Cheiloneurus miranda, 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 : 274-276

Cheiloneurus miranda sp.nov.

( Figs 682-684; Hab. E 102)

DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 1.3-1.6mm): body mostly orange with mouth margin dark brown, temple and gena with a diagonal dark brown stripe, ocellar area dark brown, pronotum partially dark brown, mesoscutum partially brown, mesopleuron with a dark brown median band and gaster dark brown, darker areas with a weak to moderate metallic sheen; antenna ( Fig. 684) with scape very pale orange, ventral margin dark brown; pedicel pale orange with a dark brown stripe; funicle and clava dark brown; mesoscutum with dense silvery setae on posterior half; fore and hind coxae white, mid coxa white with a dark brown spot; legs almost completely white to pale orange, mid femur and tibia and hind knee marked dark brown; fore wing ( Fig. 683) mostly infuscate with basal cell almost completely hyaline, a small hyaline area at apex of venation and another on opposite wing margin, apex hyaline; head about 10-17X as wide as frontovertex, in facial view clearly longer than broad, suboval with genae moderately curved inwards, more strongly so near mouth margin; frontovertex without setae medially above scrobes; eye separated from scrobe by about diameter of anterior ocellus, area between eye and scrobe with shallow sculpture, scrobes moderately deep with sharp margins; interantennal prominence with only about five or six inconspicuous setae and dorsally rounded; mandible more or less tridentate; antenna ( Fig. 684) with scape about 4.1X as long as broad; funicle with all segments longer than broad; head width clearly more than length of funicle but less than length of flagellum; linear sensilla on F4-F6; clava 3-segmented, slightly longer than F4-F6 combined; sensory area enlarged and forming an oblique truncation, extending slightly more than 0.5X along ventral margin; mesoscutum in anterior two-thirds with fine longitudinally elongate striate to striate-reticulate sculpture, posterior two-thirds with uniform, fairly shallow, polygonally reticulate sculpture; scutellum with a distinct, apical tuft of setae; wings fully developed; fore wing ( Fig. 683) about 2.5-2.6X as long as broad; parastigma hardly downcurved; costal cell dorsally naked or with two or three apical setae, ventrally with a line of setae that is interrupted above parastigma; area below proximal part of parastigma with a line of four of five setae connected to a line of setae along cubital vein track towards wing base, one or two setae outside this line; apices of postmarginal and stigmal veins connected by a naked hyaline area that continues someway into disc ( Fig. 682); apical bristle of postmarginal vein nearly 0.8X as long as marginal vein; mid tibial spur about as long as basitarsus; propodeum with about four setae adjacent to spiracle, side naked; syntergum about 0.9X as long as mid tibia; ovipositor about 3.6X gonostylus or about 1.3X as long as mid tibia; gonostylus about as long as mid tibial spur; exserted part of ovipositor about 0.3X as long as mid tibial spur. Male: unknown.

Female (holotype): length, including ovipositor, 1.61mm; excluding ovipositor, 1.53mm (CPD).

