Sectiliclava megleos, 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 : 559-561

Sectiliclava megleos sp.nov.

(Figs 1428-1436; Hab. E 210)

DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 1.2mm): antenna mostly dark brown; lower face (Fig. 1429), between positions of malar sulci, with sparse, conspicuous, silvery setae; thorax dark brown with a moderate to strong metallic sheen; scutellum mostly coppery; mid tibia pale orange; hind tibia brown mixed pale orange; head (Fig. 1429) with piliferous punctures small, shallow and indistinct; funicle (fig. 1428) with all segments slightly longer than broad, F6 broadest; mesoscutum (Fig. 1430) with shallow, indistinct piliferous punctures. Male (length about 1.1mm): thorax and gaster mostly dark brown; frontovertex without distinct piliferous punctures; antenna (Fig. 1433) with pedicel slightly broader than long; funicle segments clothed in long setae, the longest of which is longer than scape or more than 5X as long as diameter of F6; proximal funicle segments very asymmetrical; clava with apex rounded.

Female (holotype): length 1.19mm (CPD).

Head with occiput black with a weak coppery purple sheen; frontovertex generally metallic blue-green, narrowly coppery along occipital margin, a small violet patch between posterior ocelli, mixed coppery purple, blue and violet immediately above scrobes; scrobal area generally coppery mixed metallic green; temple and posterior part of gena mostly metallic green mixed with some coppery areas; frontovertex with only one pair of setae between anterior ocellus and top of scrobes apart from those along eye margins, setae translucent and silvery, those on gena and interantennal prominence relatively long and bristle-like; antenna with radicle pale orange, mixed brown laterally; scape brown, apical 0.3X pale orange; pedicel dark brown, pale orange at apex and ventrally; funicle pale orange-brown with conspicuous dark brown setae dorsally; clava pale brown; maxillary palpus white; thorax mostly dark brown to black with a metallic sheen dorsally; pronotum with a moderate coppery purple sheen; mesoscutum metallic green with a slight violet sheen posteriorly and posterior margin coppery purple; tegula dusky white basally, dark brown with a weak coppery purple sheen apically; axilla with a weak coppery sheen; scutellum mostly coppery, apex and side shining, metallic green, blue-green and coppery; setae on mesoscutum translucent, pale brown, silvery in some lights and fairly conspicuous, setae on scutellum dark brown and less conspicuous; metanotum with a slight sheen; mesopleuron generally with a weak coppery purple and brassy sheen; fore coxa orange-brown, mid and hind coxae dark brown; fore femur white to very pale orange, fore tibia pale orange with a broad, diffuse, pale brown subbasal band, tarsus pale orange, apical tarsomere dark brown; mid femur white to very pale orange, mid tibia and tarsus very pale orange, spur white, basitarsus pale yellow; hind femur white to very pale orange, tibia brown mixed pale orange for most of its length, apices dusky pale orange, tarsus very pale orange, apical tarsomere brown; wings hyaline (Fig. 1431); propodeum dark brown, with a slight coppery purple sheen, side with dense silvery setae lateral to spiracle and a group descending part way to hind coxa; gaster dark brown, generally with a fairly strong coppery and purple sheen, with green and blue reflections, Gt1 with a dark blue sheen, syntergum with a dark blue sheen mixed green and purple; gonostylus dark brown.

