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Sceliotrachelus braunsi Brues
(Life:
Kingdom: Metazoa (animals);
Phylum: Arthropoda;
Class: Hexapoda; Order:
Hymenoptera; Superfamily:
Platygastroidea; Family:
Platygastridae; Subfamily:
Sceliotrachelinae; Genus: Sceliotrachelus)
Sceliotrachelus braunsi Brues, 1908: 13
(original description); Kieffer 1926: 606 (description); Masner 1964: 9
(description); Masner 1965: 302 (type information); Kozlov 1972: 134 (keyed);
Masner and Huggert 1989: 113, 115, 154, 182, 197 (catalogued, illustrated); Vlug
1995: 75 (catalogued, type information). Holotype ♂ in (MCZ). Type
locality: SOUTH AFRICA, Eastern Cape, Algoa Bay, Cape Colony; 10 November
1896; H. Brauns.
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Distribution
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South Africa: Eastern Cape Province.
Additional material.
SOUTH AFRICA ♀; Eastern Cape: 1♀; 1♂ Schilpad Laagte Farm, (14.7 km
229° SW Kirkwood); 33°31.104'S, 25°22.353'E; 9-16 Feb 2001; HG Robertson
and R Tourle; Pitfall; VB01-A2T-P02; Valley Bushveld (goat trashed)
[Sundays Thicket]; SAM-HYM-P030896 (SAMC) 3♀♀; 1♂ Blauwe Krans Farm,
(12.8 km 216° SW Kirkwood); 33°30.747'S, 25°24.644'E; 9-16 Feb 2001; HG
Robertson and R Tourle; Pitfall; VB01-A3T-P03; Valley Bushveld (goat
trashed) [Sundays Noorsveld]; SAM-HYM-P030894 (SAMC; OSUC) 2♀♀; idem
except for VB01-A3T-P06; SAM-HYM-P030897 (SAMC) 1♀; Blauwe Krans Farm,
(12.8km 216° SW Kirkwood); 33°30.747'S 25°24.644'E; 9-16 Feb 2001; HG
Robertson and R Tourle; Pitfall; VB01-A3N-P06; Valley Bushveld
(non-trashed) [Sundays Noorsveld]; SAM-HYM-P030898 (SAMC) 1♀;
Februarie Farm, (40.2 km 267° W Kirkwood); 33°33.124'S, 25°03.043'E;
10-17 Feb 2001; HG Robertson and R Tourle; Pitfall, VB01-R1T-P01; Valley
Bushveld (goat trashed) [Sundays Thicket]; SAM-HYM-P030899 (SAMC) 1♀;
idem except for VB01-R1T-P08; SAM-HYM-P030900 (SAMC) 1♀; Februarie
Farm, (39.9 km 268° W Kirkwood); 33°32.813'S 25°03.091'E; 10-17 Feb
2001; HG Robertson and R Tourle; Pitfall VB01-R2N-P04; Valley Bushveld
(non-trashed) [Sundays Thicket]; SAM-HYM-P030895 (SAMC) 1♂; idem
except for VB01-R2N-P05; SAM-HYM-P030901 (SAMC) 1♀; 30km S.
Steytlerville, Baviaanskloof Mtns., Wolwerkrall Farm; 33°33.88'S
24°20.95'E; 17.XI.1999; M.E. Irwin et al.; MT across dry creek; SA-08; [Gamtoos
Thicket] (CNCI) (van Noort et al. 2021). |
Diagnosis |
The shape and colour pattern of the fore wings immediately
distinguish this species from the other two species, which either have a
much more brachypterous or normal fore wing shape. The hind wing costal
margin has a thick band of black sclerotization that runs nearly the
entire length of the wing, which is absent in the other two species.
Strong genal and pronotal rugae are present, absent in the other two
species. The mesosoma is the most longitudinally compressed of the three
species with the pronotum, mesoscutum and scutellum all extremely
transverse and of equal length. Strong white setae are present on the
occiput and pronotum. The mesoscutum is posteriorly strongly raised in
lateral view; mesoscutum compressed, narrow 2.5x wider than long,
without raised carinae; pronotal shoulders taper to point; wings
slightly shortened, extending just beyond posterior margin of second
tergite, 3x longer than wide (van Noort et al. 2021). |
Etymology |
Named by Brues after the collector of the two type
specimens, Dr Hans Heinrich Justus Carl Ernst Brauns, a medical doctor
who practiced in Willomore in the Eastern Cape. The Brauns collection of
Apocrita Hymenoptera was purchased by the Transvaal Museum (now Ditsong
Museums of South Africa) for £1500 (Anonymous 2020, Biodiversity
Explorer 2020; Kock and Krόger 1972). The Brauns collection includes
over 10,600 species represented by about 70,000 specimens and
approximately 900 types (Ditsong Museums of South Africa 2018). However,
a number of the types could not be found in the collections held at
Ditsong, (Audrey Ndaba, Collections Manager, pers. comm. 2018) and their
precise whereabouts is of concern (van Noort et al. 2021). |
Biology |
Unknown. |
References |
Brues, C.T. 1908.
Hymenoptera. Fam. Scelionidae. Genera
Insectorum 80: 1-59.
Masner. L. 1964. Remarks on Sceliotrachelus
Brues and allied genera (Hymenoptera, Platygasteridae).
Psyche,
71: 8-11.
Masner L. & Huggert, L. 1989. World review and keys to
genera of the subfamily Inostemmatinae with reassignment of the taxa to the
Platygastrinae and Sceliotrachelinae (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae).
Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada,
147: 1-214.
van Noort S, Lahey Z, Talamas EJ, Austin AD, Masner L,
Polaszek A, Johnson NF 2021.
Review of Afrotropical sceliotracheline
parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae). In: Lahey Z, Talamas E (Eds)
Advances in the Systematics of Platygastroidea III. Journal of Hymenoptera
Research 87: 115222.
https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.87.73770 |
Credits
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Photographs
and map illustration © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa), or
© Elijah Talamas (Florida).
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