Therion fidalgoi n. sp. is described from the Sierras de Cordoba in the upland subtropical thorn scrub of northwest Argentina. It differs from other South American Therion because of its strongly elevated, bilobed ocellar area, bidentate mandible, and unpectinate tarsal claws.Therion fidalgoi n. sp. habita en el Chaco Serrano de las Sierras de Cordoba en el noroeste subtropical de la Argentina. Se diferencia de las otras especies sudamericanas de su genero por tener el area ocelar del vértice muy elevada, abultada y bilobulada, la mandibula con dos dientes apicales, y las unas

tarsales no pectinadas

Porter, Charles C.

English

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INSECTA MUNDI, Vol. 16, No. 1-3, March-September, 2002  77 A new species of Therion from the Sierras de Cordoba in northwest Argentina (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Anomalinae) Charles C. Porter Florida State Collection of Arthropods Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services P. O.  Box 147100 Gainesville, FL 32614,7100 Abstract: Therion fidalgo.i  n. sp.  ~s described from the Sierras de Cordoba in the upland subtropical thorn s~rub of northwest AT~entma. It  diffe~s from other South American Therion because of its strongly elevated, bIlobed ocellar area, bldentate mandIble, and unpectinate tarsal claws. Resum~n: Therion  fidalgoi  n.  sp. habita en el Chaco Serrano de las Sierras de  Cordoba en el noroeste subtropIcal ~e  ~a ATgentina. Se diferencia de las otras especies sudamericanas de su genero pOl' tener el area ocelar del vertlc.e muy elevada, abultada y bilobulada, la mandibula con dos dientes apicales, y las ufias tars  ales no pectmadas. Introduction Therion has been known from a moderate num-ber of species described from the Holarctic, north-ern Neotropic, Oriental, Ethiopian, and Australian Biogeographic Realms, but was first recorded from South America by Porter (1999), who described T. wileyi from the Bolivian puna and T.  ranti from Argentina  (Cordoba  and Mendoza  Provinces).  I now describe a third new South American species from the Sierras de Cordoba in Argentina, where it is sympatric with T.  ranti. Therion fidalgoi Porter, new species Figs. 1-2 Description: Female (Fig. 1). Color. Antenna light orange brown with black on most offirst flagellom-ere above as well as on most of scape and pedicel; head black, clear yellow on clypeus, face, on lower 0.5 offrontal orbit and narrowly on about lower 0.5 of  hind orbit as well as with a small blackish spot on each anterior tentorial pit and a  larger blackish mark beneath each antennal socket, and with man-dible dusky near base, yellow toward middle, and ferruginous grading apically into black on teeth; mesosoma black with yellow  on tegula,  axillary sclerites and all of scutellum; wings subtly tinged with brownish yellow, with venation dusky except brownish yellow on costa and pterostigma; gaster with  tergites  1-4  mostly light brownish  yellow, except for a broad black longitudinal stripe dorsally on basal 0.6 of 2nd tergite and an extensive area ventro-laterally on 4th tergite, and with tergites 5-8  mostly shining black;  fore  and mid legs  pale yellow to brownish yellow with coxae glossy black; hind leg with glossy black on coxa, trochanter black with apex briefly light brown, trochantellus glossy orange  brown,  femur  glossy orange brown with black on apical  0.5,  tibia somewhat more  dully orange  brown with  black on  apical  0.3,  tarsus yellowish brown with blackish on apical 0.2 of 1st segment, on apical 0.6 of 2nd segment, on all but base and apex of  segments 3 and 4, and more lightly infuscate,  brownish,  on 5th segment.  Head and meso  soma with  long,  dense  silvery  pubescence, especially  conspicuous  on  sides  of propodeum. Length offore wing: 8.5 mm. Flagellum: short, 0.88 as long as fore wing, with 40 segments. Malar space 0.4  7 as long as basal width of  mandible. Front: with coarsely reticulate sculpture. Face: 1.4 as wide as high, 1.2 as wide at level of antennal sockets as at level of anterior tentorial pits, so that inner orbits are  gently,  convergent ventrad.  