Ooencyrtus notialis Hayat

Hayat, Mohammad & Veenakumari, Kamalanathan, 2015, Description of four new species of brachypterous Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from India, Zootaxa 3990 (2), pp. 259-271 : 268-270

4. Ooencyrtus notialis Hayat , sp. nov.

( Figs 24–31 )

Female. Holotype. Length, 0.74 mm. Body completely dark brown to nearly black, hardly shiny. Antenna with radicle brown; scape pale yellow; pedicel yellow, dorsally brown; funicle pale brownish yellow; clava dark brown. Mesosoma with mesoscutum with faint violet shine. Fore wing rudiment infuscate ( Fig. 27 ); hind wing rudiment hyaline, apically slightly infuscate pale brown ( Fig. 28 ). Legs, including all coxae, dark brown; fore tibia in basal half brown, distal half yellow; mid tibia largely yellow with basal third or so brown; hind femur yellowish brown; hind tibia yellow; tarsal segments 1–4 of all legs yellow, and last segment brown. Third valvula dark brown.

Head, in dorsal view, 2× as broad as long; frontovertex 0.25× head width; ocellar triangle with apical angle slightly acute; posterior ocellus very close to margin of eye, and about half the diameter of an ocellus to occipital margin; head, in frontal view ( Fig. 24 ) rounded, 1.07× as broad as high; mouth fossa 1.46× as broad as frontovertex width; antennal torulus height slightly more than torulus mouth-margin distance; eye height 1.5× malar space; frontovertex with slightly raised to fine, polygonal reticulate sculpture, and with minute, sparse setigerous punctures; face with fine, irregular, slightly transversely-elongate reticulate sculpture; malar space with longitudinally-elongate reticulate sculpture; setae on head pale brown; those on frontovertex appear hyaline in some light; eye with hyaline setae, each seta nearly as long as a facet diameter. Mandible with 3 teeth, median and dorsal teeth rounded. Maxillary palp 2-segmented; labial palp 1-segmented ( Fig. 25 ). Antenna ( Fig. 26 ) with scape at least about 6× as long as broad, and 2× as long as frontovertex width; pedicel as long as F1–F3 combined; F1–F4 each smaller than F5, and each quadrate to slightly broader than long; F6 slightly longer than F5, both quadrate; clava with apex transversely truncate, as long as F2–F6 combined. Relative measurements (holotype, slide, at 100×)—head frontal width, 29; head frontal height, 27; frontovertex width, 7.5; mouth fossa width, 11; eye height, 18; malar space, 12; antennal scape length, 15.

Mesosoma ( Fig. 29 ). Mesoscutum with slightly raised, irregular, polygonal reticulate sculpture; scutellum nearly smooth, with some very fine reticulation in about anterior half; scutellum with circular sensilla located in anterior third of scutellum; scutellum with 11 (5 + 6) setae; propodeum distal to spiracle with 4 silvery white setae. Fore wing ( Fig. 27 ) 2.23× as long as broad, and extending at most to basal half of TI of gaster; hind wing ( Fig. 28 ) 3.5× as long as broad. Mid tibia 3.62× as long as mid basitarsus; mid basitarsus 1.28× as long as mid tibial spur. Relative measurements (holotype, slide, at 400×)—mid tibia length, 102; mid basitarsus length, 27; mid tibial spur length, 21.

Metasoma 1.28× as long as mesosoma; hypopygium with a median posterior projection ( Fig. 31 ) that nearly extends to apex of gaster; second valvifer 4.25× as long as third valvula; TVII and ovipositor as in Fig. 30 . Relative measurements (holotype, slide, at 400×)—TVII length (width), measured between cercal plates, 57 (90); ovipositor length, 84; third valvula length, 16. [Ovipositor 0.82× mid tibia length; third valvula 0.59× mid basitarsus length, and 0.76× mid tibial spur length.]

Variation. The paratype is smaller in size, body length 0.68 mm. There is some slight variation in some characters. The number of setae on scutellum are 8, and only 2 setae on each side of the propodeum distal to spiracles. The ovipositor 0.95× mid tibia length and second valvifer 5× as long as third valvula. The relative lengths of third valvula, mid basitarsus and mid tibial spur are, however, about the same as in the holotype: third valvula 0.56× mid basitarsus length and 0.77× mid tibial spur length.

Male. Unknown.

Material examined. Holotype, ♀ (on slide under 5 coverslips, slide No. EH.1803), labelled “ INDIA: KARNATAKA: Chikkaballapur, Nandi Hills, 27.xii.2014 (YPT), Coll. K. Veenakumari” ( NBAIR, registration No. ICAR / NBAIR /EN.43)

Paratype: 1 ♀ (on slide under 4 coverslips, slide No. EH.1771): INDIA: TAMIL NADU: Salem, Yercaud, 23.vii.2014 (YPT), Coll. K. Veenakumari. ( ZDAMU, registration No. HYM. CH.722).

Distribution. India: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu.

Etymology. Latin, notialis = southern, because the types were collected in the southern States of India.

Comments. This new species, although brachypterous, is clearly similar to Ooencyrtus flavipes ( Timberlake 1920) (see Huang & Noyes 1994: figs 94–102) and O. daphne Huang & Noyes (1994: figs 89–93) , and belongs to a small group of Ooencyrtus species [ flavipes species-group, as inferred by Huang & Noyes 1994: p. 34]. It differs from both these species in having the head, in frontal view, almost rounded; and the number of segments of the maxillary and labial palps are 2 and 1 respectively. The number of segments in the maxillary and labial palps are 4 and 2 respectively, in O. flavipes , as given by Timberlake (1920) and 2 and 2 in O. daphne as informed by Dr. J.S. Noyes (per. comm.. 28.4.2015). The head, in frontal view, in both these species, is not rounded, but subquadratic, as is normal for the genus. For O. flavipes , see Huang & Noyes (1994: figs 94 and 95).

Figures

FIGURES 24 – 31. Ooencyrtus notialis Hayat, sp. nov. Female: holotype: 24, head, frontal view; 25, mouth region showing palps; 26, antenna; 27, fore wing; 28, hind wing; 29, mesosoma; 30, apical tergites of gaster and ovipositor; 31, hypopygium.