Aloencyrtus johani, Prinsloo, 2010

Prinsloo, Rd. L., 2010, On some Afrotropical species of Aloencyrtus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae): parasitoids of soft scales (Hemiptera: Coccidae), Zootaxa 2716, pp. 1-28 : 19-20

Aloencyrtus johani sp. n.

( Figs 17, 35, 56)

Description. F emale. Length: 1.6 mm. Colour: black; front aspect of head with a dark bluish-green sheen; mesoscutum with purple and blue-green reflections, the scutellum anteriorly with a bronze lustre, otherwise brilliant metallic green; dorsum of gaster with green reflections. Antenna with scape, pedicel and funicle brownishyellow, the pedicel dorsally suffused with brown; club blackish-brown. Forewing ( Fig. 17) entirely hyaline, the discal setae pale. Fore leg with coxa and femur blackish, tibia and tarsus mostly brownish-yellow; middle and hind legs with coxae, femora and tibiae largely blackish-brown, the middle tibia fading strongly at distal end; middle tibial spur and middle and hind tarsi whitish, their tips dark.

Head in dorsal view 4x as wide as frontovertex, latter with a broad median notch formed by upper limits of scrobes; ocelli in an approximately right-angled triangle, lateral pair almost contiguous with lateral eye margins, a little more than 2x their own diameter apart; fronto-occipital margin acute; head in frontal view ( Fig. 35) 1.2x as wide as high; malar space 0.6x as long as eye; scrobes distinctly inverted V-shaped, deep, steep sided, confluent dorsally, separated by a rather flat interscrobal prominence, without a dorsal interscrobal fovea. Antenna ( Fig. 56) with scape subcylindrical, 5.5x as long as wide; pedicel 1.3x as long as basal funicle segment; funicle stout, the segments subequal in length, becoming progressively broader, I–II each slightly longer than wide, III quadrate, IV– VI wider than long (VI 1.3x); club distinctly wider than funicle, obliquely truncate apically, almost as long as the distal four funicle segments combined. Sculpture of head fairly coarsely cellulate-reticulate, the cells small, their margins raised; frontovertex from occipital margin to upper limits of scrobes with small, shallow, sparsely scattered setigerous punctations, the diameter of each plainly less than that of median ocellus; head below upper limits of scrobes devoid of any punctations; eyes appearing naked.

Thorax typical of the genus, squat, strongly convex in profile; mesoscutum strongly rounded from side to side, almost 2x as wide as long; scutellum slightly wider than long, sloping strongly downwards posteriorly; mesoscutum and axillae with fine, transversely orientated cellulate-reticulate sculpture, the scutellum much coarser, distinctly longitudinally lineolate-reticulate; mesoscutum evenly and densely covered with fine, pale decumbent setae, the scutellum less densely so. Middle leg with tibial spur as long as basal tarsal segment.

Forewing ( Fig. 17) 2.2x as long as broad; marginal vein subequal in length to postmarginal, the latter 0.4x as long as stigmal vein; setation as in Fig. 17, the disc densely and evenly setose from linea calva to apex, not interrupted by a cross-band of fine, minute refractive setae beyond the venation.

Gaster heart-shaped, plainly shorter than thorax; ovipositor distinctly shorter than gaster, 0.6x as long as middle tibia, the gonostyli short, broadly triangular in shape, 0.3x the length of middle tibial spur, not protruding caudally.

Male. Unknown.

Known distribution. South Africa.

Remarks. This new species resembles many of its congeners closely in important generic features regarded as being characteristic of Aloencyrtus , including general habitus and colour, the distinct V-shaped scrobes, lineolatereticulate sculpture of the scutellum, short postmarginal vein and broad angle between the latter and the stigmal vein, to name but some. On the other hand, A. johani differs from all these species in that it lacks the characteristic cross-band of fine refractive setae on the forewing, the disc being uniformly covered with normally developed discal setae from linea calva to apex of wing. However, based on overall similarity A. johani is undoubtedly more closely allied to these “typical” species than to A. claripennis and A. facetus , the only other species treated here that lack a cross-band of fine setae on the wing.

Aloencyrtus johani is named for Johan, my younger son.

Type material examined. ♀ holotype, 3 ♀ paratypes as follows: SOUTH AFRICA: KwaZulu-Natal: Bhanga Nek, Kosi Bay, ii.1990, I. Millar, ex. Parasaissetia nigra on Bridelia cathartica (Holotype, 2 ♀; HYMT 06980); Oribi Gorge, i.1972, H.P. Insley, ex. P. nigra on Popowia caffra (1 ♀; T 4156).