The Wharton Lab

Physotarsus niveus Zhaurova, 2009: 9-10, 42-43. Holotype female, AEIC.

Lateral ocelli separated by about 0.6X their widest diameter from each other and about 2.0X their widest diameter from eye margin. Antenna with 24-27 flagellomeres. Pronotum and mesoscutum shiny, impunctate. T1 about 2.2X as long as broad. Anterior margin of clypeus white, rest of clypeus, head and mesosoma orange except anteromedian 0.6 of propodeum brown, rest white. Metasoma with T1 white anteriorly, brown posteriorly; rest of tergites brown with narrow, white apical margins. Hind leg dark brown to black except coa posteriorly and ventrally, most of femur, and part of tibia white. Fore wing hyaline, apex weakly infumate.

Physotarsus niveus is similar to several other smooth-bodied species that have hyaline wings with an infumate apical spot, most notably P. eliethi Gauld, P. glabellus Zhaurova, P. jamesi Zhaurova, P. leucohypopygus Zhaurova, and P. oculatus Zhaurova. As in P. leucohypopygus and P. oculatus the hind femur on the outer or anterior face is entirely or almost entirely dark brown to black in P. niveus but unlike the other two species, the hind femur is extensively white on the posterior face. The ocellar field is dark brown in P. oculatus but the head above is completely orange in P. leucohypopygus and P. niveus. The propodeum is entirely orange in P. leucohypopygus but dark brown anteriorly and white posteriorly in P. niveus.

Known only from southwestern Brazil.

Hosts unknown.

Material Examined. Holotype female (AEIC, Type No. 3858): [BRAZIL, Saõ Paulo] first line of data label: “S.J. Barreiro,” second line: “Serra da Bocâina,” third line: “Braz. 1650m, XI-68” fourth line: “Alvarenga&Seabra”. Paratypes: BRAZIL, 1 female, same data as holotype except xi.1969 (AEIC), 1 male, [Rio de Janeiro?] Guan., Floresta da Tijuca, iv.1969 (Alvarenga & Seabra) (AEIC), 1 male, Minas Gerais, Serra do Caraça, S. Barbara, 1600 m, iv.1969 (FM Oliveira) (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.