts light brown. Vein 1 M, r, 3 RSa, 3 RSb, r-m, and m-cu vein of fore wing with brown spot. Mesosoma and metasoma dark brown; petiole and sternite 2 light brown. Legs light brown with dark apices. Biology A solitary endoparasitoid of Sappaphis piri [Artemisia princeps], Hamamelistes betulinus (de Horváth, 1896) (in this study). Notes A single row of densely comb-shaped hairs on the fore basitarsus (Fig. 1 L) likely functions in removing dirt from the body, especially the head, while living underground (this character is also present in a dried specimen from Japan deposited in the Starý collection). The collector of the Japanese samples (Fig. 2 A – H) most likely initially identified them as Calaphidius elegans Mackauer, 1961 (= Amonoctonus watanabei (Takada, 1965)), a species described two years earlier, based on the host information and collection locality. However, significant morphological differences from C. elegans exist, including the shape of fore wing venation, the presence of transverse areolation on the propodeum, petiole length / width ratio, and the shape of the ovipositor sheath. Although the fore wing venation of the examined specimen appears faint, this is a common issue resulting from prolonged storage in alcohol. Although the label has not been corrected, the specimen was placed within a box labeled as Aclitus sappaphis. The original host aphis label is Hamamelistes betulinus (de Horváth, 1896) (= Mansakia shirakabae (Monen, 1927)). Considering that the vertex outline forms an angle of nearly 90 ° with the frons in lateral view, the number of antennal segments, the length ratio of F 1 / F 2, and the length / width ratio of the pterostigma, the specimen belongs to A. sappaphis. A description of the type specimen can be found in Takada and Shiga (1974). Sequences from the South Korea specimen are provided here (Suppl. material 1).