Psyllaephagus ufens Noyes & Hanson, 1996

Noyes, John Stuart, 2023, ENCYRTIDAE OF COSTA RICA (HYMENOPTERA: CHALCIDOIDEA), 4 Subfamily Encyrtinae: tribes Arrhenophagini, Habrolepidini, Cerapterocerini, Cheiloneurini, Trechnitini, Cercobelini, Polaszekiini, Protyndarichoidini, Gahaniellini and Syrphophagini (part), mainly primary parasitoids and hyperparasitoids of Coccoidea and Psylloidea (Hemiptera), Taxonomic Monographs on Neotropical Hymenoptera (Oxford, England) 2 (11), pp. 1-921 : 583-584

Psyllaephagus ufens Noyes & Hanson

(Figs 1513-1518; Hab. E 223, G 224)

Psyllaephagus ufens Noyes & Hanson, 1996 :126,127,128-129. Holotype E, Costa Rica, NHMUK, examined.

Female (length about 1.5-2.2mm): head generally black with a slight purplish and brassy sheen; scape yellow and conspicuously paler than brown flagellum; mesoscutum black with weak blue and purple reflections, scutellum dark purple brown and coppery, apex and side metallic blue-green; tegula dark brown; all femora dark brown; all tibiae yellow with a faint subbasal ring, stronger on hind tibia; head about 2.5X as wide as frontovertex or mouth opening; frontovertex with piliferous punctures shallow and indistinct, hardly larger than eye facet; ocelli forming a slightly obtuse angle, posterior ocellus closer to eye than occipital margin; scrobes shallow, separated from anterior ocellus by at least about 2X length of torulus; antenna (Fig. 1513) with scape about 4.5X as long as broad, slightly shorter than frontovertex width; antenna with pedicel about as long as F1, funicle with F1-F5 longer than broad, F6 transverse, linear sensilla on all segments; clava with segments subequal in length, apex rounded; clypeal margin slightly convex, clearly protuberant, mandible with one tooth and a concave truncation, very nearly tridentate; mesoscutum and scutellum with fine, polygonally reticulate sculpture, slightly deeper and more longitudinally elongate on scutellum; scutellum convex; fore wing (Fig. 1514) about 2.3X as long as broad, marginal vein (Fig. 1516) punctiform; costal cell with two lines of setae dorsally for about half its length, linea calva partially closed by 1 or 2 setae; Gt3 without a distinct, strongly reticulate area anteromedially; hypopygium Fig. 1515; ovipositor (Fig. 1518) slightly longer than mid tibia, not exserted, second valvifer with 7 or 8 subapical setae. Male (length about 1.8mm): antenna with scape yellowish and clearly paler than flagellum; legs mostly yellowish; F1 at least 2X as long as broad; frontovertex slightly less than half head width; sculpture on scutellum slightly deeper than that on mesoscutum.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica ( Noyes & Hanson, 1996).

HOSTS. Unknown, but reared from triozid galls (almost certainly Trichochermes magna (Laing)) ( Hemiptera : Triozidae ) on Pseudolmedia oxyphillarya Donn.Sm. ( Rosales : Moraceae ) ( Noyes & Hanson, 1996).

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, San José, Zurqui de Moravia , 1600m, i-ii.1992 (P. Hanson) . Paratypes: COSTA RICA, 1E, Cartago, Turrialba, CATIE, Reventazon , 550m, 4.ix.1985 (L. Masner); 3E, 1G , Puntarenas, Monteverde , Pseudolmedia oxyphillarya , vii.1994 (D. Briceño) . Holotype in NHMUK, paratypes in INBio, NHMUK and CNC .

Non type material. COSTA RICA, 7E, 1G, Guanacaste, Cacao (ACG), 1100 m, MT/YPT, 26.i-24. ii.1996 (J.S. Noyes); COSTA RICA , 015 AA 20431, no other data. Material in MZUCR and NHMUK.

COMMENTS. In many respects, Psyllaephagus ufens is similar to thonis and alexion (see comments under thonis , p. 598 and alexion , p. 599). Females differ from those of the other two species by having a largely yellow or pale orange scape, the posterior ocellus nearer to the eye than to the occipital margin, the head only about 2.5X as wide as the mouth and an almost complete second line of dorsal setae on the costal cell. In thonis and alexion the scape is mostly dark brown, the posterior ocellus is equidistant from the eye and occipital margin; the head is at least 3X as wide as the mouth and there is only a single line of dorsal setae on the costal cell.

Psyllaephagus ufens is also very similar to creusa in general habitus, both species being of a similar size and colouration. Apart from the differences given in the key, females of ufens differs from those of creusa in having much smaller piliferous punctures on the frontovertex that are hardly wider than the diameter of an eye facet, the head about 2.5X as wide as the mouth, the ovipositor is longer than the mid tibia and the costal cell of the fore wing has a nearly complete second line of setae dorsally. In creusa the piliferous punctures on the frontovertex are subequal in size to an ocellus, the head is nearly 3X as wide as the mouth, the ovipositor is shorter than the mid tibia and the costal cell of the fore wing has only one line of setae dorsally.