Tiphia bouceki Krombein 1982

Tiphia bouceki

The female of T. bouceki is one of three species with elongate tegulae and a strong median crest on the lower front above the antennae. It differs from T. hillyardi, new species, in lacking strongly yellowish wings and in having dark antenna, tegula, and legs rather than light red. The light-yellow wings with amber veins and propodeal areola strongly narrowed posteriorly separate T. bouceki from T. knutsoni, new species, which has infumated wings with light-brown veins and a propodeal areola with apical width only slightly less than basal width. The male of T. bouceki lacks a tuft of dense erect hair on the sixth abdominal sternum, which separates it from T. knutsoni. It has a median carina on the lower front as does T. hillyardi, but it differs from that species in having only the fore and mid tibiae and tarsi red and the first abdominal tergum with the subapical impressed area two punctures in width.

Tiphia bouceki occurs primarily in the Dry Zone in Sri Lanka, but it occasionally enters the Wet Zone at moderate altitudes with medium rainfall. It occurs also in the Walayar Forest of South India. Three females and one male from Vavuniya were identified as T. decrescens Walker by Turner.

ETYMOLOGY.—The species is named for Zdenek Boucek, Commonwealth Institute of Entomology, London, our valued collaborator on Ceylonese Chalcidoidea.

HOLOTYPE.—, Sri Lanka, North Central Province, Anuradhapura District, Ritigala Natural Reserve, 24–25 Feb 1979, K.V. Krombein, T. Wijesinhe, S. Siriwardane, L. Jayawickrema, V. Gunawardane (USNM Type 100264).

MALE.—Length 4.5 mm. Black, the following red: mandible except base and apex, flagellum beneath, fore and mid tibiae and tarsi; posterior margin of pronotum and apical half of tegula testaceous, the latter transparent. Vestiture cinereous with a yellowish cast on apical abdominal segments. Wings slightly infumated beyond veins, stigma dark, veins light brown.

Head 1.5 times as wide as interocular distance at anterior ocellus; mandible with a small preapical denticle; median lobe of clypeus flat, apex slightly emarginate; lower front with a median carina and subcontiguous punctures; upper front shagreened and with 2 impunctate interspaces as wide as an ocellus.

Pronotal disk with a strong sharp anterior ridge behind which are a number of short longitudinal rugulae, disk with punctures separated by about the width of a puncture except laterally where the interspaces are half the width, apical strip impunctate; lateral pronotal surface with a curved median groove, upper area with oblique lineolations, lower surface with weak oblique rugulae; notauli distinct, but median escarpment lacking, scutum subcontiguously punctate; tegula 1.6 times as long as median width; anterior half of mesopleuron with most punctures separated by the diameter of a puncture or less, posterior half with more separated punctures; marginal cell extending well beyond second submarginal; inner surface of hind tibia with a longitudinal carina; propodeal areola tricarinate, basal width 1.8 times apical width and 1.2 times the length, surface laterad of areola shagreened, submarginal carina strong, curved around spiracular area; posterior propodeal surface delicately roughened; upper and posterior areas of lateral propodeal surface closely, obliquely rugulose, lower anterior area obliquely lineolate.

First abdominal segment 1.2 times as long as wide, disk of first tergum without anterior ridge, preapical impression 2 punctures wide; third to sixth terga delicately shagreened, the third and fourth with small punctures separated by several times the diameter of a puncture, latter 2 terga more closely punctate; posterolateral process of fifth sternum low, arcuate; sixth sternum without tuft of dense erect hair.

ALLOTYPE.—, Sri Lanka, Northern Province, Vavuniya District, Vavuniya, 18 Dec 1923, G.M. Henry (London).

FEMALE.—Length 7.0 mm. Black, the following reddish: mandible except tip, flagellum beneath, apical margin of pronotum, posterior half of tegula, fore and mid tarsi. Wings light yellowish, veins amber. Vestiture white.

Head 1.5 times as wide as interocular distance at anterior ocellus; median clypeal lobe narrow, margin truncate; lower front with strong interantennal crest and coarse contiguous punctures becoming sparser on upper front but with no impunctate interspaces as wide as an ocellus.

Pronotum not ridged anteriorly, punctures coarse and subcontiguous, posterior half of disk impunctate; lateral pronotal surface with curved median groove, scattered punctures on upper area, obliquely lineolate and with a few punctures on lower area; notauli distinct and meeting complete median escarpment, disk of scutum with coarse contiguous punctures; tegula 1.7 times as long as median width, posterior half transparent; anterior half of mesopleuron contiguously punctate, posterior half with moderately dense, fine punctures, subalar patch with large punctures only; mid and hind tibiae not inflated; inner surface of hind tibia with a median ridge terminating in a flat rounded sensorium; hind basitarsus with a median groove about half as long as segment; propodeal areola tricarinate, basal width 1.4 time apical width and 0.6 times length, area laterad of areola delicately roughened, submarginal carina extending only to spiracular area; posterior propodeal surface with close minute punctures, median carina lacking; lateral surface of propodeum with close oblique rugulae on posterior and upper areas, lower anterior area finely obliquely lineolate.

Disk of first abdominal tergum with coarse subconfluent punctures laterally, impressed subapical row 1 puncture in width across middle; sides and anterior area of second tergum with coarse, confluent elongate pits; third to fifth terga with subconfluent smaller punctures and shiny interspaces; pygidium confluently punctate on basal half and without a median impunctate area, posterior half glossy.

PARATYPES.—2, 1, same data as allotype (Colombo, London); 20, same data as holotype, 1 in Malaise trap (USNM). NORTH CENTRAL PROVINCE. Polonnaruwa District: 1, Hingurakgoda, 20 Dec 1953, F. Keiser (Basel). CENTRAL PROVINCE. Kandy District: 1, Kandy, Udawattakele Sanctuary, 26–30 Jul 1978, K.V. Krombein, T. Wijesinhe, V. Kulasekare, L. Jayawickrema (USNM); 1, same locality but 1800 ft, 1–3 Sep 1980, K.V. Krombein, P.B. Karunaratne, T. Wijesinhe, L. Jayawickrema, V. Gunawardane (USNM). UVA PROVINCE. Monaragala District: 1, Angunakolapelessa, 27–28 Mar 1981, K.V. Krombein, T. Wijesinhe, L. Weeratunge (USNM). SOUTH INDIA. S. Malabar: 1, Walayar Forest, Jul 1957, P.S. Nathan (Corvallis). One female, from Pulilankulam, Vavuniya District, Jan 1913 (Colombo), is excluded from the type series because the head is lacking. Male paratypes have been deposited in the National Museums of Sri Lanka (Colombo), and one female paratype has been deposited in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.

Male paratypes are 4.3–5.3 mm long; they agree well with the holotype, except that the preapical mandibular denticle has been eroded in some specimens, and the punctation of some smaller specimens is comparatively sparser. The two female paratypes are 6.6 and 7.3 mm long and agree very well with the allotype in all essential details.