Neococcidencyrtus mansua, Noyes, 2023

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 : 128-129

Neococcidencyrtus mansua sp.nov.

( Figs 294-299; Hab. E 49)

DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 0.7-1.0mm): face ( Fig. 295) without a brown band above toruli level with top of interantennal prominence; mesoscutum orange with a faint metallic sheen, lightly dusky anteriorly or generally slightly dusky; tegula pale orange, apex dusky; scutellum orange; all coxae orange, hind coxa brown proximally; fore femur and tibia mostly pale orange; mid femur mostly pale orange; hind femur mostly orange; hind tibia with a pair of dark brown bands; fore wing ( Fig. 297) with an infuscate pattern; hyaline band distad of venation with widest point a little less than 2X as wide as narrowest point; head ( Fig. 295) about 3.8-5.3X as wide as frontovertex; funicle with longitudinal sensilla on F4-F6; clava with outer suture complete and not dorsally oblique; mandible virtually tridentate, with one acute tooth and a concave, upper truncation; fore wing ( Fig. 297) about 2.4X as long as broad; linea calva entire; exserted part of ovipositor about 0.6X as long as mid tibial spur; gonostylus shorter than mid tibial spur. Male: unknown.

Female (holotype): length, including ovipositor, 1.02mm; excluding ovipositor, 0.94mm (CPD).

Head generally pale orange; frontovertex orange between posterior ocelli and top of scrobes; an inconspicuous pale brown band across top of interantennal prominence more or less reaching temple and a similar, slightly curved band across lower parts of toruli more or less delimiting orange area adjacent to mouth margin; gena with a faint, vertical pale brown line indicating position of malar sulcus; frontovertex with a few, moderately conspicuous, brown setae; a line of very inconspicuous, translucent silvery setae between eye and scrobe to position of malar sulcus; gena and interantennal prominence with only a few, scattered inconspicuous pale brown setae; maxillary palpus white with terminal segment pale orange; radicle orange, apex with an incomplete, narrow, brown ring; scape orange, ventral margin narrowly brown; pedicel pale orange, with a complete orange-brown stripe internally; F1-F3 pale orange-brown, slightly dusky internally, F4-F5 pale orange, F6 very pale orange; clava proximally dark brown, apical segments pale orange; thorax mainly orange; pronotum orange, posterior margin completely translucent, neck hardly dusky; mesoscutum orange with a faint dark blue and purple sheen and slightly dusky anteriorly, especially below posterior margin of pronotum where it has a stronger blue-green and purple sheen; tegula orange, apex slightly dusky; axilla and scutellum matt orange with weak coppery reflections, side and apex of scutellum with a weak purple and brassy sheen; setae on scutellum dark brown and conspicuous; metanotum dark brown; mesopleuron orange with a weak brassy sheen; all coxae orange, hind coxa brown proximally; fore femur orange, extreme base white, tibia and tarsus orange; mid femur very pale orange, almost white with a small, weak, dorsal, subapical orange-brown mark, mid tibial spur and tarsus very pale yellow, almost white, pretarsus slightly dusky; hind femur orange with a slightly oblique, dorsal, dark brown, subapical spot, extreme apex white, tibia with a pair of broad, dark brown bands, one at base and the other subapical, off-white between these bands, apex pale orange, tarsus white with pretarsus pale orange; fore wing ( Fig. 297) conspicuously infuscate, hyaline below proximal half of submarginal vein and with a complete, hyaline band immediately distad of apex of venation, followed by an infuscate area with apex subhyaline; hind wing hyaline; propodeum orange with a weak brassy sheen, side dark brown with a faint, metallic blue, green and purple sheen; gaster orange, with a weak brassy sheen with weak purple, blue and green reflections, Gt1 brown laterally, Gt4-Gt6 and syntergum medially dusky, outer plate of ovipositor brown; gonostylus very pale yellow.

Head about 5.3X as wide as frontovertex, in profile about 1.8X as high as deep, tangent to frontovertex forming an angle of about 90° with that of face; occipital margin acute, not carinate; a small, elongate, shiny bottomed, oval depression adjacent to eye immediately behind posterior ocellus; ocelli of normal size, forming an angle of about 45°; frontovertex ( Fig. 295) moderately shiny with shallow, polygonally reticulate sculpture of mesh size clearly smaller than eye facet; temple and gena with very shallow, longitudinally elongate, fine, polygonally reticulate sculpture; top of scrobes, interantennal prominence and mouth margin with shallow, regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture; scrobes extremely shallow, indistinct; antenna as in Fig. 294; scape very slightly broadened and flattened, about 3.6X as long as broad; funicle with F1-F3 smaller, subequal, subquadrate, F4-F6 larger, gradually increasing in size distally, subquadrate; clava about as long as F2-F6 combined, sutures parallel, outer suture complete and not dorsally oblique; sensory area small, at apex only giving it a rounded or narrowly truncate appearance; eye slightly overreaching occipital margin, virtually naked, but with sparse, very short, indistinct setae, each much shorter than diameter of facet; malar sulcus present, but incomplete and very inconspicuous; clypeal margin weakly emarginate medially. Relative measurements: HW 63, HH 54, FV 12, POL 5, OOL 0.5, OCL 5.5, AOL 7.5, EL 35, EW 34, MS 29, SL 27, SW 7.5.

Thorax with visible part of mesoscutum about 2X as broad as long; scutellum about 1.4X as broad as long with subapical setae about 0.7X its length; hind femur about 4X as long as broad; fore wing with venation and setation as in Figs 296, 297; propodeum medially about 0.05X as long as scutellum. Relative measurements: FWL 53.5, FWW 23; HWL 41, HWW 10.

Gaster with hypopygium reaching about 0.6X towards apex; last tergite about 0.7X as long as mid tibia, with apex broadly truncate; ovipositor exserted, the exserted part about 0.6X as long as mid tibial spur or about 0.2X mid tibia.

Paratype. Mandible virtually tridentate, with one acute tooth and a concave, upper truncation; funicle with linear sensilla present only on F4-F6; head, Fig. 295; hypopygium Fig. 299, ovipositor Fig. 298. Relative measurements: OL 53, GL 10.5 [MT 43].

Variation. Females vary in overall length from 0.71-1.02mm, some specimens are relatively darker than the holotype with the lower transverse band on the face very distinct and the mesoscutum partially dark brown or almost completely dusky and with a relatively strong dark blue, green and purple sheen and the head varies from about 3.8-5.3X as wide as the frontovertex.

Male. Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.

HOSTS. Unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Guanacaste, Est. Maritza ( ACG), 700m, MT/YPT, 20.i-24. ii.1996 (J.S. Noyes) . Paratypes, COSTA RICA, 5E, Guanacaste, same data as holotype; 1E , Limón, PN Cahuita, 9°43’N 82°49’W, 10m, 24.ii.2010 (J.S. Noyes) . Holotype in MZUCR, paratypes in NHMUK .

COMMENTS. Smaller darker females of Neococcidencyrtus mansua are similar to those of selogis Noyes, some specimens of mansua even having a very similar pattern of infuscation and setation of the fore wing to that of selogis. They generally differ in colour, darker females of mansua having at least most of the head, scutellum and much of the gaster pale orange, whereas in selogis the head, thoracic dorsum and gaster are dark brown and the frontovertex, and thorax are quite strongly metallic dark green and purple. Darker specimens of mansua also have the clava completely dark brown, whereas in selogis only the base and extreme apex of the clava is brown.