Pseudectroma indicum Hayat & Zeya

Hayat, Mohammad, Zeya, Shahid Bin & Veenakumari, K., 2013, On some brachypterous Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from India, with description of four new species, Zootaxa 3716 (2), pp. 259-276 : 265-267

Pseudectroma indicum Hayat & Zeya , sp. nov.

( Figs 12–18 )

Female. Holotype. Length, 0.82 mm (excluding exserted part of ovipositor, 0.08mm) (range 0.70–0.82 mm, n= 5). Body brown; head brown and malar space dark brown. Antenna with scape brownish yellow, margins brown; pedicel and flagellum brown, but apical (= second) segment of clava in apical half brownish yellow. Mesosoma brown; pronotum dark brown; mesoscutum pale brown, sides of propodeum dark brown. Fore wing lightly infuscate; hind wing hyaline. Legs brownish yellow. Metasoma brown, but on slide appearing brown alternating with narrow, white cross-bands due to stretching of tergites; apex of TVII white; ovipositor sheath in about distal half dark brown.

Head ( Fig. 12 ). Subprognathous, occipital foramen situated in upper third of occiput; head in frontal view, 1.2× as broad as high; frontovertex width 0.61× head width; ocellar triangle with apical angle obtuse; posterior ocellus slightly less than four diameters of an ocellus to eye margin (4:15); POL 1.66× as long as OOL; malar space equal to eye height; head with fine, irregular reticulate sculpture, the cells transversely elongate; malar space with fine, lineolate reticulate sculpture; setae on head hyaline; eyes with setae hyaline, and each seta shorter than a facet. Mandible with 3 sharp teeth, middle tooth longest. Maxillary palp 2-segmented, labial palp unsegmented. Antenna as in Fig. 14 ; scape 3× as long as broad, and slightly shorter than clava (30:33.5); pedicel 1.63× as long as broad; funicle segments transverse, F1 and F5 with ventral margins longer than dorsal margins; F1 smallest, 1.62× as broad as long, and 0.8× F2 width; F5 2× as broad as long, and 2.2× as broad as F1; clava 2-segemented, 1.59× as long as broad (slightly collapsed), longer than funicle (33.5:21), and 1.44× as broad as F5. In antenna with an uncollapsed clava ( Fig. 15 ), clava 1.31× as broad as F5, and 1.96× as long as broad. Relative measurements (holotype, slide at 400×)—head frontal width, 90; head frontal height,75; frontovertex width, 55; eye height, 34; malar space, 34; antennal scape length, 30; pedicel length, 18; F1 length (width), 4 (6.5); F5 length (width), 7 (14.5); funicle length, 21; clava length (width), 33.5:21.

Mesosoma ( Fig. 16 ). Flattened; pronotum with raised irregular sculpture, largely with cells transversely lengthened; mesoscutum with sculpture fine, the cells larger than on pronotum, and transversely lengthened; scutellum with fine, polygonal reticulate sculpture, the cells larger than on mesoscutum; setae appear hyaline; pronotum with a line of setae along collar, and several setae anteriorly; mesoscutum with 32 setae (paratypes, 24– 32); left axilla with 3 setae and right axilla with 4 (paratypes, 2–4 and 2–5); scutellum with 32 setae (paratypes, 28– 38); propodeum distal to spiracle with 3–4 short setae. Fore wing ( Fig. 17 ) short, when laid back, reaching to anterior half of TI of gaster; left wing 2.35× as long as broad; in most specimens the membranous apex is folded and thus the apex appears truncate, length varies from 2× to 2.27× width; hind wing ( Fig. 18 ) 3.69× as long as broad, and about 0.67× fore wing length. Relative measurements (holotype, slide at 400×)—mesosoma length, 88; pronotum length (width), 15 (75); mesoscutum length (width), 30 (63); scutellum length (width), 35 (46); propodeum median length, 2; mid tibia length, 62; mid tibial spur length, 15; mid basitarsus length, 20.

Metasoma distinctly longer than mesosoma, on slide about 1.9× as long as mesosoma; ovipositor exserted to slightly more than one-fifth length of gaster. Relative measurements (holotype, slide at 400×)—metasoma length, 170; TVII length, 60; ovipositor length, 148; third valvula length, 67.

Male. Unknown.

Material examined. Holotype (NBAII, Registration No. ICAR/NBAII/EN12), female (on slide under coverslip nos. 1 and 2, slide No. EH.1558) labelled “ INDIA: KARNATAKA: Bengaluru, Hebbal, 5.ix.2012 (PFT), Coll. K. Veenakumari”.

Paratypes, 17 females: 1 female (on slide under coverslip no.3, slide No. EH.1558) with same data as holotype. INDIA: KARNATAKA: Bengaluru, Hebbal, 2 females (on slide under 3 coverslips, slide No. EH.1555), 7.ix.2012 (PFT), Coll. K. Veenakumari; Bengaluru, Hebbal, 2 females, one with gaster missing (on slide under 3 coverslips, slide No. EH.1556), 16.viii.2012 (PFT), Coll. K. Veenakumari; Bengaluru, Hebbal, 6 females (on slide under 6 coverslips, slide No. EH.1557), 18.viii.2012 (YPT), Coll. K. Veenakumari; Bengaluru, Attur, 6 females (on slide under 6 coverslips, slide No. EH.1559), 18.ix.2012 (PFT), Coll. K. Veenakumari. (12 females on slides, EH.1557 and EH.1559, in ZDAMU, Registration No. HYM. CH.666; remaining paratypes in NBAII: slide No. EH.1555, Registration No. ICAR/NBAII/EN13; slide No. EH.1556, Registration No. ICAR/NBAII/EN14)

Distribution. India: Karnataka.

Etymology. The species name is derived from name of country of origin, India.

Comments. The genus Pseudectroma contains 11 world species (Noyes 2012), of which one species, P. samarae Hayat (2010) , was described from two brachypterous specimens. The holotype of this species has the fore wing venation reduced to a single vein, whereas in the paratype all the veins are present. Similar short winged forms with complete venation are known in Encyrtus coorgensis Hayat & Zeya , sp. nov. described in this paper, in Prochiloneurus bolivari Mercet (Japanese specimens and the Indian specimen recorded in this paper) and in the Palaearctic species of Pseudectroma , P. europaeum (Mercet) .

The new species is similar to P. samarae Hayat (2010) , but differs in having the head 1.63× as broad as frontovertex width; frontovertex width 1.83× as broad as scape length; scape 3× as long as broad; metasoma longer than head plus mesosoma (170:163); ovipositor exserted to about one-fifth gaster length; third valvula 0.82× second valvifer length; ovipositor 2.38×as long as mid tibia; body largely brown in colour. In P. samarae— head 1.78× as broad as frontovertex width; frontovertex width 1.4× as broad as scape length; scape about, 2.5× as long as broad; metasoma shorter than head plus mesosoma (140:168); ovipositor exserted to 0.34× gaster length; third valvula 0.65× second valvifer length; ovipositor 2.6× as long as mid tibia; body largely yellow in colour.

Figures

FIGURES 12 – 18. Pseudectroma indicum Hayat & Zeya, sp. nov. Female: 12, head fontal; 13, mandible; 14, antenna; 15, F 6 and clava; 16, mesosoma; 17, fore wing; 18, hind wing.