Aulacus doddi Jennings & Parslow & Austin 2018, sp. nov

Aulacus doddi Jennings & Austin, sp. nov. Figs 17, 58. Material examined. Holotype. ♀, "Kuranda Queensland, F.P. Dodd " (SAM). Flagellomeres 5���12 missing. Paratypes. Queensland: 1♀, same data as holotype (SAM); 2♀, Kuranda, Dec [19]19, F.P. Dodd (SAM); 1♀, Brisbane, Nov-Dec 1971, J. Sedlacek (AEI). Description. FEMALE. Length. 9.9 (7.8���11.0) mm, excluding ovipositor. Colour. Black, except mandibles with variable amounts of orange and teeth dark brown, fore trochanter, fore and mid femora and tibiae orange, fore and mid tarsomeres 1���2 and basal half of tarsomere 3 cream, remainder black, hind tarsomere 1 black in basal one-third, remainder cream, segments 2���4 cream, tarsomere 5 black, metasoma black, except for a broad cream band dorso-laterally half-way along tarsomere 2 (Figs 17A, B), ovipositor sheaths black except for a broad cream band just below apex, ovipositor orange. Wings hyaline except for large brown spot apically on the marginal and submarginal cells of fore wing (Figs 17A, B). [It should be noted that the old specimens have faded so that cream colouration appears pale orange and some of the black colouration on, for example, the legs and metasoma is dark brown.] Head. 1.3 (1.2���1.5)�� wider than long when viewed dorsally (Fig. 17C); face punctate-reticulate, pubescence long, dense; indistinct sub-antennal groove; frons without lateral medial carina above toruli, punctate-reticulate, with long pubescence; vertex and gena punctate-reticulate, with scattered short setae; posterior margin of head not concave in dorsal view; occipital carina absent; malar space 0.2�� height eye; clypeus 3.5�� as wide as high, margin sinuate, with small medial process; distance from lateral ocellus to eye margin 1.36 (1.30���1.42)�� distance between lateral ocelli; scape 1.5�� length pedicel; first flagellomere 1.3�� as long as scape, 0.51 (0.48���0.53)�� as long as second flagellomere. Mesosoma. Propleuron rugulose, pubescence long, ventro-lateral carina present; pronotum rugose; mesoscutum in lateral view rounded antero-dorsally (Fig. 17D), medial and lateral lobes rugose, with scattered short setae, admedial lines weak; notauli distinct, carinate, broad and deep (Fig. 17E); scutellum and axillae rugose, scutellum anteriorly with pair of deep depressions, separated by a weak median carina; metapostnotum depressed, scrobiculate, posterior margin convex; mesopleuron rugose, with long pubescence; mesepimeron broad, carinate; metapleuron coarsely rugose, with long pubescence; propodeum areolate, posterior margin smooth; hind coxa strigate dorsally, pubescence short laterally, ovipositor guide medial, oblique (Fig. 17F), distal fringe of long setae, no setae in groove; hind trochanter imbricate, with scattered short setae; prefemur on hind leg present; hind femur imbricate, with scattered short setae; hind tibia imbricate, pubescence short, with scattered stout emergent setae; hind femur 0.73 (0.63���0.83)�� length hind tibia; hind tibia with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines; hind tarsomeres 1���4 with ventro-apical pecten of short robust spines, tarsomere 1, 2.7 (2.4���3.0)�� length tarsomere 2; tarsomere 2, 1.67 (1.47���1.88)�� length tarsomere 3; tarsomere 3, 2.1�� length tarsomere 4; tarsomere 4, 0.7�� length tarsomere 5; hind tarsal claw 0.5�� length tarsomere 5; fore wing veins 2r-m and 3r-m largely spectral; hind wing venation complete, veins M+Cu, Cu, r-m and 2-M spectral, with 3 hamuli. Metasoma. Clavate, 1.60 (1.53���1.67)�� length of mesosoma (Figs 17A, B); T1 and T2 narrow, glabrous; ovipositor 8.1 (6.3���9.5) mm. MALE. Unknown. Etymology. This species is named after the Frederick Parkhurst Dodd, entomologist and collector. Distribution. This species is known from two widely separated localities in Queensland (Fig. 58). Biology. Nothing is known of the biology of this species. Comments. Although A. doddi keys out with A. quickei sp., the two species are readily separated by the characters in the key. Aulacus doddi is readily distinguished from all other Australian species by the distinctive cream band dorso-laterally on metasomal T2 (Figs 17A, B). The specimen from Brisbane, Queensland, has somewhat smaller eyes (about 15% less in length) when compared with the specimens from Kuranda, Queensland. This difference is possibly intra-specific variation but as further specimens are collected, it may prove to belong to a separate species. Also, the various cream coloured areas of the Brisbane specimen are distinctly cream whereas this colouration has darkened in the other specimens. This is probably an artifact, possibly due to the age of the specimens.
Published as part of Jennings, John T., Parslow, Ben A. & Austin, Andrew D., 2018, Systematics of the parasitoid wasp genus Aulacus Jurine (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Aulacidae) from Australia, pp. 1-113 in Zootaxa 4538 (1) on pages 35-37, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4538.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3771367