Macroglenes yuasai (Ishii)

Mitroiu, Mircea-Dan, 2010, Revision of the Palearctic species of Macroglenes Westwood (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), Zootaxa 2563, pp. 1-34 : 30

Macroglenes yuasai (Ishii)

Pirene yuasai Ishii, 1953: 6 .

Macroglenes yuasai , comb. nov.

Diagnosis. Antenna with both F4 and F5 large, but apparently only F5 with sensilla, F4 almost as long as three preceding segments; ovipositor sheaths nearly 1/7 length of gaster. Male with eyes and scape normal.

Material examined. Unfortunately, despite all efforts, the original specimens of M. yuasai could not be located in any Japanese institution. According to Dr. Kaoru Maetô they might be in National Agricultural Research Centre, Tsukuba, but in order to be found the entire collection would have to be searched, which was not possible at this time.

Comments. From Ishii’s quite detailed description, but with very few useful characters (see diagnosis above) ( Ishii 1953), the species looks closest to M. penetrans / M. conjungens / M. gibsoni / M. noyesi group of species, having both F4 and F5 large. From Ishii’s drawings it seems that F4 is not provided with sensilla, which is unlikely considering the large size of the segment that is clearly not anelliform. Observations of other species of the genus show that, if carefully examined, all the antennal segments larger than the anelliform ones have at least one sensillum. The fact that the male has normal eyes indicates that from the above group of species M. yuasai is closest to M. conjungens Graham and M. noyesi sp. nov. Ishii stated that “this species may be Pirene chalybea HALIDY” [p. 7]. This is not true because males of M. chalybeus have the antennal scape greatly enlarged. Also in M. chalybeus F4 is similar to F3, not distinctly enlarged.

Distribution. Japan.

Hosts. Reared from Sitodiplosis mosellana ( Ishii 1953) . From this host only M. penetrans has been reared so far, but Ishii’s species must be a different one because he does not mention that the male has enlarged eyes.