Aloencyrtus facetus Annecke

Prinsloo, Rd. L., 2010, On some Afrotropical species of Aloencyrtus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae): parasitoids of soft scales (Hemiptera: Coccidae), Zootaxa 2716, pp. 1-28 : 15

Aloencyrtus facetus Annecke

( Figs 18, 36, 57)

Coccidoxenus facetus Annecke 1964: 393 .

Trichomasthus facetus ; Annecke & Insley,1971: 25.

Aloencyrtus facetus ; Prinsloo 1978: 301.

Diagnosis. Aloencyrtus facetus was described and illustrated in detail by Annecke (1964). This very distinctive species is distinguished as follows:

Female. Length (including strongly protruding ovipositor): about 3.6 mm. Colour: head and body blackish; frontovertex with a weak metallic greenish tinge, face and scrobes with a somewhat dull purple sheen; mesoscutum with a green to blue-green lustre, scutellum and base of gaster with brilliant green and blue reflections. Antenna with scape and apex of pedicel yellowish-brown, otherwise largely brown. Forewing ( Fig. 18) entirely hyaline, without a cross-band of white setae beyond venation, the dark discal setae lending the wing an overall faintly infuscated appearance. Legs with all coxae and femora blackish, otherwise (including middle tibial spur) yellowish-brown to brown. Protruding part of ovipositor blackish-brown in its basal two-thirds or so, fading to yellowish apically.

Head in dorsal view 5.5x as wide as frontovertex, anterior margin of the latter slightly convex, without a median notch; Head in frontal view ( Fig. 36) with scrobes fairly deep, confluent dorsally, each with a small, shiny, circular depression at their upper limit. Frontovertex, face and genae with small, shallow, setigerous punctations, the diameter of each plainly less than that of median ocellus. Antenna ( Fig. 57) with pedicel slightly less than 0.5x as long as basal funicle segment, the latter unusually long and slender, 5.5x as long as wide; funicle segments becoming progressively shorter and broader towards club, II–V each longer than wide, VI subquadrate, as in Fig. 57; club slender, a little longer than distal two funicle segments combined.

Sculpture of mesoscutum and axillae finely cellulate-reticulate, that of scutellum much coarser, lending the integument a granular appearance anteriorly, the sides lineolate-reticulate. Forewing ( Fig. 18) slender, 2.7x as long as broad; wing disc densely and evenly setose, without a cross-band of fine, refractive setae beyond venation; marginal vein 1.3x as long as postmarginal, the latter about 0.8x length of stigmal vein.

Gaster about as long as thorax and propodeum combined, tapering to an acute apex; ovipositor long, about 2.2x as long as middle tibia; gonostyli unusually long and slender, protruding strongly, 2.3x as long as middle tibial spur.

Male. Unknown.

Remarks. Aloencyrtus facetus was originally described by Annecke (1964) from a single female specimen and no additional material has since become available. Apart from A. johani and A. claripennis this is the only other species treated here in which the forewing lacks a cross-band of fine refractive setae. On the basis of this character state, in combination with the shape of the venation and the scrobes that are characterized by two dorsal depressions, A. facetus may ultimately, as in the case of A. claripennis , be better placed in Trichomasthus . Aloencyrtus facetus is otherwise readily separated from its congeners by the distinctive shape of the antenna in which the basal funicle segment is 5.5x as long as wide, brilliant green scutellum and unusually long and slender, strongly protruding gonostyli, which are 2.3x as long as the middle tibial spur.

Known distribution. South Africa.

Type material examined. ♀ holotype with the following data: SOUTH AFRICA: Natal (now KwaZulu- Natal): Ndumu Game Reserve, ix. 1961, D.P. Annecke, ex. Ceroplastes ? longicauda Brain on Grewia caffra ( T 704).