Head (Fig. 1429) about 2.3X as wide as frontovertex, in profile about 2.1X as high as deep, submenisciform, more or less evenly convex from occipital margin to top of scrobes, then less strongly curved to mouth margin, with interantennal prominence hardly protuberant; occipital margin sharp, carinate; ocelli forming an angle of about 105°; frontovertex shiny, generally with moderately deep, regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture of mesh size generally a little larger than eye facet, piliferous punctures small, shallow and indistinct; temple and gena with slightly shallower, longitudinally elongate, polygonally reticulate sculpture; eye very nearly reaching occipital margin, with inconspicuous, pale setae that are each much shorter than diameter of facet; scrobes shallow with similar sculpture to frontovertex; interantennal prominence with similar sculpture to frontovertex but much shallower; antenna as in Fig. 1428; scape subcylindrical, about 5.5X as long as broad; all funicle segments slightly longer than broad, becoming slightly broader distally and clothed with longer, bristle-like setae dorsally; clava broadened, about 1.5X as wide as F6, about as long as F4-F6 combined, sutures slightly oblique, sensory area enlarged so that apex has a distinct oblique truncation; malar sulcus absent; clypeal margin slightly concave. Relative measurements: HW 81, HH 77, FV 36, POL 23, OOL 4, OCL 6, AOL 14, EL 44, EW 34, MS 31, SL 38.5, SW 7.

Thorax (Fig. 1430) in dorsal view with pronotum short, largely hidden by head, with posterior margin shallowly concave, but slightly more strongly concave medially; pronotum with polygonally reticulate to imbricate reticulate sculpture that is clearly shallower and of smaller mesh than sculpture on frontovertex; mesoscutum with sculpture and piliferous punctures very similar to that on frontovertex; axilla with shallow, polygonally reticulate sculpture; scutellum with polygonally reticulate sculpture that is clearly coarser, deeper and more longitudinally elongate than that on mesoscutum, apex and side completely smooth and shiny; visible part of mesoscutum about 1.9X as broad as long; scutellum about 1.1X as broad as long; fore leg with apical tarsomere (Fig. 1432) about as long as four basal tarsomeres; hind leg with apical tarsomere slightly shorter than two basal tarsomeres; fore wing with venation and distribution of setae as in Figs 1431, 1436; propodeum (Fig. 1430) medially about 0.11X as long as scutellum and with shallow, irregular, reticulate sculpture. Relative measurements: FWL 93, FWW 40; HWL 58, HWW 20.

Gaster with last tergite about 0.5X as long as mid tibia.

Paratype. Mandible with 2 short, but distinct, upper teeth and a broad lower truncation. Funicle with linear sensilla present on F3-F6, or absent from F3; hypopygium Fig. 1435. Relative measurements: OL 19, MT 43.5.

Variation. Females vary in overall length from 1.16-1.19mm, there may be no violet colour between the posterior ocelli, the area above the scrobes may be uniformly coppery, the scape may be almost entirely brown, the fore coxa may be almost completely pale yellow, the apical tarsomere of the fore leg may be completely pale orange and the head varies from 2.3-2.5X as wide as the frontovertex with the ocelli forming an angle of about 95-105°.

Male: length 1.11mm (CPD).

Very similar to female but for the structure of the antenna and genitalia. Antenna (Fig. 1433) with scape about 3X as long as broad and a little shorter than malar space, F1-F2 slightly broader than long, F3-F6 slightly longer than broad, all segments clothed with long setae, the longest of which are at least 2X as long as the width of the broadest segments; clava solid and shorter than F5-F6 combined; phallobase (Fig. 1434) broad, parameres nearly as long as digiti, each digitus with a pair of apical teeth, aedeagus about 15X as long as broad, apically extremely slender and narrowly rounded, nearly half as long as mid tibia. Relative measurements: AL 45, MT 100.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.

HOSTS. Unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Puntarenas, Est. Altamira, Cerro Quemado, LS 336200 575560, 2279m, #66667, 13.xi-13.xii.2001 ( D. Rubi ) . Paratypes: COSTA RICA, 1G, Puntarenas, Est. Altamira, Cerro Quemado, LS 336200 575560, 2279m, #64572, 16.viii-16. ix.2001 ( D. Rubi ); 1E, Puntarenas, Las Alturas BS, 8°57’N 82°50’W, 2000m, i-iii.1995 (P. Hanson) . Holotype MZUCR, paratypes in NHMUK .

COMMENTS. See comments under helikes (p. 559).