Aloencyrtus habrus, 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 : 18

Aloencyrtus habrus sp. n.

( Figs 15, 54)

Description. Female. Length: 1.5 mm. Colour: black; head, frontovertex, scrobes and interscrobal prominence with a fairly dull dark green metallic lustre, the thoracic dorsum with a dark purplish and blue tinge; sides of thorax, and propodeum, blackish-brown; gastral dorsum with strong green and purple reflections. Antenna mostly brownish-yellow, club appearing slightly darker than remainder. Forewing palely infuscated from base of linea calva to apex of venation, otherwise hyaline with a cross-band of white refractive setae beyond venation, as in Fig. 15. Legs, including middle tibial spur, blackish-brown save distal ends of middle and hind femora slightly paler and all tarsi, except tarsal tips, whitish.

Head in dorsal view 4.1x as wide as frontovertex, anterior margin of the latter gently convex, without a median notch, fronto-occipital margin acute; ocelli in an acute-angled triangle, lateral pair almost contiguous with lateral eye margins, almost 2.5x their own diameter apart, about twice their diameter from median ocellus; head in frontal view only slightly wider than high, malar space about 0.5x as long as eye; scrobes deep, narrow, converging, but clearly not confluent dorsally, with a weakly developed, barely discernible, median dorsal fovea, separated by a broad, rather flat interscrobal prominence. Antenna ( Fig. 54) with scape cylindrical, almost 6x as long as broad; pedicel 1.4x as long as basal funicle segment; funicle segments subequal in length, becoming progressively broader apically, I 1.4x as long as broad, II–IV each longer than wide, V quadrate, VI about 1.3x as wide as long; club relatively narrow, as long as distal three funicle segments combined. Frontovertex from occipital margin to upper limits of scrobes with fine reticulate sculpture, covered with small, shallow setigerous punctations, the diameter of each a little less than that of median ocellus; face below upper limits of scrobes, genae and temples devoid of any punctations, the integument appearing asetose, smooth and polished with poorly defined reticulate sculpture under low magnification in the single card-mounted specimen; eyes appearing naked.

Thorax typical of the genus, squat, distinctly convex in profile; mesoscutum strongly rounded from side to side, about 1.6x as wide as long; scutellum sloping fairly strongly downwards posteriorly, slightly wider than long; sculpture of mesoscutum and axillae finely cellulate-reticulate, the cells transversely orientated; sculpture of scutellum of much the same texture, the cells longitudinally orientated towards the sides; mesoscutum densely and evenly covered with fine, silvery-white decumbent setae, the scutellum a little less densely so. Middle leg with tibial spur slightly shorter than basal tarsal segment.

Forewing ( Fig. 15) 2.3x as long as wide; marginal vein 1.3x as long as postmarginal, the latter 0.3x length of stigmal vein; setation as illustrated, the fine refractive setae forming the white cross-band barely discernible under low magnification.

Gaster heart-shaped, a little more than half the length of propodeum and thorax combined; ovipositor not protruding caudally.

Male. Unknown.

Remarks. This new species, which is a typical member of the genus Aloencyrtus in both colour and structure, can be grouped with those species in which the wing disc is hyaline beyond the cross-band of pale setae. It is readily separated from all the other species in this group, by the deep, narrow, strongly converging scrobes that are separated above and face, which is devoid of any punctations.

Known distribution. Cameroun.

Type material examined. CAMEROUN: Santa, 15.X.1984, G. Delvare, ex Saissetia coffeae on Coffea arabica (♀ holotype; card-mounted with 1 forewing separate on a slide; in BMNH).