Cerchysiella arabia Hayat

Hayat, Mohammad, Ahmad, Zubair & Khan, Farmanur Rehman, 2014, Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Zootaxa 3793 (1), pp. 1-59 : 14-16

Cerchysiella arabia Hayat , sp. nov.

( Figs 23–30 )

Female. Holotype. Length, 1.65 mm (paratypes, 1.48–1.60 mm). Head black with bronzy and dull bluish shine. Antenna dark brown; scape with dull greenish shine. Mesosoma black, indistinctly shiny, but in some lights appears dark violet; margins and apex of scutellum bluish. Wings hyaline; discal setae pale brown. Legs, including coxae, dark brown; apices of all femora and bases of all tibiae, narrowly yellow ( Fig. 27 ); fore tarsal segments 1–4 brownish yellow, fifth brown; mid and hind tarsal segments 1–3 brownish yellow, segments 4 and 5 brown. Gaster dark brown; TI across base or only on sides with bluish shine; otherwise tergites with bronzy violet shine; exserted part of ovipositor sheaths dark brown.

Head. Frontovertex width 0.42× head width; ocellar triangle with apical angle a right angle; posterior ocellus very near margin of eye; OOL, OCL, POL ratios–1:1.5:10 (In two paratypes these ratios are: 0.75:3:10 and 1.5:2.5:10.5); head, in frontal view ( Fig. 24 ), 1.18× as broad as high; antennal torulus separated from mouth margin by a distance less than torulus height; mouth fossa 1.5× as broad as frontovertex width; eye height 2.33× malar space; vertex with raised polygonal reticulate sculpture, and with sparse setigerous punctures; the sculpture becomes fine and slightly transversely elongate on frons and face; malar space with elongate reticulate sculpture; setae on head brown; eye appear bare, but at higher magnification, short hyaline setae can be seen. Mandible ( Fig. 25 ) elongate, apically narrowed and with 3 pointed teeth, dorsal tooth receding; length of mandible subequal to frontovertex width. Antenna ( Fig. 23 ) with scape cylindrical, at least 6× as long as broad, and 0.93× frontovertex width (In paratypes, scape 1.09–1.17× as long as frontovertex width); pedicel about one-third the length of scape and 2× as long as broad, and longer (about 1.4×) than F1; funicle segments subequal in length, but gradually increasing in width; F1 1.46×, F4 1.21× as long as broad, F5 and F6 quadrate; clava shorter than F4–F6 combined. Relative measurements (holotype, card)—head dorsal width, 38; frontovertex width, 16; head frontal height, 32; eye height, 21; malar space, 9; antennal scape length, 15.

Mesosoma. Pronotum with slightly raised, polygonal reticulate sculpture, the cells transversely elongate; mesoscutum with fine, hardly raised, transversely elongate cellular reticulate sculpture; scutellum nearly smooth, but very fine reticulate sculpture can be seen in about anterior third at higher magnification; lateral groove distinct and long; propodeum with a median ridge, and at most 2 incomplete ridges on sides of the median ridge; setae on thoracic dorsum brown; sides of propodeum distal to spiracles with silvery white setae. Fore wing ( Fig. 26 ) 2.3× as long as broad; postmarginal vein about half the length of marginal vein, both combined as long as or slightly shorter than stigmal vein; linea calva proximally bordered by a single line of 7–9 long setae, and a line of 6–7 setae below proximal end of parastigma. Relative measurements (holotype, card)—mesosoma length, 50; mesoscutum length (width), 21 (40); scutellum length (width), 24 (23.5). (From paratype, slide, EH.1684)—mid tibia length, 52.5; mid basitarsus length, 17; mid tibial spur length, 18.

Metasoma. Relative lengths of gaster and mesosoma and the exserted part of ovipositor sheaths (= third valvulae; gonostyli) vary depending on the way the gastral tergites retract when the specimens are killed; gaster varies from 1.09× to 1.28× (holotype) as long as mesosoma; exserted part of ovipositor sheaths vary from 0.17× to 0.31× gaster length, in holotype 0.22× gaster length; ovipositor (paratype, slide EH.1684) 1.19× as long as mid tibia; third valvula 0.4× ovipositor length, or 0.66× second valvifer length. Relative measurements (paratype, slide, EH.1684)—TVII length, 54; ovipositor length, 62.5; third valvula length, 25.

