Charitopus andalusicus Mercet

Hayat, Mohammad, Ahmad, Zubair & Khan, Farmanur Rehman, 2014, Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Zootaxa 3793 (1), pp. 1-59 : 20-22

Charitopus andalusicus Mercet

( Figs 44–47 )

Charitopus andalusicus Mercet, 1926: 315 –317, ♀. Spain.

This species was described from a single female (holotype) from Spain, and no further material has been recorded since its original description in 1926. It is redescribed here based on the specimens from Saudi Arabia .

Redescription. Female. Length, 1.53 mm (A second specimen, 1.3 mm, now on slide). Body dark brown to black. Head with bluish shine. Antenna dark brown, with apex of scape and apex of pedicel narrowly yellow. Mesosoma with pronotum with bluish shine; mesoscutum largely with purple shine, bluish behind notauli; axilla purple, sides bluish; scutellum purple with bluish on sides; tegula dark brown; propodeum in about middle third and distal to spiracles bluish, proximal to spiracles purple; mesopleuron largely purple, bluish in upper part. Fore wing infuscate medially, basal third and apical third hyaline ( Fig. 47 ); hind wing hyaline. Legs with all coxae nearly black; fore femur, except brownish yellow apex, black; mid femur brownish yellow with a dark brown streak in about basal two-thirds; hind femur, except brownish yellow apex, dark brown; tibiae brownish yellow, lightly infuscate in about basal half of mid tibia, and brown in basal third of hind tibia; all tarsi with segments 1–4 brownish yellow, fifth segment brown. Metasoma dark brown to nearly black; TI of gaster with bluish shine, other tergites purple with some bluish shine; exserted part of ovipositor sheaths dark brown.

Head ( Fig. 45 ). Occipital margin rounded; median length of vertex appears short (about 0.15× head width) as the vertex strongly concave anteriorly and the scrobes extend above near anterior ocellus; frontovertex width 0.36× head width; ocellar triangle with apical angle strongly obtuse; posterior ocellus about one-fourth diameter of an ocellus to occipital margin and about half diameter of an ocellus to margin of eye; head slightly (1.04×) broader than high; scrobes extending above and meeting just in front of anterior ocellus, their margins rounded; intertorular area elongate, convex with a faint median ridge; face with a distinct convexly elevated ridge below toruli; head, in profile, 2.3× as high as long; eye height 1.64× malar space; frontovertex with raised reticulate sculpture, the cells transversely elongate; malar space with elongate reticulate sculpture which becomes lineolate reticulate behind malar sulcus; setae on head short and silvery white. Antenna ( Fig. 46 ) with scape broader (swollen) in about basal half, 7.23× as long as broad; pedicel slightly shorter than F1; F1 3× as long as broad, and shorter than F2; other segments more or less subequal in length; clava slightly shorter than F5 and F6 combined. Relative measurements (From card)—head dorsal width, 46; vertex width, 17; vertex median length, 7; head frontal height, 44; eye height, 28; malar space, 17; antennal scape length, 35.

Mesosoma ( Fig. 44 ). Mesoscutum with raised, polygonal, transversely elongate reticulate sculpture; axilla with polygonal reticulate sculpture; scutellum with lineolate reticulate sculpture; propodeum median length 0.32× scutellum length, and with two submedian ridges; setae on thoracic dorsum and on sides of propodeum distal to spiracles silvery white. Fore wing ( Fig. 47 ) 2.56× as long as broad; marginal fringe very short, absent along anterior margin; linea calva broad, proximally with 3–4 lines of setae below marginal vein, and 3–4 lines of setae below parastigma; marginal vein about 1.88× as long as stigmal vein, and 3.9× as long as postmarginal vein; marginal vein not touching anterior wing margin. Relative measurements (From card)—mesosoma length, 62; mesoscutum length (width), 23 (42); scutellum length (width), 28 (24) median length of propodeum, 9. (From slide, EH.1497)—mid tibia length, 53; mid basitarsus length, 12; mid tibial spur length, 6.5.

Metasoma. Ovipositor exserted to 0.14× to 0.15× gaster length; TI long, 0.33× gaster length; TVII 0.42× gaster length. Relative measurements (From slide, EH.1497)—TVII length, 29; ovipositor length, 80.

Male. Unknown.

Material examined. KSA: ASIR: Abha, Vill.[age] Garadh, 12.x.2012, (SN), Coll. Z. Ahmad (2 ♀, one on slide, EH.1681); Abha, KKU [King Khalid University] Campus, vi.2012, Coll. Z. Ahmad (1 ♀, on slide, EH.1497, both antennae beyond F2 missing) ( ZDAMU).

Distribution. Spain; Saudi Arabia (present record): Asir.

Comments. Apart from the original description and figure of female given by Mercet (1926: fig. 1), Trjapitzin (1969) published a redescription based on the holotype of C. andalusicus . In this redescription, Trjapitzin states that the ovipositor has “its exserted part about 1/4th the length of abdomen” whereas, in the original description, Mercet says that the exserted part of the ovipositor is about as long as mid basitarsus. The only possible explanation to the discrepancy between the original description (and figure) and the redescription by Trjapitzin is that Mercet drew the figure from a freshly killed specimen, and that Trjapitzin studied the card mounted holotype with the gastral tergites retracted.

The above specimens are identified as C. andalusicus as these agree fairly well with the original description and figure and the redescription given by Trjapitzin (except for the exserted ovipositor). The Saudi Arabian specimens differ from the Spanish specimen in having the tibiae largely brownish yellow, with basal half of mid tibia lightly infuscate, and hind tibia brown in basal third. In the figure given by Mercet (1926: fig. 1) basal half of fore tibia, largely the mid and hind tibiae except bases and apices, are brown.

Figures

FIGURES 44 – 47. Charitopus andalusicus Mercet. Female: 44, mesosoma; 45, head, frontal view; 46, antenna; 47, fore wing.