First record of Labena striata Townes and Townes, 1966 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Labeninae) from Colombia

NOTES AND COMMENTS

First record of Labena striata Townes and Townes, 1966 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Labeninae) from Colombia

Herrera, AF.I, ^*; Penteado-Dias, AM.II, ^*

^IPrograma de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Universidade Federal de São Carlos - UFSCar, Rod. Washington Luís, Km 235, CEP 13565-905, São Carlos, SP, Brazil

^IIDepartamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva, Universidade Federal de São Carlos - UFSCar, Rod. Washington Luís, Km 235, CEP 13565-905, São Carlos, SP, Brazil

The Hymenoptera are one of the largest orders of insects and one of the most important groups of parasitoids that develop in or on immature forms of other arthropods (Marchiori, 2007) and, in the Neotropical region, they have been little studied (Marchiori et al., 2007).

Ichneumonidae is a group of hymenopterous parasitoids, thought to be one of the most species-rich families of insects on Earth, though the true magnitude of the family is difficult to gauge since the fauna of tropical regions has only been investigated superficially (Gauld et al., 2002).

The Labeninae is a moderate-sized group of ichneumonids classified in 12 genera. The genus Labena Cresson may be found to include more than 100 species when the fauna of tropical America is properly known (Gauld, 2000).

During a taxonomic revision of the subfamily Labeninae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) based on 14 of the main biological Colombian collections, one Labena striata Townes and Townes, 1966 specimen (Figures 1-4) was identified.

This species was originally described by Kriechbaumer (1889) as Microtritus apicalis, but being Microtritus a synonym of Labena (Townes, H. and Townes, M. 1960), the species name became a junior secondary homonym of Labena apicalis (Cresson,1864), and it was replaced with L. striata by Townes H. and Townes M. (1966).

Gauld (2000) defines the Labena striata species-group, formed by L. obscura Gauld, 2000 and L. ogra Gauld, 2000 from Costa Rica, L. striata from Cayenne (Cracow) and Costa Rica (Yu and Horstmann, 1997), and two undescribed species from Peru. This species-group is characterised by having the propodeum with a narrow elongated area superomedia (Figure 4), and a tooth or prominence at the point where the lateral and posterior transverse carinae meet; having the scutellum subquadrate, by having a very large areolet in the fore wing, and by having a strong transverse crest at the front end of the notaulus. All species in this group are large, robust insects with females having a fore wing length of 19-24 mm.

L. striata has two unique features, a strongly impressed groove parallel to and immediately dorsal to submetapleural carina (Figures 2, 3), and by the coarse ridged teeth present on the apex of the ovipositor.

The female specimen deposited in EPIC (Edgard Palacio Insect Collection) in Bogotá (Colombia) under the code EPIC-ICH LAB-0007, was collected by Martin Kelsey with a Malaise trap in the PNN (Parque Natural Nacional) Amacayacu, Amazonas (Northwest of the city Leticia, Amazonas State, Colombia), Amazonian forest, at 300 m altitude, on January 3,1988. The species identity was determined by the first author.

The Colombian specimen has the mid leg with 8 stout bristles on the outer surface of the tibia and second tarsomere about as long as the following two tarsomeres.

For the first time photographs (Figures 1-4) of this species are provided. The host of this species is unknown. Recently (Loffredo and Penteado-Dias, 2008 a, b; Onody and Penteado-Dias, 2006; Onody et al., 2009; Penteado-Dias and Ramiro, 2009) other Ichneumonidea species from the Neotropical region have been studied and figured.

Acknowledgements - The authors are grateful to CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico), FAPESP (Fundacão de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo), HYMPAR/SUDESTE (INCT - Hymenoptera Parasitóides da Região Sudeste Brasileira) for financial support, Edgard E. Palacio loaned the specimen, Luciana Bueno dos Reis Fernandes helped with the edition of the photos and text.

Received August 3, 2009

Accepted September 18, 2009

Distributed August 31, 2010

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  16 Aug 2010
• Date of issue
  Aug 2010