Prochiloneurus lucetia, Noyes, 2023

Noyes, John Stuart, 2023, ENCYRTIDAE OF COSTA RICA (HYMENOPTERA: CHALCIDOIDEA), 4 Subfamily Encyrtinae: tribes Arrhenophagini, Habrolepidini, Cerapterocerini, Cheiloneurini, Trechnitini, Cercobelini, Polaszekiini, Protyndarichoidini, Gahaniellini and Syrphophagini (part), mainly primary parasitoids and hyperparasitoids of Coccoidea and Psylloidea (Hemiptera), Taxonomic Monographs on Neotropical Hymenoptera (Oxford, England) 2 (11), pp. 1-921 : 485-487

Prochiloneurus lucetia sp.nov.

(Figs 1217-1220; Hab. E 175)

DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 1.4-1.6mm): head orange, temple and gena with a dark brown streak; antenna (Fig. 1218) with F1-F5 largely pale dusky yellow, ventrally brown, F6 brown, clava dark brown; thorax (Fig. 1220) orange, anterior two-fifths or so of mesoscutum orange, posterior three-fifths dark brown with a moderately strong dark blue sheen with purple reflections and clothed with relatively dense silvery setae; mesopleuron orange; fore wing (Fig. 1219) with a group of 3 or 4 setae below proximal half of parastigma but without a group of pale setae below distal half; hyaline apex of fore wing about as wide as 1.5X length of marginal vein; fore wing with a subapical band of slightly paler setae; propodeum medially orange, laterally slightly dusky and with a weak metallic sheen around spiracle and with about 10 silvery setae surrounding spiracle; gaster largely orange-brown with a metallic sheen, but at least syntergum orange; head about 1.10X as high as broad and about 7.1X as wide as frontovertex; antennal scrobes sharply margined, carinate laterally; scape (Fig. 1218) 3.0-3.8X as long as broad, widest slightly below middle; paler parts of mesoscutum (Fig. 1220) generally with obliquely elongate, strigose sculpture, posterior, darker part with more regular, rounded, polygonally reticulate sculpture; apical scutellar tuft about 0.3X as long as scutellum; fore wing (Fig. 1217) about 2.8-2.9X as long as broad; line of setae on ventral surface of costal cell broadly interrupted above parastigma; exserted part of ovipositor about 0.4-0.5X as long as gaster. Male: unknown.

Female (holotype): length, including ovipositor, 1.50mm; excluding ovipositor, 1.29mm (CPD).

Head generally orange; temple and gena with a dark brown streak from occipital margin to scrobal margin near torulus; area between posterior ocelli brown with a fairly strong blue-green sheen, ocellar area otherwise with a similar, but weaker sheen with some weak purple reflections; vertex, near occipital margin with a weak brassy sheen and some very weak purple reflections, anterior parts of frontovertex with weak blue, green, purple and brassy reflections, more distinctly purple immediately above scrobes; area between eye and scrobe more distinctly brassy and purple; temple and gena with a weak to moderate, blue, green, brassy and purple sheen, brown streak with a metallic green and coppery sheen; interantennal prominence with a weak brassy and purple sheen; frontovertex with inconspicuous, translucent, pale brown setae along inner eye margins, these continued below eye; gena and interantennal prominence with numerous, scattered setae, those on interantennal prominence more dense; maxillary palpus pale orange, terminal segment slightly darker; antenna (Fig. 1218) with radicle proximally orange, apex dark brown; scape largely orange, apical one-third white, extreme apex dark brown, ventral margin brown for about three-quarters its length, more broadly so internally in basal one-third; pedicel slightly dusky pale yellow with a dark brown streak along internal surface; funicle with F1-F5 largely pale dusky yellow, ventrally brown, proximal segments more so; F6 brown; clava dark brown; pronotum orange with weak purple and brassy reflections, posterior margin translucent; propleuron and prosternum orange; anterior two-fifths or so of mesoscutum coloured as pronotum and with relatively sparse golden brown setae, posterior three-fifths dark brown with a moderately strong dark blue sheen with purple reflections and clothed with relatively dense silvery setae, anterior and posterior margins of darker area subparallel, posterior margin of mesoscutum orange-brown with a weak purple sheen; tegula orange; axilla orange with very weak brassy and purple reflections, with golden brown setae; scutellum orange with weak purple and brassy reflections, anteriorly with translucent pale brown setae, posteriorly with black setae, sub apical tuft black; metanotum orange; mesopleuron orange with a weak brassy lustre; mesosternum pale orange; fore coxa white; fore femur white, orange towards apex, tibia pale orange, slightly brownish proximally, tarsus orange; mid coxa pale orange; mid femur white, tibia pale orange with a brown streak externally for most of its length, spur and tarsus pale orange; hind coxa white; hind femur pale orange, faintly margined brown distally, tibia pale orange with a brown streak externally for much of its length, tarsus pale orange; fore wing (Fig. 1219) mostly infuscate but hyaline towards base and at apex, submarginal vein pale orange, rest of venation brown; propodeum orange with a slight brassy sheen, laterally a little dusky with a slight blue and purple sheen, about 10 translucent silvery setae around spiracle; gaster mainly orange-brown with coppery, purple, green and brassy reflections, basal tergites medially darker with a stronger metallic sheen, Gt1 with a fairly strong coppery, green and blue sheen, laterally metallic blue and green, syntergum orange; gonostylus very pale orange, almost white.

