Telenomus gregalis Rajmohana, 2024

Rajmohana, K., Sushama, V., Debnath, Rupam, Patra, Sunita, Amina, P. & Dinesh, K. P., 2024, Telenomus gregalis Rajmohana sp. n. (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae), a gregarious egg parasitoid of the jujube lappet moth, Streblote siva (Lefèbvre) (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) from India, Journal of Natural History 58 (1 - 4), pp. 204-217 : 207-211

Telenomus gregalis Rajmohana sp. n.

( Figures 3 , 4 )

Zoobank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1632E24B-D5E2-484B-B31C-BFAA9B032560

Description

Female (holotype). Body length = 1.13 mm.

Colour ( Figure 3 (A)). Head and body dark brown to black; antennae brown throughout; tarsi bases and apices of femora and tibia brown, legs otherwise honey brown to brown.

Head ( Figure 3 (B–D)). Vertex sharply angled between posterior ocelli; entire vertex with deep reticulate sculpture, setose throughout; hyperoccipital carina distinct laterally; occipital carina dorsally continuous and prominent; ocellar setae distinct; preocellar pit absent. Coriaceous sculpture prominent along eye margin and becoming effaced medially on frons; interorbital space subequal to eye height; frontal depression absent; eyes densely setose; central keel partially indicated along with incomplete transverse striae confined to level of lower eye margin; malar area smooth towards mandibles; gena with a groove, with coriaceous sculpture behind eyes; antennae 10-merous; clava distinct and 4-merous; A1 4.5× longer than wide; A2, A3 and A10 longer than wide, A4 subequal in length and width, all other antennomeres transverse.

Mesosoma ( Figure 3 (D–F)). Mesoscutum flattened with same sculpture as on vertex, except smooth posterolateral corners; notauli absent; mesoscutellum smooth, setose; axillae smooth. Lateral portion of scutoscutellar sulcus foveolate. Intercoxal space 2× length of fore coxae; netrion smooth, delimited ventrally by a weak sulcus; mesopleural pit shallow; femoral depression distinct; acropleural sulcus not prominent, but faintly indicated; acetabular carina prominent; postacetabular patch clearly indicated, setose; mesepimeral sulcus complete; metapleural sulcus present; metapleural pit distinct; posterodorsal metapleural sulcus present as irregular depressions; anterovenral surface of metapleuron with a series of fine grooves that extend towards the acutely pointed anteroventral extension; metascutellum with deep reticulations in anterior half and longitudinal carinae in posterior half, interstices smooth.

Metasoma ( Figure 3 (E, G)). T1 with 2 pairs of both sublateral setae and lateral setae. Basal costae on T1 and T2 distinct; longitidinal striae on T1 robust; T2 with weak and wavy longitudinal striae, effaced laterally. Longitudinal striae on S1 extending to midlength. Longitudinal striae on S2 not reaching up to its anterior 1/4th; posterior felt field distinct on S2; S2 and rest of sternites sparsely setose sublaterally.

Male (paratype) ( Figure 4 (A–B)). Body length 1 mm; morphologically similar to female with main exception of the antenna. Antenna 12-merous. A4 and A5, slightly dilated, but A5 modified, with tyloid projecting anteriorly; A1 2.58× as long as wide; A2 and A3 subequal in length; A4 1.05× as long as wide and 1.11× as wide as A3; A5 1.21× as long as wide, 1.18× as long as A4, almost subequal in width of A4, but 2× as long and 1.09× as wide as A6; A5 and A6 nearly subequal in width; A6–A11 transverse; A12 1.60× as long as wide.

Male genitalia ( Figure 4 (C)). Length of aedeagal lobe greater than 1/3rd of total length of aedeagovolsellar shaft; digiti large, about half maximum length of aedeagal lobe; three elongate teeth per digitus; central projection absent.

Species-group placement. Telenomus californicus group, based on the metascutellum and male genitalia ( Johnson 1984).

Host. Streblote siva (Lefèbvre) ( Lepidoptera : Lasiocampidae ).

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to its gregarious nature of parasitism: in Latin ‘gregalis’ = ‘gregarious’.

Material examined. Holotype: female ( ZSI/30954 /H3): INDIA: Vellimadukunnu: Calicut : Kerala, ~ 45 m a.s.l., 11.2932°N, 75.8351°E, 4 June 2015, ex. eggs of Streblote siva (Lefèbvre) from Moringa, Coll: Amina . Paratype: 14 females ( ZSI /30955–30968/H3) and 2 males ( ZSI /30969–30970/H3) with the same data as the holotype.

Diagnosis. The male antenna with enlarged A4 and A5 ( Figure 4 (B)) serves as a strong diagnostic character of T. gregalis . In addition, the following combination of characters can distinguish the species: 10-merous antenna in females and 12-merous in males, mesoscutum uniformly reticulate, scutellum smooth, metascutellum deeply reticulate anteriorly with irregular longitudinal striae distally, T1 with two pairs of sublateral setae, basal costae on T2 shorter than medial length of T1. Male genitalia with three teeth on digiti.

With a 10-merous female antennae and A4–A 5 in male antennae quite enlarged, T. gregalis bears a resemblance to T. stigis Nixon , which was earlier reared from the eggs of the sphingid moth Acherontia stynx Westwood , in Kuala Lumpur ( Malaysia) ( Nixon 1937). To date, in Telenomus of the Oriental region , only T. stigis and T. dilatus Rajmohana and Anto 2014 , were reported to have a dilatated A4–A 5 in the male antennae. The distinguishing characters of the above three species are listed in Table 1 . The holotype of T. stigis (primary type 9.230) at the British Museum of Natural History (BMNH) was studied by KR during her visit to BMNH, London, in 2007.

Figures

Figure 3. Telenomus gregalis Rajmohana sp. n. Female. A. Lateral habitus. B. Frontal view of head. C. Female antenna. D. Lateral view of head and mesosoma. E. Dorsal view of mesosoma and metasoma. F. Dorsal view of mesosoma focusing on the metascutellum. G. Ventral view of metasoma.

Figure 4. Telenomus gregalis Rajmohana sp. n. Male. A. Lateral habitus. B. Dilated A4 and A5 (arrow = small projection on A5). C. Male genitalia.