Metaphycus nitens (Kurdjumov)

Wang, Ying, Li, Cheng-De & Zhang, Yan-Zhou, 2014, A taxonomic study of Chinese species of the insidiosus group of Metaphycus (Hymenoptera, Encyrtidae), ZooKeys 378, pp. 49-81 : 54

Metaphycus nitens (Kurdjumov) Figs 15-21

Aphicus [sic] nitens Kurdjumov, 1912: 334. Syntypes ♀♂, Ukraine, not examined.

Anaphycus nitens (Kurdjumov); Sugonjaev 1960: 372.

Metaphycus nitens (Kurdjumov); Trjapitzin 1975: 12; Guerrieri and Noyes 2000: 159.

Female.

Body length, including ovipositor, 0.9-1.0 mm. Head black; antenna (Fig. 15) with radicle dark brown; scape brown, apically yellow; pedicel brown in proximal half, otherwise pale brown; F1-F3 brown, F4 very pale brown, F5-F6 brown-yellow, clava dark brown, becoming slightly paler toward apex; dorsum of thorax black; mesoscutum, axillae, scutellum with blue-green reflections, setae translucent pale brown; tegula white with apex black; mesopleuron yellow; prosternum and mesosternum black; legs (Figs 18-20) mainly yellow, but hind femur pale brown; fore wing (Fig. 17) hyaline, linea calva interrupted; venation brown-yellow; hind wing hyaline; propodeum black; gaster black and gonostylus pale yellow-brown.

Head about 3 × as wide as frontovertex, head with polygonally reticulate sculpture, mesh size slightly greater than size of one eye facet; frontovertex about one-third head width; ocelli forming an acute angle of about 45°; eye not quite reaching occipital margin, separated by much less than diameter of a facet; frontovertex subparallel; scrobes shallow and U-shaped; antenna with scape 4 –5× as long as broad; funicle with F1-F4 smallest, F5 a little larger than F4, F6 largest and wider than long; linear sensilla only on F5 and F6; clava 3-segmented, its apex more or less rounded but with a short, slightly oblique truncation; mandible relatively broad with three subequal, apical teeth; palpal formula 3-3 (Fig. 16), notaular lines indistinct but almost complete; fore wing venation and setation as in Fig. 17; cercal plate about in the 1/2 of gaster; ovipositor (Fig. 21) hardly exserted, about 4 × as long as gonostylus.

Relative measurements: HW 17, FV 5, FVL 11, POL 3, AOL 3.5, OOL 1, OCL 2, POD 1, AOD 1, EL 11, EW 8, MS 4, SL 9, SW 2, FWL 48, FWW 18, HWL 31, HWW 7, OL 18, GL 4, MT 17.

Male.

Very similar to female except for antenna and genitalia ( Guerrieri and Noyes 2000).

Host.

Eriococcus agropyri (Borchsenius), Eriococcus greeni Newstead, Eriococcus insignis Newstead and Eriococcus obscurus Hoy ( Noyes 2002).

Distribution.

China (Shanxi) (Fig. 85); Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Slovakia, Finland, Hungary, Moldova, Russia, Former Yugoslavia, Ukraine ( Noyes 2002).

Material examined.

China: 2 ♀♀, Shanxi, Wutai Mt., 18.VII.2006, 2500m, Coll. Y. Z. Zhang.

Diagnosis.

Body entirely black; scape (Fig. 15) brown with apex yellow; legs mainly yellow, but hind femur generally pale brown (Figs 18-20); gonostylus (Fig. 21) pale yellow-brown; antenna with scape 4 –5× as long as broad; ovipositor hardly exserted, about 4 × as long as gonostylus. According to Guerrieri and Noyes (2000), in nitens the legs are largely brown, but with the base and apex of femora, tibiae and tarsi pale brown, whereas in Chinese specimens, the legs are mainly yellow; only the hind femur pale brown (Figs 18-20).