Description of a new species of the genus Monelata Förster, 1856 from China (Hymenoptera, Diapriidae)

Abstract A new species of the genus Monelata Förster, 1856, Monelata truncata sp. n., is described and illustrated from Yunnan Province, China. This is the third Oriental species assigned to this genus. A key to Oriental species of the genus is provided.


Introduction
Monelata Förster, 1856 belongs to the tribe Diapriini of the subfamily Diapriinae (Hymenoptera, Diapriidae). Currently the genus includes sixteen species, of which nine are found in the Palearctic Region, one in the Palearctic and Nearctic Regions, two each in the Nearctic, Afrotropical and Oriental Regions (Johnson 1992;Masner and Garcia 2002;Rajmohana 2006). Little is known of their biology, but it is thought that they are probably parasitizing some Diptera (Masner and Garcia 2002).
In the Oriental Region, Huggert (1982) found one new female species in India, Monelata incisipennis Huggert, 1982. Rajmohana andNarendran (2000) reported the second new species, also from India, M. completa Rajmohana &Narendran, 2000. Liu andXu (2012) founded the males of M. incisipennis Huggert, 1982 from China. In this paper, one new species from Yunnan Province, China is described, M. truncata sp. n.. A key to the Oriental species of this genus is provided.

Materials and methods
Specimens were examined under a Leica MZ12.5 stereomicroscope. All photos were taken with a digital camera (Cool SNAP) attached to the Zeiss Stemi 2000-CS stereomicroscope and processed by using Image-Pro Plus software. Some holotypes of Monelata deposited in the Natural History Museum, London, UK (BMNH) were checked for this study.
Color. Head black. Antenna dark brown, with A13 black. Mesosoma and metasoma black. Petiole and legs brown. Fore and hind wings hyaline, with veins brown.
Mesosoma. Mesosoma as wide as head. Cervix densely hairy, dense pronotal and propleural cushions confluent into complete hairy collar ventrally and dorsally. Mesoscutum smooth, with three pairs of setae. Scutellar disc slightly converging posteriorly. Mesopleuron smooth. Metanotum with a median keel. Metapleuron covered with long hairs. Propodeum elongate, with a distinct median keel, pointed anteriorly. Posterior margin of propodeum excavate. Fore wing elongate, distinctly longer than mesosoma and metasoma; apical margin truncate (Fig. 3); apical margin with long fringes, 1/3 of wing width. Hind wing narrow, with fringes distinctly longer than wing width. Legs long and slender.
Metasoma. Petiole cylindrical, 1.5 times as long as wide. Petiole covered by dense, translucent, elongate setae. T2 enlarged, cover 0.8 length of gaster, 1.7 times as long as wide.
Distribution. China (Yunnan). Etymology. The species name "truncata" is based on the truncate apical margin of fore wing.
Remarks. This is the third species of the genus Monelata in the Oriental Region, but it can be separated from the other two Oriental species, M. incisipennis Huggert and M. completa Rajmohana & Narendran by the following characteristics: fore wing with apical margin truncate (deeply incised in M. incisipennis, and round in M. completa); head in dorsal view distinctly transverse (nearly as long as wide in the latter two); and mesosoma black (reddish-brown to brown in the latter two).
According to the key and figure of Nixon (1980), M. solida (Thomson, 1858) in the Palearctic Region is "forewing faintly to hardly emarginate at apex", the new species is similar to M. solida. But after we checked the holotype of M. solida (Holotype ♀, BMNH No. 9.688) in London, the apical margin of fore wing of M. solida is round as M. completa. The new species also can be separated from M. solida by head in dorsal view distinctly transverse (slightly wider than long in M. solida); female A7-A12 slightly wider than long, or as wide as long (distinctly wider than long in M. solida); A12 1.67 times as long as wide (2.27 times in M. solida).