Alessandro Marletta

Remarks on the genus Raptrix Terra 1995 (Mantodea, Acontiothespinae) with a description of two new species

Abstract The species of the genus Raptrix Terra are revised. Of the 3 known species, only R. perspicua (F.) is recognized as valid. A. westwoodi Saussure & Zehntner, previously treated as synonym of R. perspicua, is returned to species status. R. occidentalis and R. intermedia are new species. As regards their specific differentiation, a parapatric speciation mechanism is supposed.

The chorion of eggs in a Namibian Ariadna species (Araneae: Segestriidae): morphological and SEM analyses

Abstract Morphological and SEM analyses were carried out on the chorion of freshly laid eggs, eggs at different time intervals after oviposition and after hatching of a Namibian segestriid spider Ariadna sp. The eggs laid in the laboratory are held together by a milky-white mucous secretion that gradually decreases until it almost entirely disappears. The eggs are spherical/ellipsoid in shape and, only after the reduction of the secretion, are granular structures of the exochorion evident. Granules are arranged in a single layer and lie on a compact endochorion covering the thin vitelline membrane. No significant difference was found in the chorion of hatched eggs compared to eggs a few hours after oviposition.

Discovery of the first species of Dryinus Latreille (Hymenoptera: Dryinidae) from Burmese amber

Dryinus maderai sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Dryinidae) is described from Upper Cretaceous Lower Cenomanian, Burmese amber (Myanmar). It is the first species of Dryinus Latreille found in this amber.

A new species of the genus Gonatopus Ljungh from the USA (Hymenoptera, Dryinidae)

Abstract A new species of Gonatopus Ljungh, 1810 is described from the USA, Florida: G. jacki sp. n. Morphologically, the new species is similar to G. ashmeadi Kieffer, 1905 and G. agropyrus Fenton, 1921, but it is distinguished by the different shape of the mesoscutum (very slender in G. jacki; broader in G. ashmeadi and G. agropyrus). Published identification keys to the Nearctic species of Gonatopus are modified to include the new species.

Description of the first species of Gonadryinus Olmi (Hymenoptera, Dryinidae) from the Afrotropical region

Gonadryinus bicarinatus Olmi, Marletta, Guglielmino & Speranza, sp. nov., from Ranomafana National Park (Fianarantsoa Province, Madagascar) is described and illustrated. This represents the first record of Gonadryinus from the Afrotropical region. The genus was previously known only from the Neotropical region, where only one species, G. hansoni Olmi, 1991, is recorded. The new taxon is different from G. hansoni because of the palpal formula 5/3 (4/2 in G. hansoni), the occipital carina complete (incomplete in G. hansoni) and two longitudinal keels present on the dorsal surface of the metapectal-propodeal complex (no longitudinal keels in G. hansoni).

Protosclerogibba australis gen. et sp. nov., new genus and species of sclerogibbid wasps (Hymenoptera: Sclerogibbidae) from South Africa.

Protosclerogibba australis Olmi, Marletta, Guglielmino & Speranza, gen. et sp. nov. is described and illustrated from specimens collected in Kimberley (Northern Cape Province, South Africa). The female of the new taxon is the first micropterous sclerogibbid. Females of other extant Sclerogibbidae are always apterous, whereas fossil females can be apterous or macropterous.

Description of the first species of Fiorianteon Olmi (Hymenoptera, Dryinidae) from the Afrotropical region

Abstract Fiorianteon sulcatum sp. n. is described from Fianarantsoa Province (Madagascar). It is the first species of Fiorianteon found in the Afrotropical region. The genus Fiorianteon can be distinguished from the closely related genus Conganteon by the distal part of the stigmal vein, which is as long as, or shorter than the proximal part of the stigmal vein (longer than the proximal part of the vein in Conganteon).