Stemmaticum: strongly raised,  swollen, with a  broad and deep median longitudinal sulcus so that in anterior view it appears divided into 2 lobes, lateral ocellus situ-ated in an excavation on outer side of each lobe very small, ocelo-ocular line: 3.2 as long as greatest diameter of lateral ocellus. Temple: 0.9 as long as eye in lateral view; in dorsal view weakly convex, not widened behind eyes; surface shining and with very coarse, dense, adjacent to reticulately conflu-ent medium sized punctures. Clypeus: 1.9 as wide as long, almost flat in profile, with some very sparse large punctures. Mandible: elongate, tapering to-ward apex, with 2 prominent apical teeth of which 78  Volume 16, No. 1-3, March-September, 2002, INSECTA MUNDI Figure  1.  Therion  fidalgoi,  female,  paratype,  La  Higuera, Argentina. Lateral view of entire insect. the lower is only 0.4 as long as the upper. Mesoscu-tum: with notauli  weak, traceable on about its basal 0.6; surface covered with large, dense, sharp, sub-adjacent to adjacent punctures. Prepectal carina: sharp  on  only  about  lower  0.3  of mesopleuron. Mesopleuron: with coarse adjacent to reticulately confluent punctures throughout except on specu-lum where the punctures are a little sparser, with distinct smooth and glossy interstices. Lower meta-pleuron:  coarsely  reticulo-punctate.  Propodeum: coarsely reticulate. Radial cell: 4.3 as long as wide. Hind femur:  6.4  as  long  as  deep.  Second hind tarsomere: 4.2 as long as deep. Tarsal claws: not pectinate. First gastric tergite: with petiole 4.7 as long as wide at apex, postpetiole 1.3 as long as wide at apex. Second gastric tergite: 6.4 as long as wide at IP apex. Ovipositor: sheathed portion 0.16 as long as fore wing. Variation. The 4 paratypes are very similar to the holotype except for minor details of color and struc-ture.  Color:  mandible  sometimes  mostly yellow, yellow band sometimes on as much as 0.7 of hind orbit and extending below into malar space, some-times with a disjunct yellow orbital line at top of eye;  pronotum sometimes yellowish on its lower front margin, sometimes with dull brownish yellow on  front margin of  mesepisternum, on mesepimeron, and weakly but extensively on mesosternum, hind trochanter sometimes largely orange brown with blackish toward base, darker staining on apical 0.5 of hind femur  sometimes  brownish rather than black, gastric tergites 1-4 in 1 specimen with dusky staining partially obscuring the brownish yellow ground  color.  Length  of fore  wing  S.0-9.0  mm. Flagellum with 43-44 segments. Malar space: 0.40-0.45  as long as basal width of mandible.  Ocelo-ocular line 2.7-3.3 as long as greatest diameter of latera ocellus.  Temple 0.S-0.9  as long  as  eye  in lateral view. Radial cell:  4.5-4.9 as long as wide. Hind femur: 6.2-6.5 as long as deep. Second hind tarsomere  4.4-4.S  as long as deep.  First gastric tergite: with petiole 4.4-4.7 as long as wide at apex, postpetiole 1.2-1.3 as long as wide at apex. Second gastric tergite:  5.S-6.5  as long as wide  at apex. Ovipositor: 0.19 as long as fore wing. Type material. Holotype, female, ARGENTINA, Sierras de C6rdoba, Dolores nr. La Cumbre, Chaco Scrub,  lOOO  m,  IS-2S-IV-2000,  P.  Fidalgo  &  C. Porter. Paratypes, 4 females.  ARGENTINA,  Sie-rras de C6rdoba, La Higuera, tall weeds at road-side, 14-IV-2000, P. Fidalgo, C. Porter. Holotype in IML,  1 paratype in IML, 2 paratypes in FSCA,  1 paratype in PORTER. Relationships. Only 2 other Therion have been described from  South America  (Porter  1999),  T. wileyi Porter from high Andean steppe (puna) in Bolivia and T.  ranti Porter, which occurs in Argen-tina with records from the Sierras de C6rdoba and from the Andean foothills of Mendoza Province. The following key summarizes the most important diagnostic features which separate these 3 species. 1.  Stemmaticum  strongly raised,  swollen,  with  a deep median longitudinal sulcus so that in front view it appears to be divided into 2 lobes (Fig. Figure  2.  Therion  fidalgoi,  female,  paratype,  La  Higuera, Argentina. Anterior view of head, showing strongly raised and bilobed ocellar area (stemmaticum). INSECTA MUNDI, Vol. 16, No. 1-3, March-September, 2002  79 I'. 2. 