Description of Adults, Preimaginal Phases, and the Venom Apparatus of a New Species of Aspilota Förster from Spain (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Description of adults, preimaginal phases, and the venom apparatus of a new species of Aspilota Förster from Spain (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Zoological Studies 47(3): 247-257. The adults, egg, preimaginal stages, and venom apparatus of Aspilota propeminimam sp. nov. are described and compared with those of allied species. The new species is an endoparasitoid and was reared from sarcophagid flies, Sarcophaga carnaria (Linnaeus), that had infested a rat carcass in Spain. Morphological structures of potential phylogenetic value are discussed, and a key for the discrimination of the imagines is provided. Additionally, the different phases and preimaginal stages of the Alysiinae are described and characterized; the following characters that define the mature larvae of Aspilota Förster and some of its closest genera (e.g., Dinotrema Förster and Eudinostigma Tobias) are provided: (a) tegument smooth, (b) epistoma and epistomal arch complete, (c) mandibles straight and thorn-shaped, (d) mandibular blade without teeth, (e) labial sclerite completely reduced, (f) only mandibles and palpi present and clearly differentiated, (g) all cephalic structures non-sclerotized, except for epistoma, hypostoma, and mandibles, and (h) spiracles with differentiated atrium and closing apparatus; closing apparatus not close to atrium.