Head about 7.1X as wide as frontovertex, in profile about 1.9X as high as deep, anteriorly fairly evenly rounded from occipital margin to just above top of scrobes, and from top of scrobes virtually straight to mouth margin, interantennal prominence conspicuously protuberant between toruli; occipital margin sharp, not carinate; vertex with an inconspicuous groove from posterior ocellus along eye margin nearly to occipital margin; ocelli forming an angle of about 30°; frontovertex quite shiny, with shallow, fairly regular, fine, polygonally reticulate sculpture of mesh size generally a little smaller than diameter of facet, area immediately above scrobes with coarser, more irregular, transversely elongate sculpture; narrowest point between eye and scrobe about 0.2X length of scape and virtually smooth, with very shallow, obliquely elongate, polygonal sculpture; temple with shallow, irregular, transversely elongate, sculpture, gena with similar, but more longitudinally elongate sculpture; scrobes deep, very broadly ∩-shaped, meeting, dorsally very smooth, sharply margined dorsally and laterally, margin carinate laterally; interantennal prominence without median ridge, broadly rounded and completely smooth dorsally, below with shallow, regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture; antenna as in Fig. 1218; scape broadened and flattened, broadest slightly below middle, about 3.8X as long as broad; F1 a little longer than broad, F2-F6 transverse, segments larger and broader distad; clava clearly broadened, very nearly as long as funicle and pedicel combined, sutures oblique, sensory area enlarged, extending ventrally about 0.8X length of clava, apex strongly obliquely truncate; eye reaching occipital margin, clothed in inconspicuous setae that are a little shorter than diameter of facet; inner eye margins clearly diverging below anterior ocellus; malar sulcus absent; clypeal margin slightly concave medially; mandible with three teeth; apical segment of maxillary palpus not enlarged, hardly longer than radicle. Relative measurements: HW 60, HH 65.5, FV 8.5, POL 3, OOL 0, OCL 7, AOL 9.5, EL 46, EW 33, MS 27, SL 38, SW 10.

Thorax (Fig. 1220) with polygonally reticulate sculpture on pronotum and mesoscutum similar to that in ocellar area, but a little finer on pronotum and anterior part of mesoscutum; sculpture on anterior half of mesoscutum generally obliquely elongate, strigose, that on posterior, darker part more regular, rounded, polygonally reticulate sculpture; axilla and scutellum with similar sculpture but slightly deeper and coarser than that on pronotum; visible part of mesoscutum about 2X as broad as long; scutellum about 1.1X as broad as long, with a distinct subapical tuft, setae about 0.3X as long as scutellum; mid tibia with a strong external carina for about 0.7X its length; hind femur about 4.5X as long as broad; fore wing with venation and setation as in Figs 1217, 1219; costal cell with 1 or 2 setae dorsally at apex; apices of postmarginal and stigmal veins connected by a naked, hyaline streak; propodeum (Fig. 1220; medially about 0.12X as long as scutellum and smooth. Relative measurements: FWL 82, FWW 29; HWL 72, HWW 19.

Gaster with syntergum about 0.7X as long as mid tibia; exserted part of ovipositor about 0.5X length of gaster or about 0.6X mid tibia.

Paratype. Funicle with linear sensilla present only on F5-F6. Relative measurements: OL 77.5, GL 31 [MT 46].

Variation. Females vary in overall length from 1.35-1.55mm, otherwise very little in material available, although one paratype (Puerto Jimenez) has F1-F5 are mostly brown, the scape only about 3.0X as long as broad and the exserted part of the ovipositor about 0.4X as long as the gaster or 0.5X as long as the mid tibia.

Male. Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.

HOSTS. Unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Guanacaste, Guanacaste NP, 1000m, Est. Mengo Vc Cacao , v.1988 (Gauld, Janzen) . Paratypes: COSTA RICA, 1E, Guanacaste, Macizo Miravalles , Est. Cabro Muco, LN 299769 411243, 1100m, #73633, 18-24.iii.2003 (J.Azofeifa); 1E , Puntarenas, Pen. Osa , Puerto Jimenez , 10m, vi.1991 (P. Hanson) . Holotype in MZUCR, paratypes in NHMUK .

COMMENTS. Prochiloneurus lucetia is possibly close to seini (Dozier) known only from Puerto Rico, both species being quite similar to dactylopii but having the scape less than 4X as long as broad. Prochiloneurus seini could run to lucetia in the above key but differs in having the scape more evenly rounded ventrally and broadest about half-way along its length and the funicle segments relatively broad (see Noyes & Triapitsyn 2018). There are also differences in colouration with seini lacking a brown stripe on the temple and gena, having F1-F4 pale orange and F5-F6 virtually completely white, the posterior one-third of the mesopleuron with quite a strong coppery purple sheen and the posterior tibia more or less completely pale orange. In lucetia the scape is not evenly rounded ventrally with the broadest part less than two-fifths along its length, the temple and gena have a distinct dark brown stripe, the funicle segments are largely brown, the posterior one-third of the mesopleuron lacks a coppery sheen and the posterior tibia is mostly dark brown.