The Wharton Lab

Physotarsus foveatus Zhaurova, 2009: 9-10, 26-28. Holotype female in AEIC.

Lateral ocelli separated by about 1.8X their widest diameter from each other and about 2.0X their widest diameter from eye margin. Antenna with 29–33 flagellomeres. Pronotum sparsely punctate on anterior and posterior margins, densely punctate to rugose medially. Mesoscutum densely punctate over its entire surface. T1 about twice as long as broad. Head yellow with wide, black, median stripe usually originating at upper half of clypeus and extending to occiput; occiput black. Mesosoma almost entirely black with some yellow on mesoscutum. Metasomal tergites largely black with yellow apical trim; cerci dark. Hind femur orange, tibia and tarsomeres black. Fore wing entirely hyaline.

This is one of several species of Physotarsus with a black and yellow mesosoma, a distinctly punctate mesopleuron, and a completely hyaline wing. It differs from all but P. melotarsus Zhaurova and P. tonicus Zhaurova in having the entire mesoscutum deeply punctate. The face is completely yellow in P. melotarsus and partially to completely black medially in P. foveatus and P. tonicus The fore and mid femora are extensively dark brown to black in P. tonicus and yellow to orange in P. foveatus.

USA: Arizona and MEXICO: Nuevo Leon.

Hosts unknown.

Material Examined. Holotype female (AEIC, Type No. 3853): [USA, Arizona] first line of data label: “Portal, Arizona” second line: “Sept. 18, 1987” third line: “H. & M. Townes”. Paratypes: 10 females, same data as holotype except dates ranging 14.viii–3.ix.1974 & 13.ix.1987 (AEIC, TAMU); 1 female, MEXICO, Nuevo Leon, 5mi. S. Monterrey, 3.ix.1958 (HF Howden) (CNC).

This species page was assembled by Bob Wharton and Kira Zhaurova as part of a revision of the genus Physotarsus (Zhaurova and Wharton 2009). We thank the following curators and collections managers for extended loans of the material used for this revision as well as information on collections in their care: David Wahl (AEIC), Ian Gauld & Gavin Broad (BMNH) and Andrew Bennett (CNCI). We are particularly grateful Matt Yoder for the electronic interface and to Heather Cummins and Mika Cameron for assistance with literature and figures. We would also like to acknowledge the kind assistance of Ian Gauld, David Wahl, Andrew Bennett, and Gavin Broad for information exchange about ichneumonids during the course of this work. Our use of PURLs (http://purl.oclc.org) for the web interface follows the example of their use in publications by Norm Johnson. The work was conducted at Texas A&M University and supported by NSF/PEET grant no. DEB 0328922 and associated REU supplement # 0723663. Page last updated October 2010.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number DEB 0328922 with REU supplement DEB 0723663.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.