A new species of Ropalidia Guérin- Méneville, 1831 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Polistinae) from the southern Western Ghats, India

Ropalidia Guérin-Méneville, 1831, is one of the largest social wasp groups consisting of approximately 180 valid species which are predominantly distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World, with only a few species distributed in temperate areas in Australia and South Africa (Nguyen et al. 2006). The Indian subcontinent is rich in Ropalidia species, with 26 valid species, out of which around 10 species are endemic to the Indian subcontinent (Das & Gupta 1989; Gusenleitner 2006; Kojima et al. 2007). In the present paper a new species of Ropalidia is described, which distinctly differs from all other species of this group from the Indian subcontinent in having long, strong, paired longitudinal basal carina on propodeum running three-fourth of its length posteriorly and with wider and deeper median depression on propodeum (Image 5).

eventually will be transferred to the "National Zoological Collections" of the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata (NZC).
Colour: Black with yellow and ferruginous markings. Yellow portions: a broad band along the apical margin of clypeus, a large spot at base of mandible, inner orbit broadly below ocular sinus, interantennal space, supraclypeal area. Ferruginous markings: antenna from base to F3, pronotum almost entirely on anterior and posterior side except for some irregular black markings, tegula, fore femur at apex, fore and mid tibia and tarsi, a broad apical band on T1, a narrow apical band on T2 and S2.
Head: Head (Image 2) 1.17x as wide as long; frons, clypeus, supraclypeal area, mandible, vertex and gena with white pubescence. Clypeus convex, with small shallow sparse punctures, 1.2x as wide as long, clypeal margin pointed at apex and emarginated at base; mandible quadridentate, with large shallow sparse punctures near teeth; frons, ocular sinus and vertex with large close punctures with diameter 2.2x as interspaces; temple sparsely punctate; supra clypeal area, interantennal space and inner orbit below ocular sinus smooth; gena almost as wide as eye in profile (Image 4); OOL 1.8x POL; POL 1.3x diameter of posterior ocellus; IOL at vertex 1.29x that at clypeus; IAL 0.97x AEL; F1 0.65x as long as scape, 2.26x as long as wide; F2 1.8x as long as wide; F10 1.17x as long as wide.
Gaster (Image 6): Gastral petiole in dorsal view abruptly swollen posteriorly from point of attachment of suspensory ligaments, smooth at base, with medium punctures towards apex and lateral sides; T1 0.9x as its apical width; T2 1.1x as long as wide, 1.5x as wide as T1; T2 and S2 closely and deeply punctured.

Etymology
The species is named after our teacher Late Prof. T.C. Narendran for his significant contribution to the taxonomy of Indian insect fauna for the last 44 years.

Common name
Narendran's Paper Wasp.

Discussion
This new species comes close to the Ropalidia marginata species group based on the presence of paired longitudinal basal carina on propodeum, but strongly differs from all of the species in the R. marginata species group by the following characteristics: (i) Propodeum with more wider and deeper median depression delimited by strong carina which run posteriorly about three-fourths of propodeum (in R. marginata species group propodeum without deeper median depression and delimited by weak carina which run posteriorly up to half of propodeum); (ii) Propodeal orifice much wider (in R. marginata species group propodeal orifice is very narrow); (iii) T1 short and abruptly swollen posteriorly from the point of attachment of metasomal suspensory ligaments (in R. marginata species group T1 long and dorsal margin arising after some distance from posterior end of basal slit for reception of metasomal suspensory ligaments); and (iv) Body very small in size (less than 10mm) compared to other species of the R. marginata species group.