Sceliocerdo viatrix ( BRUES 1917)

K. Veenakumari, Rajmohana, K. & Prashanth, M., 2012, Studies on Phoretic Scelioninae (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) from India along with description of a new species of Mantibaria KIRBY, Linzer biologische Beiträge 44 (2), pp. 1715-1725 : 1719-1720

Redescription of Sceliocerdo viatrix ( BRUES 1917) ( Figs 8-15 )

F e m a l e: Length - 3.45 mm

Head and mesosoma fully black; metasoma dark brownish black; all legs, radicle, scape, pedicel and first two flagellar segments yellowish brown, 3 rd and 4 th flagellar segments brown; antennal clava blackish brown; mandibles honey brown with extremities dark brown; eyes and lateral ocelli black and median ocellus white; wings hyaline. FCI: (HW/HH=1.02); LCI: (HH/HL=1.92); HW/IOS=1.72; Habitus strongly sculptured throughout.

H e a d: Head elongate and as broad as high, covered with sparse, short, white setae; snout protruding; entire frons longitudinally strigose, area between striae with transverse rugose reticulation, with striae reaching vertex; lower frons just above interantennal process slightly convex, genae very long, central keel absent; area lateral to interantennal process depressed and smooth, striae absent; lower middle margin of interantennal process fused with clypeus, interantennal process placed near to clypeus, with dense white setae towards its base; eyes very large and bare (L= 0.412mm; W= 0.314mm); lateral ocelli lower to inner orbits; POL 14 times as long as OOL (POL/OOL=14.20); LOL 8.5 times as long as OOL (LOL/OOL =8.54); a small raised carina present above lateral ocelli making ocelli situated on a slope.; lower genal region smooth while upper gena reticulate; medial vertex (region behind vertex) behind lateral ocelli sloping and deeply depressed in centre; medial vertex reticulate; space between these striae with some irregular rugae; clypeus broad and prominent concealing mandibles from frontal and lateral view; mandible large, sub tridentate with uppermost tooth longest, other two small and subequal; stipes very prominent, broad, black and scelrotized; occipital carina strongly developed with a well developed sharp tooth on each side of lower gena; occipital carina foveolate; gena with coarse reticulation but smooth towards spine at lower margin; post orbital carina distinct, encircling lower margin of eyes, inner margin reticulate, malar area smooth and shiny devoid of any sculpture, malar sulcus distinct, wider towards orbital margin.

Antennae 12 segmented; radicle slightly elongate and curved (i.e. loop like); scape elongate, with a sharp sclerotized carina on ventral surface and scaly reticulate; pedicel roundish with petiolated base; first four flagellar segments narrow, clava broad, 6 segmented and entire antenna thickly clothed with setae; proportions of length and width of antennal segments 39:10; 9:6; 6:4; 3:5; 3:5; 3:8; 7:9; 6:9; 5:9; 4:9; 4:8; 5:4.

M e s o s o m a: Pronotum clearly visible from above; pronotal shoulder long; latero- dorsal pronotum coarsely reticulate; epomial carina present; pronotal supra humeral sulcus foveolate and slightly curved medially; cervical pronotal area smooth with sparse white setae; lateral pronotal area with parallel striae and interconnecting rugae; skaphion absent; mesoscutum strigose, with similar sculpture as of frons and vertex, but with larger reticulations; longitudinal elements much prominent, and extending to 0.8 of anterior mesoscutum; mesoscutal striae interconnected by irregular rugae; mesoscutum little longer than wide (TSL/ML=1.17); notauli absent; mesoscutellum triangular with coarsely reticulate sculpture; mesoscutellum nearly 2 times as wide as long (SW/SL=1.85); scutoscutellar sulcus wide, non crenulate medially, narrow laterally; metascutellum produced into a transverse lamella which protrudes laterally simulating two spines; metanotal trough well developed and with an oblique row of foveae; netrion not distinct; posterior pronotal sulcus smooth and band like; femoral depression with faint transverse carinae; post alar process well developed; post scutellar sulcus and metascutellar plate reticulate, emarginate medially at lower margin; propodeum broad, clothed laterally with dense, fine white setae and with coarse but smaller reticulations than on mesoscutum and mesoscutellum; lower propodeal corners smooth and blunt; not produced into teeth; anterior row of fovea medially large; lower margin of propodeum emarginate; medial propodeal furrow short; nucha longitudinally striate.

Metasoma: Metasoma flattened with 6 visible tergites; T1 slightly convex; T2 with anterior depression; all tergites and sternites longitudinally strigose; space between these longitudinal striae with irregular reticulate sculpture; relative length to width proportions of tergites from T1-T5 being 4.5:13.6; 6.8:19.1; 12.4:22.7; 12.1:21.2; 8.9:14.9; T3 more than 1.8x as wide as long, (T3W/T3L =1.84); lateral ridges on T2 prominent; dense white setae on lateral sides of T1 and sparser on remaining tergites.

W i n g s: Both wings transparent, with submarginal vein dark brown in lower half and becoming transparent in latter half; stigmal vein short and yellowish; forewing wider than mesoscutum (TSL/WW= 0.92); hind wing with submarginal vein incomplete, stub like.

M a l e: Unknown

H o s t: Eggs of Neorthacris acuticeps

M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: Female (Reg.No. ICAR / NBAII / P22 ), INDIA: Karnataka: Mandya ( Maddur ), 26.XI.2009, sweep net, at a latitude of 12 0 34' 47'' N and longitude of 72 0 2'7'' E; (Reg.No. ICAR / NBAII / P23 ) , 5.XI.2009; (Reg.No. ICAR / NBAII /P24,25,26,27) and (Reg.No. ZSI / WGRS /IR. INV. 2263) on 16.IX.2010, with same data as P22 ; all specimens collected by Veenakumari K. in paddy ecosystem.

Figures

Figs 7-12: Mantibaria kerouaci nov.sp. (contd.): (7) metasoma. Sceliocerdo viatrix: (8) habitus dorsal view; (9) mesosoma; (10) head front view; (11) head ventral view; (12) pleura.

Figs 13-15: Sceliocerdo viatrix (contd.): (13) head lateral view; (14-15) phoretic females on grasshopper abdomen.