2);  temple with coarse and dense adjacent to reticulately confluent punctures; mandible with 2 conspicuous apical teeth, of  which the lower is 0.4  as  long  as  the  upper;  mesopleuron  with coarse, adjacent to reticulate punctation; tarsal claws not pectinate; mesosoma black  with scutel-lum bright yellow;  wings faintly tinged with brownish yellow ............. Therion fidalgoi n.sp. Stemmaticum scarcely raised above surrounding surface of vertex, neither bilobate nor sulcate; temple strongly but in large part not confluent-ly punctate; mandible unidentate(lower tooth either absent or hidden);  mesopleuron exten-sively smooth and polished with some  punc-tures and wrinkles but never completely sculp-tured; tarsal claws conspicuously pectinate on basal  0.8;  mesosoma  red  or  red  and  black, scutellum  never yellow;  wings  conspicuously infusca  te ............................................................ 2 Mesosoma mostly pale red; apex of pre  stigma and base of pterostigma bright yellow;  clypeus in lateral view with its basal 0.5 notably elevated; notauli impressed on basal 0.6 of mesoscutum ........................................... Therion ranti Porter 2'.  Mesosoma red with extensive black areas; apex of prestigma and base of pterostigma dull whit-ish; clypeus in profile weakly convex, scarcely elevated toward base; notauli faintly impressed on basal 0.3 of mesoscutum .............................. . ......................................... Therion wileyi Porter The  strongly swollen  and  bilobed  stemmaticum seems to be an autapomorphy of T. fidalgoi. Other-wise, this species is a much more "normal" Therion than T.  ranti and T.  wileyi because of its bidentate mandible and  toothless tarsal  claws, features shared with most of the North American species (Dasch 1984). Habitat notes. The type specimens were collected in full  sunlight as they flew  rather close  to the ground at the roadside among tall grass and weeds, including Senecio sp. (Compositae). Both collecting localities are in semiarid subtropical thorn scrub which  belongs  to  the  upland  or  Chaco  Serrano Province  of the  Chaco  Biogeographic  Realm  as defined by Cabrera and Willink (1973). Some gen-era  of  plants  that characterize  this  biome  are: Schinus  (Anacardiaceae);  Opuntia  (Cactaceae); Baccharis (Compositae); Acacia, Cercidium, Geof-froea, and  Prosopis (Leguminosae); Trithrinax (Pal-mae); Condalia and  Zizyphus (Rhamnaceae); Bume-lia (Sapotaceae); and Celtis (Ulmaceae). Specific name. For my friend and colleague, Dr. Patricio A.  Fidalgo, in recognition of his generous contributions to my work in Argentina and of his distinguished  research  on the  mymarid  Chalci-doidea. Collections FSCA. Florida State Collection of  Arthropods  , Flor-ida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry, P.O. Box 147100, Gainesville, Florida 32614-7100. IML.  Fundaci6n e  Instituto Miguel Lillo,  Miguel Lillo 251,4000 San  Miguel de Tucuman, Argen-tina. PORTER. Collection of Charles C. Porter, current-ly housed at the Florida State Collection  of Arthropods. Acknowledgments Dr. Patricio Fidalgo ofthe Instituto Superior de Entomologia, at the Facultad de  Ciencias Natu-rales  of the Universidad  Nacional  de  Tucuman (Argentina) arranged the field trip during which T. fidalgoi was taken and personally collected part of the type series. I  am also grateful to Drs. Lionel Stange and Mike Thomas of  the FS  CA who assisted the author in this research. Literature cited Cabrera, A.L. and A. Willink. 1973. Biogeografia de America Latina. pp.I-120. Organizaci6n de los  Estados  Americanos,  Serie  de  Biologia. Monografia 13. Washington. Dasch,  C.E.  1984.  Ichneumon-flies  of America north of Mexico.  9.  Subfamilies Theroniinae and Anomaloninae. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 36: 1-610. Porter, C.C.  1999.  First notice of Therion from South America with description  of two  new species  from  Argentina  and  Bolivia  (Hy-menoptera:  Ichneumonidae).  Insecta  Mundi 13(1-2): 85-911. 

A new species of Therion from the Sierras de Cordoba in northwest Argentina (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Anomalinae)

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