The Wharton Lab

Physotarsus eliethi Gauld, 1997: 198-199. Holotype female in AEIC.
Physotarsus eliethi: Yu and Horstmann 1997: 455 (catalog); Zhaurova and Wharton 2009: 9-10, 21-23 (redescription, inclusion in key to species).

Lateral ocelli separated by 0.9-1.1X their widest diameter from each other and 1.6X their widest diameter from eye margin. Antennae with 24 flagellomeres. Pronotum completely glabrous. Mesoscutum shiny, impunctate. T1 about 2.3X as long as broad. Head dark yellowish, area around ocelli brownish. Mesosoma yellowish, metasomal terga 2-8 brownish. Hind tibia brown. Fore wing hyaline, apex brownish.

Physotarsus eliethi is readily distinguished from other smooth-bordied species with pale mesosomas by the exceptionally long, narrow first flagellomere (about 10X longer than wide).

Known only from the holotype, collected in Costa Rica.

Hosts unknown.

Material Examined. Holotype: female (AEIC, Type No. 3572): COSTA RICA, Cartago Prov., Braulio Carrillo National Park, 400 m, ii.1985 (H Goulet).

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 specimen 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.