Male. Length, 1.48 mm Similar to female in body colour, leg colour and sculpture, but differs as noted below.

Head and mesothoracic dorsum with bluish shine. Antenna with radical, scape and pedicel black; flagellum dark brown, but ventral margin of F1 brownish yellow.

Head ( Fig. 28 ) with frontovertex width 0.48× head width; head, in frontal view, slightly broader than high; antennal torulus with upper margin in line with or slightly below, lower margin of eye, and removed from mouth margin by a distance 1.6× torulus height. Antenna ( Fig. 29 ) with scape short, 3.45× as long as broad, and only slightly longer than F1 (19:17.5); pedicel triangular, as long as broad, and 0.28× length of F1; F1 1.84× as long as broad; F1–F4 slightly flattened; clava 2-segmented, shorter than F5 and F6 combined; flagellum 6.7× as long as scape, and 2× as long as head width.

Genitalia with apex of phallobase and digiti as in Fig. 30 ; phallobase, including digiti, 0.75× mid tibia length or measured up to parameres, 0.71× mid tibia length.

Material examined. Holotype ( NPC, registration No. 136/11/157/1), ♀ (right antenna with F6 and clava missing), labelled “K.S.A.: ASIR: Abha, Vill.[age] Garadh, 12.x.2012, (SN), Coll. Z. Ahmad”.

Paratypes. ASIR: Raidah, 13.iv.2012, (SN), Coll. Z. Ahmad (2 ♀, 2 ♂; 1 ♀ and 1 ♂ on slides, EH.1684 and EH.1685); Raidah, vi.2011, (MT), Coll. Z. Ahmad (1 ♀, on slide EH.1486). (1 ♂ in NPC, registration No. 136/11/ 157/2; 3 ♀ and 1 ♂ in ZDAMU, registration No. HYM. CH.682).

Distribution. Saudi Arabia : Asir.

Etymology. The species name is derived from the name of the country, Saudi Arabia , and can be taken as a noun in apposition.

Comments. The genus Cerchysiella Girault contains 31 world species ( Noyes 2013). Apart from C. arabia Hayat , sp. nov., the following species are characterized by having a cylindrical antennal scape which is at least 5× as long as broad and F1 is longer than broad: C. nigrella Girault (1914 , also Girault 1915), C. planiscutellum ( Mercet 1921) , C. kuwatai Tachikawa (1985 , also Hayat 2006) and C. azeeza Hayat , sp. nov., which is described below. In C. nigrella (see Dahms & Gordh 1997: figs 13D-F): antennal scape just over 5× as long as broad and F3 onwards quadrate to broader than long. In C. kuwatai : antennal pedicel about 1.5× as long as broad and subequal in length to F1; F1 slightly longer than broad; F2–F6 each quadrate or distal segments slightly broader than long; posterior ocellus separated from both margin of eye and occipital margin by less than half the diameter of the ocellus; ovipositor, in Indian specimen, with third valvula 0.37× second valvifer; legs blackish with bases and apices of all tibiae yellowish brown. In C. planiscutellum (see Trjapitzin & Rzaeva 1962; Trjapitzin 1989, Noyes 1982) the fore and mid tibiae yellowish brown apically; frontovertex and mesoscutum bluish green; flagellum of male antenna at least about 5× as long as scape and at least about 1.6× as long as head width. In C. azeeza Hayat , sp. nov.: antenna with each funicle segment dark brown in about basal half and yellowish brown to brown in about apical half; discal setae of fore wing completely hyaline; male flagellum 4× as long as scape, and about 1.36× as long as head width.

Figures

FIGURES 23 – 30. Cerchysiella arabia Hayat, sp. nov. (23 – 27, female): 23, antenna; 24, head, frontal view; 25, mandible; 26, part of fore wing; 27, part of gaster with legs. (28 – 30, male): 28, head frontal view; 29, antenna; 30, genitalia, with apex of phallobase enlarged.