This species has previously been recorded from Queensland and Victoria (Riek 1967).

This species was previously described from Gordonvale in Queensland (Riek 1967). Riek’s (1967) treatment of this species is contradictory as the species key states that the mesoscutum is dark while the species description indicates that it is light. Girault’s (1915) original description implies that the mesoscutum is dark. Elasmus auratiscutellum has a similar colour pattern to Elasmus splendidus Girault 1912, but has the scutellum almost entirely yellow while Elasmus splendidus has the scutellum dark with yellow margins. The pedicel of Elasmus splendidus is less than half the length of the first funicular segment while that of Elasmus auratiscutellum is nearly as long as the first funicular segment. Some variation in coloration is visible among the specimens available: most specimens have the pronotum entirely dark, but two specimens have the lateral panels of the pronotum yellow.

This species was previously recorded from Broome in northern Western Australia by Naumann and Sands (1984). A specimen of this species was included by Stevens et al. (2007) among the figured examples of Eulophidae.

This species was described from Broome in northern Western Australia by Naumann and Sands (1984).

1 ♀, Barrow Island, northern sector HDD, N. Gunawardene, C. Taylor, 14–24 March 2011, sticky trap.

1 ♀, barge landing, N. Gunawardene, C. Taylor, 14–24 March 2011, suction.

From the Latin curtus, shortened, and cornu, a horn, in reference to the short antennae of this species, as well as by analogy to the similar species Elasmus brevicornis Gahan 1922.

Body length. 1.48–2.13 mm.

Coloration. Head and mesosoma blackish with green sheen, except antenna, mandibles and base of tegula cream, dorsellum translucent. Gaster primarily orange, except T1 black, T4 with or without posterolateral dark spots meeting medially, posterior part of T5 to end of gaster black or T5 with transverse dark stripe and T6 to end of gaster dark, S6 to end of gaster black. Leg 1 with base of coxa black, remainder yellow except basal infuscation on femur; legs 2 and 3 each with coxae black except distal ends yellow, trochanters yellow, femora mostly brown except proximal and distal ends yellow, tibiae and tarsi yellow.

Head. Slightly narrower than mesosoma; in dorsal view 2.0 times wider than long; in frontal view slightly (1.1 times) wider than high. Vertex and frons with dense piliferous punctures, with interspaces on frons subequal to diameter of punctures. Ocellar triangle about twice as long as wide, POL:OOL 2.3–2.5:1, OD:OOL 0.3–0.4:1, OC:OD 0.8–0.9:1. Compound eye 1.5–2.1 times as high as wide in lateral view; inner margins of compound eyes straight to slightly concave, frons minimum width 0.7 times total head width. Malar space 0.4–0.5 times eye height; lower margin of toruli 2.1–2.5 times their diameter from lower margin of face, about in line with lower margin of eyes. Each mandible with seven teeth.

Antenna (Figure 4B, C). Scape 0.5 times as long as pedicel and flagellum combined, lengths of scape and of pedicel and flagellum combined 0.6–0.7 times and 1.0–1.2 times compound eye height; pedicel 1.4–1.8 times as long as wide, 1.3 times length of funicle 1; funicle 1 subtriangular, 0.9–1.0 times as long as wide; funicle 2 and 3 each shorter than (0.8 times and 0.8–0.9 times length of, respectively) funicle 1, funicle 2 0.6–0.7 times and funicle 3 0.6 times as long as wide; clava 1.4–1.5 times as long as wide, 2.3–2.8 times as long as and 1.3 times as wide as funicle 3, clava 3 triangular.

Mesosoma (Fig. 4D, E). 1.5–1.7 times longer than wide. Mesoscutum 0.9 times as long as wide, densely covered with piliferous punctures; posterior margin of mesoscutum concave. Scutellum 0.9 times as long as wide, finely reticulate, setae absent except elongate setae at anterolateral and posterolateral corners, anterior and posterior pairs of setae of similar length, posterior setae not extending beyond apex of dorsellum. Dorsellum length 0.7 times basal width.

Wings. Hyaline. Forewing (Fig. 4F, G) 1.4–1.5 times length of head and mesosoma combined, 3.3–3.6 times as long as wide; isolated subcubital line of setae present; postmarginal vein subequal in length to stigmal vein. Hind wing 0.9 times length of forewing, 5.1 times as long as wide.

Legs. Mid femur with stout apical posterolateral seta 0.2–0.3 times length of tibia. Hind tibia with dorsal pattern of black setae demarking four diamonds anterolaterally and three diamonds posterolaterally.

Gaster. Gaster 0.8–1.1 times length of head and thorax combined, 2.1–2.3 times as long as wide, not produced; posterior margin of T6 straight.

The distinctive quadrate antennae of this species, with all funicular segments broader than long, distinguish it from most other species of Elasmus except the Asian species Elasmus brevicornis Gahan 1922 and Elasmus philippinensis Ashmead1904 and the Australian Elasmus concinnus Riek 1967. Elasmus philippinensis has a brown-black flagellum, with only the scape yellowish (Ashmead 1904). Elasmus brevicornis and Elasmus concinnus both have notably less extensive light coloration on the gaster. The gaster of Elasmus concinnus is dorsally almost entirely dark except for a light cross-band at the apex of T2 (Riek 1967), while that of Elasmus brevicornis is light dorsally at the apex of T1, T2 and sometimes T3 (Mani and Saraswat 1972; Verma et al. 2002; Yefremova and Strakhova 2010) and may sometimes be entirely dark brown to black (Verma et al. 2002). In contrast, the gaster of Elasmus curticornis is light from the apex of T1 to T4 or T5. Laterally, the gasters of Elasmus brevicornis and Elasmus concinnus are light over at most a third (Mani and Saraswat 1972; Riek 1967) while that of Elasmus curticornis is light over at least two-thirds. Also, Elasmus brevicornis has POL 1.5 times OOL (Yefremova and Strakhova 2010), as opposed to about 2.5 times in Elasmus curticornis. Elasmus concinnus has the flagellum dark above and the first claval segment distinctly shorter than the third funicle (Riek 1967); Elasmus curticornis has the flagellum more evenly pale, and the first claval segment and third funicle are subequal in length.

Elasmus ero emma was previously only known from Capella in central Queensland, but the type subspecies Elasmus ero ero has previously been recorded from Bunbury in southern Western Australia (Riek 1967). Some minor variation in colour pattern is visible in the available specimens: the specimen collected in November 2009 has the fore coxae almost entirely dark, as well as more extensive dark coloration of the dorsum of the gaster, with transverse dark stripes on the posterior margins of segments 4 on.

This species was originally described from Gordonvale in northern Queensland (Riek 1967). Specimens may vary in the degree of dark coloration on the gaster; several specimens are almost entirely dark dorsally except for the posterior margins of most segments, while remaining predominantly orange laterally.

This species has been recorded from a number of localities in eastern Queensland (Riek 1967).

This species was originally described from a number of localities in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory (Riek 1967).

This species was described from Griffith in New South Wales (Riek 1967).

This species was described from near Bourke in New South Wales. Riek (1967) described this species as having the gaster entirely dark; however, specimens from Barrow Island are reddish laterally on segments 2–5. This reddish coloration is more marked in some specimens than others, and may be little more than a reddish shading. In other features, specimens correlate with Riek’s (1967) description, and we feel confident in assigning them to Riek’s species.