Ooencyrtus iranicus Hayat & Mehrnejad

Hayat, Mohammad & Mehrnejad, M. Reza, 2016, Ooencyrtus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), egg parasitoids of the pistachio green stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in Iran, Zootaxa 4117 (2), pp. 198-210 : 204-206

Ooencyrtus iranicus Hayat & Mehrnejad , sp. nov.

( Figs 17–32 )

Female. Holotype. Length, 1.01 mm (0.81–1.04 mm, n = 8; 1 female on slide, 1.15 mm). Body, in dorsal view, Fig. 17 . Head nearly black; frontovertex with some coppery and bluish shine; inter-torular area and from below toruli to mouth margin bluish; malar space violet. Antenna with radicle dark brown; scape largely white with brown to dark brown in about dorsal half medially; pedicel brown in basal half, white in apical half; F1–F6 yellow, all segments in about basal third (F1) to basal fifth (F6) brown; clava yellowish brown. Mesosoma dark brown; mesoscutum with some bluish shine laterally; scutellum dark coppery, with sides and smooth apex light bluish; tegula dark brown; mesopleuron bronzy violet. Wings hyaline; fore wing with dark brown infuscation around distal veins, obscuring limits of marginal, postmarginal and stigmal veins, but in wings with light infuscation around distal venation the limits of these veins clearly seen (as in Fig 23 ); discal setae in about basal half largely translucent. Legs, including fore coxae, yellowish white; mid coxa with about basal half of ventral surface brownish; hind coxa brown to dark brown. Gaster black; TI with bluish shine, and in some specimens with a brownish-yellow spot antero-laterally; third valvula dark brown.

Head. Occipital margin sharp; head, in dorsal view, 4.33× as broad as frontovertex width, or frontovertex width 0.23× head width ( Fig. 18 ) [paratype, on slide, 0.27× head width, Fig. 19 .]; ocellar triangle with apical angle a right angle; head, in frontal view, 1.22× as broad as high; eye height 1.87× malar space; frontovertex with raised polygonal reticulate sculpture, the cells small; sculpture on face finely elongate-reticulate, and on malar space lineolate-reticulate; setae white; eye apparently bare. Mandible as in Fig. 20 . Antenna ( Fig. 21 ) with pedicel plus flagellum equal in length to head width; scape at least 6× as long as broad; funicle segments all longer than broad, F3–F5 each about 2× as long as broad, F1, F2 and F6 clearly less than 2× as long as broad, the segments gradually but distinctly increasing in width distally; clava slightly shorter than F4–F6 combined. Relative measurements (holotype, card): head dorsal width, 39; frontovertex width, 9; head frontal height, 32; eye height, 22.5; malar space, 12; pedicel plus flagellum length, 39.

Mesosoma ( Fig. 17 ). Mesoscutum with hardly raised, polygonal reticulate sculpture; scutellum with raised reticulate sculpture, polygonal in about anterior third, slightly elongate-reticulate posteriorly, but sculpture becoming fine in posterior fourth; sides with elongate- reticulate sculpture; posterior fifth smooth ( Fig. 24 ); sculpture on scutellum deeper than on mesoscutum; setae on collar of pronotum, mesoscutum and scutellum white; scutellum with apical setae pale brown; sides of propodeum distal to spiracles with silvery white setae. Fore wing 2.33× as long as broad; marginal vein punctiform; postmarginal vein at least as long as marginal vein; stigmal vein thin ( Fig. 23 ); an oblique bare area present below parastigma, indicated by an arrow in Fig. 22 . Mid tibia 2.92× as long as mid basitarsus; mid tibial spur 0.75× mid basitarsus length. Relative measurements (holotype, card): mesosoma length, 38; mesoscutum length (width), 18 (34); scutellum length (width), 17 (20). Paratype, slide: fore wing length (width), 111 (47.5); mid tibia length, 41; mid basitarsus length, 14; mid tibial spur length, 10.5.

