Metaphycus gerardi Sugonjaev

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 : 55-56

Metaphycus gerardi Sugonjaev Figs 22-28

Metaphycus gerardi Sugonjaev, 1996: 421-422. Holotype ♀ (ZISP), Vietnam.

Female.

Body length including ovipositor about 1.4 mm. Frontovertex orange; immaculate yellow from occiput to base of mandible; mouth margin below torulus medially yellow; rest of head, except occiput, yellow; antenna (Fig. 22) with radicle yellow; scape not expanded and inner side yellow, outer face yellow but with broad black strip along the dorsal margin; pedicel dark brown in proximal half, otherwise white; F1-F4 dark brown, F5 brown in proximal half, otherwise yellow, brown area extending slightly towards apex, F6 yellow; clava dark brown, apex brown; occiput with brown area above foramen, otherwise yellow; neck of pronotum black, posterior margin brown, otherwise yellow-white, lateral spots relatively large and distinct; dorsum of thorax orange; sides and posterior margin of mesoscutum and axillae inconspicuously pale brown; setae translucent yellow, silvery in most lights; tegula mainly pale brown; metanotum orange; mesopleuron yellow; prosternum, mesosternum yellow-white; legs (Figs 25-27) mainly very pale yellow, only tarsi slightly brown-yellow; fore wing (Fig. 24) hyaline, linea calva almost uninterrupted; venation yellow-brown; hind wing hyaline; propodeum medially orange, laterally black; gaster dorsally orange, side and venter yellow; gonostylus dark brown.

Head about 4 × as wide as frontovertex, head with polygonally reticulate sculpture on frontovertex of mesh size about two-thirds size of eye facet; irregular sculpture on frontovertex of rather silky appearance; ocelli forming an acute angle of about 45°; eye reaching occipital margin; frontovertex subparallel and from anterior ocellus slightly wider anteriorly; scrobes deep and U-shaped; antenna with scape 4.0 –4.8× as long as broad; funicle with F1 smallest, F2 a little larger than F1, F6 the largest, F2-F6 becoming larger towards apex, F6 slightly wider than long; linear sensilla on F2-F6; clava 3-segmented, its apex rounded; mandible relatively broad with three subequal, apical teeth; palpal formula 3-3, notaular lines reaching about 0.6 × across mesoscutum (Fig. 23); fore wing venation and setation as in Fig. 24; cercal plate about in the 0.4 × of gaster; ovipositor (Fig. 28) strongly exserted, about 3 × as long as gonostylus.

Relative measurements: HW 21, FV 5, FVL 10, POL 3, AOL 4, OOL 0.5, OCL 2, POD 2, AOD 2, EL 13, EW 9, MS 6, SL 8, SW 2, FWL 50, FWW 17, HWL 26, HWW 5, OL 40, GL 13, MT 19.

Male.

Length about 1 mm. Dark brown in ocellar area, dark brown between occipital margin and posterior ocelli; scape mainly yellow-white, only dorsal margin of scape with brown; F1 smallest, funicle becoming gradually larger distad with F6 largest; clava solid; dorsum of thorax with black.

Host.

Ceroplastes ceriferus (Fabricius) ( Noyes 2002), Ceroplastes rubens Maskell on Ilex purpurea Hassk. (new host record), Ceroplastes rusci (Linnaeus) on Ficus microcarpa Linnaeus (new host record).

Distribution.

China (Sichuan, Yunnan) (Fig. 85); Vietnam (Thanh Hoa, Hanoi) ( Sugonjaev 1996).

Material examined.

China: 2 ♀♀, Sichuan, Panzhihua, 28.IV.2012, Coll. Y. Wang & H.B. Li; 1 ♀, Sichuan, Panzhihua, 2.V.2012, Coll. Y. Wang & H.B. Li; 1 ♀, Yunnan, Kunming, 10.V.2010, Coll. H.L. Shi; 5 ♀♀, 1♂, Yunnan, Kunming, 13.V.2010; 4 ♀♀, 1 ♂, Yunnan, Mengzi ( Min’an street), 18.IV.2013. 4 ♀♀, Yunnan, Kunming, 13.V.2013, Coll. J. Deng & X.B. Wang; 1 ♀, Hainan, Diaoluo Mt., 18°09'N, 109°53'E, 930m, 4.V.2007, Coll. Y.Z. Zhang.

Diagnosis.

Scape with outer face yellow but with black strip along dorsal margin; scape 4.0 –4.8× as long as broad; funicle with F1 smallest, F2-F6 becoming larger towards apex, F2-F6 with linear sensilla (Fig. 22); fore wing hyaline, with linea calva uninterrupted (Fig. 24); ovipositor strongly exserted, and about 2 × as long as mid tibia (Fig. 28). Metaphycus gerardi is very close to Metaphycus eruptor (Howard, 1881) in appearance. They share similar antennal structure, fore wing shape and ovipositor dimensions. Further studies may show they are synonyms.