Coccophagus breviscapus Li & Chen, 2017

Chen, Ye & Li, Cheng-De, 2017, Three new species of Coccophagus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) from China, with new distributional data for three additional species, Zootaxa 4294 (2), pp. 256-270 : 259

Coccophagus breviscapus Li & Chen , sp. nov.

Figs 1 ̄7

Type material. Holotype. ♀ [on slide, NEFU], CHINA, Shaanxi Province, Xi'an City, 1.VIII.2015, Ye Chen, Chao Zhang , reared from Ceroplastes ceriferus (Fabricius) ( Hemiptera , Coccidae ).

Paratypes. 4♀ [3♀ on slides, 1♀ on card, NEFU], the same data as holotype.

Diagnosis. Female. Body largely dark brown to black except mesoscutellum mostly and metanotum medially yellow. Antenna mostly dark brown except scape brown. Wings hyaline. Fore leg mostly brown to dark brown, mid and hind legs mostly yellow with femora more or less brown or dark brown. Antenna with scape 3.22̄3.44× as long as wide, F1̄F3 equal in length and width, clava shorter than funicle. Fore wing 2.13̄2.38× as long as wide. Mesotibial spur shorter than corresponding basitarsus. Ovipositor originating from TI or TII, and about 1.25̄1.34× as long as mesotibia. Second valvifer about 3.3× as long as third valvula.

Description. Holotype. Female. Length 1.0 mm. Body mostly dark brown to black except mesoscutellum largely (anterior part narrowly black) and metanotum medially yellow. Antenna mostly dark brown with scape brown. Wings hyaline. Fore ( Fig. 6 ) leg with coxa, trochanter and about basal half of femur dark brown, remaining parts brown; mid leg pale brownish yellow with the distal half or more of femur darker dorsally; hind leg yellow with about distal two thirds of femur dark brown.

Head ( Fig. 1 ), in frontal view, 0.92× as high as wide; frontovertex 0.60× head width. Face nearly smooth. Eyes densely setose, each seta shorter than diameter of a facet. Frontovertex with numerous brown setae. Ocellar triangle with apical angle obtuse. Torulus with upper margins at the level of lower eye margins and separated from mouth margin by twice of own length. Mandible ( Fig. 1 ) with two subacute teeth and a short truncation. Antenna ( Fig. 2 ) with scape 3.38× as long as wide, and 0.78× as long as clava; pedicel 1.32× as long as wide, and 0.80× as long as F1; F1̄F3 subequal in length and width, F1 1.4× as long as wide; clava 3.46× as long as wide, and 0.92× as long as funicle. Flagellomeres with the following number of longitudinal sensilla on one side: 3, 5, 4. 5, 4, 3. Measurements, length (width) of scape, 135 (40); pedicel, 50 (38); F1, 63 (45); F2, 63 (45); F3, 63 (45); clava, 173 (50).

Dorsum of mesosoma ( Fig. 3 ) with small scale-like reticulation, which is faint and inconspicuous on yellow areas. Mesoscutum with median area 0.64× as long as wide, and densely setose; each lateral area of the mesoscutum with 4 setae; mesoscutellum 0.72× as long as wide, and 0.9× length of median area of the mesoscutum, and with 3 pairs of setae; axilla with 2 long setae. Metanotum about as long as propodeum. Propodeum with a median sulcus. Fore wing ( Fig. 4 ) 2.20× as long as wide; marginal setae short; costal cell 0.85× as long as marginal vein, with 4 relatively long setae on dorsal surface distally, and with a line of setae on ventral surface; submarginal vein with 8 setae; marginal vein with 12 setae along anterior margin; postmarginal vein distinctly shorter than stigmal vein, the latter with a short neck; stigma not swollen posteriorly ( Fig. 4 ) and with sensilla arranged nearly in a line. Hind wing 4.69× as long as wide; marginal setae 0.25× as long as wing width. Mesotibial spur distinctly shorter than (0.79×) corresponding basitarsus; metacoxa 1.61× as long as its greatest width and 0.78× as long as metafemur. Measurements, length (width) of fore wing, 871 (396); costal cell, 228; marginal vein, 267; stigmal vein, 18.8; postmarginal vein, 6.3; hind wing, 750 (160); mesotibia, 307, mesotibial spur, 113; mesobasitarsus, 143; metacoxa, 225 (140); metafemur, 290.

Metasoma ( Fig. 7 ) about 0.75× as long as mesosoma. Ovipositor originating from the base of TI, and 1.28× as long as mesotibia. Second valvifer 3.3× as long as third valvula, the latter 0.64× as long as mesobasitarsus. Length measurements of ovipositor, 393; second valvifer, 302; third valvula, 91.

Male. Unknown.

Host. Ceroplastes ceriferus (Fabricius) ( Hemiptera : Coccidae ).

Etymology. The specific name refers to the relatively short scape.

Comments. Coccophagus breviscapus belongs to the lycimnia -group ( Compere 1931), and is very similar to C. hawaiiensis Timberlake (1926) , but can be separated from the latter by the following combination of characters: scape 3.22̄3.44× as long as wide (vs about 5×), all funicular segments subequal in length and width, and F1 1.40̄1.57× as long as wide (vs F1 obviously the longest funicular, and rather more than 2× as long as wide), postmarginal vein distinctly shorter than stigmal vein (vs almost as long as).

This new species is also similar to C. cooperatus Sugonjaev & Ren (1993) , but differs from the latter by having all femora more or less dark brown (vs all femora yellow except profemur dark basally), scape 3.22̄3.44× as long as wide (vs 4.5×), ovipositor 1.25̄1.34× as long as mesotibia (vs as long as), and sensilla on stigma arranged nearly in a line (vs in two lines).

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 7. Coccophagus breviscapus sp. nov., holotype ♀: 1, head and mandible; 2, antenna, 3, mesosoma; 4, fore wing; 5, hind wing; 6, legs; 7, metasoma.