Neococcidencyrtus grias, 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 : 130-131

Neococcidencyrtus grias sp.nov.

( Figs 300-303; Hab. E 50)

DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 1.4mm): face with a distinct dark brown band above toruli, level with top of interantennal prominence; mesoscutum orange with a faint metallic sheen; tegula pale orange, apex dusky; scutellum orange; all coxae orange; fore femur and tibia mostly pale orange; mid femur mostly pale orange; hind femur mostly orange; hind tibia with a pair of dark brown bands connected by a dark brown streak; fore wing ( Fig. 302) with an infuscate pattern; hyaline band distad of venation with widest point about 4.5X as wide as narrowest point; head ( Fig 300) about 3.4X as wide as frontovertex; funicle with longitudinal sensilla on F4-F6; clava with outer suture incomplete and dorsally oblique; mandible with one acute tooth and a broad, concave truncation; fore wing ( Fig. 302) about 2.7X as long as broad; linea calva interrupted by a single seta; exserted part of ovipositor about as long as mid tibial spur; gonostylus longer than mid tibial spur. Male: unknown.

Female (holotype): length, including ovipositor, 1.39mm; excluding ovipositor, 1.29mm (CPD).

Head generally orange; occiput with a small, dark brown mark immediately above foramen; frontovertex ( Fig. 300) with a narrow, transverse, dark brown band between lowest eye margins, not quite reaching eyes; a dark brown band between toruli and mouth margin not quite reaching mouth margin, narrowest medially, laterally reaching position of genal suture; area between dark brown bands pale orange; frontovertex with a few, moderately conspicuous, brown setae; a line of very inconspicuous, translucent silvery setae between eye and scrobe to position of malar sulcus; gena and interantennal prominence with only a few, scattered inconspicuous translucent setae; maxillary palpus white; radicle orange, apex with a narrow dark brown ring; scape orange, ventral margin narrowly brown; pedicel pale orange, with a complete brown stripe internally; F1-F3 pale orange-brown, progressively becoming paler distad, F4-F5 pale orange, marked with brownish internally, F6 dusky pale orange mixed pale orange; clava dark brown; thorax mainly orange; pronotum orange, posterior margin completely translucent, neck dark brown; mesoscutum orange with a faint pale green, blue, purple and brassy sheen; tegula orange, apex slightly dusky; axilla orange with weak coppery reflections; scutellum orange, dorsally with weak coppery reflections, side and apex with a weak purple and blue sheen; metanotum orange; mesopleuron orange with a weak brassy sheen; all coxae orange; fore femur orange, extreme base white, tibia orange with a small, brown, subbasal, spot dorsally, tarsus orange; mid femur orange, mid tibial spur and tarsus pale yellow, almost white, pretarsus slightly dusky; hind femur orange with a slightly oblique, dorsal, dark brown, subapical spot, extreme apex white, tibia with a pair of broad, dark brown bands, one at base and the other subapically, these connected externally by a narrow brown streak, orange between these bands, apex white, tarsus white with apical tarsomere orange; fore wing ( Fig. 302) conspicuously infuscate, hyaline below proximal half of submarginal vein and with a complete, hyaline band immediately distad of apex of venation, followed by an infuscate area with apex narrowly subhyaline; hind wing hyaline; propodeum orange with a weak brassy and purple sheen; gaster orange, with a weak brassy sheen with weak purple, blue and green reflections, Gt1- Gt4 laterally brown, apex of outer plate of ovipositor dark brown; gonostylus very pale yellow.

Head (Fig, 300) about 3.4X as wide as frontovertex, in profile about 1.4X as high as deep, tangent to frontovertex forming an angle of about 70° with that of face; occipital margin rounded, indistinct; no oval depression adjacent to eye near occipital margin, but a transverse, curved, shallow groove present between posterior ocelli and occipital margin; ocelli very small, forming an angle of about 60°; frontovertex ( Fig. 300) moderately shiny with very shallow, polygonally reticulate sculpture of mesh size subequal to eye facet; temple and gena with very shallow, longitudinally elongate, fine polygonally reticulate sculpture; top of scrobes, interantennal prominence and mouth margin with shallow, regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture; scrobes extremely shallow, indistinct; antenna as in Fig.301; scape very slightly broadened and flattened, about 4X as long as broad; funicle with F1-F3 smaller, subequal, subquadrate, F4-F6 larger, gradually increasing in size distally, subquadrate, linear sensilla present only on F4-F6; clava very slightly longer than the funicle, sutures parallel, outer suture incomplete and dorsally oblique; sensory area small, at apex only giving it a rounded appearance; eye slightly overreaching occipital margin, with sparse, moderately conspicuous setae, each about as long as diameter of facet; malar sulcus present, but incomplete and very inconspicuous; clypeal margin weakly emarginate medially; mandible with one acute lower tooth and an upper, broad, slightly concave truncation. Relative measurements: HW 60, HH 50, FV 17.5, POL 7, OOL 3.5, OCL c.9, AOL 8, EL 29, EW 30.5, MS 28, SL 30, SW 7.5.

Thorax with visible part of mesoscutum about 1.8X as broad as long; scutellum about 1.3X as broad as long with subapical setae about 0.5X its length; hind femur about 4.2X as long as broad; fore wing with venation and setation as in Figs 302, 303; propodeum medially about 0.12X as long as scutellum. Relative measurements: FWL 73, FWW 27; HWL 54, HWW 12.

Gaster with hypopygium reaching about 0.6X towards apex; last tergite about as long as mid tibia, with apex weakly angular; ovipositor exserted, the exserted part about as long as mid tibial spur or about 0.3X mid tibia. Relative measurements: OL 48.5, GL 12 [MT 30.5].

Variation. Females vary in overall length from 1.17-1.39mm, the area between the two transverse dark brown bands on the face may be pale yellow and F6 may be dark brown internally.

Male. Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.

HOSTS. Unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Puntarenas, Est. Altamira, Send. Los Gigantes, LS 331800 572100, 1460m, ii.2002 (C. Hansson, D. Rubí ) . Paratypes: COSTA RICA, 1E, Alajuela, PN Arenal, Sendero Ceibo , 10°27’N 84°44’W, 620m, 22-23.ii.2016 (J.S. Noyes) . Holotype and paratype in NHMUK .

COMMENTS. Females of Neococcidencyrtus grias are very similar to those of drysus . Apart from the characters given in the key, females of grias can be distinguished from those of drysus by having a shallower invagination of the posterior margin of the hypopygium and relatively longer ovipositor. In grias the invagination is only about 0.1X as deep as the overall length of the hypopygium and the ovipositor about 1.5X as long as the mid tibia. In drysus the invagination of the posterior margin of the hypopygium is about 0.25X as deep as the overall length of the hypopygium and the ovipositor is about 1.2X as long as the mid tibia.