The Wharton Lab

Physotarsus tonicus Zhaurova, 2009: 9-10, 45-47. Holotype female, AEIC.

Sexual dimorphism in facial color pattern was not observed in any other species of Physotarsus. This is Physotarsus species 3 in the analyses conducted by Zhaurova and Wharton (2009).

Lateral ocelli separated by about 1.6X their widest diameter from each other and about 1.4X their widest diameter from eye margin. Antennae with 27-31 flagellomeres. Pronotum impunctate, rugose medially and along posterior margin. Mesoscutum densely, irregularly punctate. T1 about twice as long as broad. Head mostly black in female, with most of clypeus, mandibles, and complete ocular ring yellow, male with face entirely or almost entirely yellow. Mesosoma almost entirely black, some yellow pigment sometimes present laterally on mesoscutum and propodeum. Metasomal tergites mostly black with narrow, white apical margin. Hind femur and tibia orange, coxa, trochanter, trochantellus, tarsomeres, and pretarsus black. Fore wing entirely hyaline.

Physotarsus tonicus is one of several species with a black and yellow mesosoma, a distinctly punctate mesopleuron, and a completely hyaline wing. It differs from all but P. foveatus Zhaurova and P. melotarsus 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.

This species is known only from southeastern Arizona, USA.

Hosts unknown.

Material Examined. Holotype: female (AEIC, Type No. 3860), [USA, Arizona] first line of data label: “Portal, Arizona” second line: “Sept. 12, 1987” third line: “H. & M. Townes”. Paratypes: 18 females, 40 males, same data as holotype except dates ranging 12–13.viii.1974 & 19.viii–23.ix.1987 (AEIC, TAMU); 3 females, Arizona, nr Roosevelt L, 29.iv.1947 (H&M Townes) (AEIC).

This page was assembled by Bob Wharton and Kira Zhaurova, and is part of a revision of the genus Physotarsus (Zhaurova and Wharton 2009). Material examined for this revision was borrowed from the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, the American Entomological Institute, Gainesville (AEIC), The Natural History Museum, London, the U. S. National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D. C., and INBio, Costa Rica. We are particularly grateful to David Wahl for the extended loan of the specimens listed above, as well as to 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.