Prochiloneurus bolivari Mercet

Hayat, Mohammad, Zeya, Shahid Bin & Veenakumari, K., 2013, On some brachypterous Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from India, with description of four new species, Zootaxa 3716 (2), pp. 259-276 : 272

Prochiloneurus bolivari Mercet

( Figs 28–31 )

Prochiloneurus Bolivari Mercet, 1919: 474 –477, female, Spain, Vaciamadrid.

Prochiloneurus bolivari Mercet : Mercet, 1921: 634–637, female, redescription. Trjapitzin, 1989: 315, key, hosts, distribution. Neoprochiloneurus bolivari (Mercet) : Viggiani, 1966: 95–98.

Neoprochiloneurus fukudai Tachikawa, 1971: 45 – 48, female, male. Japan, Honshu. Synonymy by Trjapitzin, 1989: 315.

This species is newly recorded from India. It is redescribed based up on both the brachypterous and macropterous forms from India.

Female. Brachypterous. Length, 0.79 mm. Head dark brown with curved black band between toruli. Antenna with radicle brownish yellow; scape yellow with dorsal margin and ventral half brown and apical fourth white, but extreme apex dark brown; pedicel dark brown with about apical fourth white; F1–5 white, F6 and clava black ( Fig. 28 ). Mesosoma with pronotum and mesoscutum black; axilla yellowish brown; scutellum yellow with sides pale brown; tegula whitish with anterior third brown; metanotum and propodeum pale brownish yellow; mesopleuron in anterior half pale yellow, posterior half white. Fore wing with hyaline and infuscated areas as in Fig. 29 ; hind wing hyaline. Legs including coxae, white except as follows: fore femur distally pale whitish yellow and fore tibia yellow; mid femur with apex brown; hind femur brownish yellow, dorsally brown and apically dark brown; hind tibia yellow, basal half or so of dorsal surface brownish yellow and apical third whitish; mid tarsus white (other tarsi hidden in the card mounted specimen). Gaster black; TI with dark greenish to purple shine; other tergites with purple shine; exserted part of ovipositor sheaths yellow.

Head. Frontovertex width 0.23× head width; ocellar triangle with apical angle acute; POL:OOL:OCL = 3:0.5:4; head in frontal view, slightly higher than width (29:26); malar space 0.55× eye height; head with very fine reticulate sculpture which appears granular; frontovertex, face and malar space with short, silvery white setae, but with brown setae between occipital margin and posterior ocelli. Antenna as in Fig. 28 ; scape 5× as long as broad, as long as funicle or clava.

Mesosoma. Pronotum, except long black setae along collar, mesoscutum and axillae with silvery white setae; scutellum with silvery white setae except one subapical pair and one apical pair of long, brown setae; propodeum on each lateral third with fine and long silvery white setae. Fore wing ( Fig. 29 ) 3.69× as long as broad; reduced and different in shape from the fore wing of macropterous form ( Fig. 31 ), but with all the veins present. Hind wing 6.78× as long as broad.

Metasoma. Gaster subequal in length to mesosoma (26:28); exserted part of ovipositor sheaths 0.84× gaster length.

Female. Macropterous. Length, 1.25 mm. Colour and structural details as in brachypterous specimen except as follows: frontovertex width 0.15× head width. Antenna as in Fig. 30 . Fore wing 3.15× as long as broad; width of hyaline apex 0.23× infuscated area; otherwise as in Fig. 31 . Hind wing 4.54× as long as broad. Gaster 0.72× mesosoma length; exserted part of ovipositor sheaths 0.57× gaster length.

Male. Unknown

Material examined. INDIA: KERALA: Calicut, Thattolikkara, 1 female, macropterous (with right antenna and right wings on a slide, No. EH.1624), 8.i.2012, Coll. FR Khan; Ernakulum, Kozhencherry, 1 female, brachypterous (with right antenna and right wings on a slide, No. EH.1625), 12.i.2012, Coll. FR Khan. (ZDAMU).

Comments. We initially considered the brachypterous specimen as similar to N. fukudai Tachikawa (1971) , but probably representing an undescribed species. Detailed study of the Indian specimens, the synonymy of N. fukudai with P. bolivari by Trjapitzin (1989) and comparison with a British specimen of P. bolivari (gift by Dr. J. S. Noyes to ZDAMU) finally lead us to the conclusion that the following characters of the brachypterous and the macropterous specimens from India represent an extreme variant of P. bolivari .

The brachypterous specimen from India is small in size (0.79 mm) compared to the larger size of P. fukudai which is 1.2–1.5 mm. The width of the frontovertex in our specimen is about one-fourth (0.23×) head width compared to narrow (about one-sixth) head width of P. bolivari (including P. fukudai ). The mesosoma has the axillae yellowish brown, scutellum yellow, metanotum and propodeum pale brownish yellow and mesopleuron white with anterior half pale yellow. The macropterous female has about the same colour of the mesosoma, but is larger in size (1.25 mm) and the frontovertex width is about one-sixth (0.16×) head width. Also in both the macropterous and brachypterous specimens, F1–5 are white, and F6 black as clava as in P. fukudai .

Figures

FIGURES 28 – 31. Prochiloneurus bolivari Mercet. (28, 29, brachypterous female): 28, antenna; 29, fore wing. (30, 31, macropterous female): 30, antenna; 31, fore wing.