Metasoma slightly shorter than mesosoma (31:38); TVII as in Fig. 25 ; ovipositor as in Fig. 26 ; hypopygium as in Fig. 27 . Relative measurements (paratype, slide): TVII length, 27; ovipositor length, 41; third valvula length, 7.5. [Ovipositor equal in length to mid tibia; third valvula shorter than both mid basitarsus and mid tibial spur, 7.5:14:10.5.]

Male. Length, 0.75–0.96 mm (n = 8). Body, in lateral view, Fig. 28 . Similar to female except as follows:

Head. Frontovertex bluish in ocellar area, but laterally and anteriorly purple; face, including scrobes and intertorular area, greenish blue, behind eye purple. Antenna with radicle dark brown, rest pale yellow; scape whitish yellow, brownish in about apical third to two-fifths in upper two-thirds; pedicel brownish, apically pale yellow; clava in about distal half yellowish brown. Mesosoma with mesoscutum dull green with purple; scutellum coppery medially, sides and apex green. Leg colour same as for female, but mid coxa either completely pale yellow or faintly brownish ventrally; hind coxa on outer and ventral surfaces brown in about basal half.

Head, in dorsal view ( Fig. 29 ), with frontovertex width 0.37× head width; head, in frontal view, 1.23× as broad as high [on slide, 1.29× as broad as high, Fig. 30 .]; eye height 1.58× malar space. Antenna as in Fig. 31 .

Genitalia ( Fig. 32 ) with phallobase longer than mid basitarsus (18:12).

Variation. There is hardly any variation in the specimens examined, except for body size, and very minor variation in the relative dimensions of the head width and frontovertex width.

Material examined. Holotype, ♀ (on card) ( NPC, registration No. 136/11/168/3), labelled “ IRAN: [Semnan Province,] Mabad, Damghan, 5.viii.2015, Coll. MR Mehrnejad Acc. 1” and “Ex. Eggs of Brachynema germarii on Pistacia vera ”.

Paratypes. 37 ♀ (3 on slides, EH.1928, EH.1929, EH.1939), 23 ♂ (1 on slide, EH.1930), with same data as holotype. (2 ♀, 3 ♂ in NPC, registration No. 136/11/168/4; 4 ♀, 1 ♂, in BMNH; remaining paratypes in ZDAMU, registration No. HYM. CH.737).

Host. Brachynema germarii (Kolenati) ( Hemiptera : Pentatomidae ) on Pistacia vera L. ( Anacardiaceae ).

Distribution. Iran (Damghan).

Etymology. The species name is derived from the name of the country of origin of the type material.

Comments. In addition to the characters given in the key, O. iranicus sp. nov. differs from O. pistaciae sp. nov. mainly in the following characters: head width 4.33× as broad as frontovertex width; antenna with pedicel and flagellum combined about as long as head width; funicle with F3–F5 each nearly 2× as long as broad, F1, F2 and F6 clearly less than 2× as long as broad, the segments gradually but distinctly increasing in width distally. In O. pistaciae : head width 3.47× as broad as frontovertex width; antenna slender, pedicel and flagellum combined longer than head width (38:33); antenna with F1 usually slightly shorter than F2; F2–F6 each at least about 2× as long as broad, and funicle segments not appreciably widening distally.

Figures

FIGURES 17 – 21. Ooencyrtus iranicus Hayat & Mehrnejad, sp. nov., female: 17, body, dorsal view, holotype; 18, head, dorsal view, holotype; 19, head, frontal view; 20, mandibles; 21, antenna.

FIGURES 22 – 27. Ooencyrtus iranicus Hayat & Mehrnejad, sp. nov., female: 22, fore wing, basal part, arrow indicates the oblique bare area below parastigma; 23, distal venation of fore wing; 24, part of scutellum showing sculpture; 25, TV – TVII of gaster; 26, ovipositor; 27, hypopygium.

FIGURES 28 – 32. Ooencyrtus iranicus Hayat & Mehrnejad, sp. nov., male: 28, body, lateral view; 29, head, dorsal view; 30, head, frontal view; 31, antenna; 32, genitalia.