Head mostly very pale orange, yellowish; occiput with a small, elongate brown spot above foramen; frontovertex pale orange-brown, area between ocelli metallic green, eye margins slightly coppery, anterior part of frontovertex with a weaker metallic green, blue and coppery sheen, a narrow, purplish line between eyes above immediately above scrobes, scrobal area otherwise with a weak brassy sheen; top of scrobes delimited by a brown line with a weak purple sheen, area immediately below eye brown, with a metallic green, blue and purple sheen, area between toruli and mouth margin with a slender, curved, dark brown line, with purple and blue reflections, this connected to a much broader, oblique dark brown line from temple which has a distinct metallic green, brassy, coppery and purple sheen, temple otherwise with a weak brassy, green and purple sheen; frontovertex clothed with inconspicuous, translucent, pale brown setae, a line of fine, translucent setae between eye and scrobe; maxillary palpus white, terminal segment very pale brown; antenna ( Fig. 684) with radicle pale orange with a narrow, apical, dark brown ring; scape very pale orange, ventral margin narrowly dark brown in proximal one-third, more widely so towards base internally; pedicel very pale orange with a dark brown streak internally along its length; funicle and clava dark brown; pronotum orange, neck and area immediately above coxa dark brown; prosternum orange, dark brown immediately outside coxa; mesoscutum orange, posterolaterally dark brown with a weak purple and blue lustre, anterior orange area clothed with relatively sparse, dark brown setae, dark area clothed with relatively dense, silvery setae, area between with relatively sparse translucent, white setae; tegula orange with apex orange-brown; axilla and scutellum orange clothed with golden brown to dark brown setae, subapical tuft black; metanotum slightly dusky, pale orange; mesopleuron white with a slight brassy lustre and a brown, median band that does not quite reach ventral margin; mesosternum white; fore coxa white; fore femur white with apex very pale orange, tibia very pale orange, tarsus pale orange; mid coxa white with a dorsal brown spot opposite median brown band on mesopleuron; mid femur with a subapical brown spot dorsally, tibia white at extreme base, dorsal margin brown for about half its length, an incomplete, brown, subbasal band otherwise very pale orange, spur and tarsus pale orange; hind coxa white; hind femur white, apex pale orange with an incomplete, subapical brown band, knee brown, tibia very pale orange, tarsus pale orange; fore wing ( Fig. 683) mostly infuscate, hyaline towards base and at apex; submarginal vein very pale orange, parastigma distally dark brown, remainder of venation pale orange-brown; propodeum pale orange, a weak, orange-brown, longitudinal, stripe immediately inside spiracle, side with a weak, pale blue sheen, 3 or 4 translucent, silvery setae outside spiracle; gaster mostly dark brown with a mixed purple, coppery, brassy and green sheen, Gt1 with a distinct purple and green sheen, syntergum and apex otherwise, orange-brown; gonostylus very pale orange.

Head about 17X as wide as frontovertex in profile about 1.5X as high as deep, anteriorly quite straight between top of scrobes and mouth margin, interantennal prominence slightly protuberant just above torulus; occipital margin sharp, not carinate; ocelli forming an angle of about 35°; frontovertex moderately shiny, with distinct, fairly regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture of mesh size a little smaller than diameter of eye facet, deepest in ocellar area; narrowest area between eye and scrobe about as wide as diameter of anterior ocellus, area immediately below lowest part of eye with shallow, irregular sculpture, quite shiny; scrobes moderately deep, meeting, ∩-shaped, sharply margined between eye and scrobe; interantennal prominence with similar sculpture to frontovertex, clothed in sparse translucent setae, dorsally broadly rounded; temple with very shallow, irregular, elongate sculpture, gena with slightly deeper, irregular, reticulate sculpture; antenna as in Fig. 684; scape slightly broadened and flattened, about 4.1X as long as broad, widest below middle; funicle with all segments subequal in length and longer than broad, distal segments broadest, F1 about 2X as long as broad, F6 about 1.1X as long as broad; clava slightly broadened, a little longer than F4-F6 combined, sutures oblique, sensory area enlarged, extending ventrally slightly more than half-way along clava, giving it a strongly obliquely truncate appearance; eye slightly overreaching occipital margin, clothed in numerous, inconspicuous, very fine setae, each a little shorter than diameter of facet; inner eye margins strongly converging anteriorly; malar sulcus absent; clypeal margin weakly, but evenly concave; mandible more or less tridentate, with two sharp teeth and a truncation; apical segment of maxillary palpus not enlarged, about 1.5X as long as radicle. Relative measurements: HW 68, HH 74, FV 4, POL 3.5, OOL 0, OCL 6.5, AOL 10, EL 55, EW 39, MS 32, SL 41, SW 10.

Thorax with irregular, polygonally reticulate sculpture on pronotum that is about as deep as that in ocellar area of frontovertex; mesoscutum in anterior two-thirds with fine longitudinally elongate striate to striate-reticulate sculpture, posterior two-thirds with uniform, fairly shallow, polygonally reticulate sculpture; axilla and scutellum with similar sculpture to that on pronotum, but slightly deeper and coarser, especially on scutellum, more elongate laterally on scutellum; visible part of mesoscutum about 2.1X as broad as long; scutellum about as long as broad, with a distinct subapical tuft, setae mostly about half as long as scutellum; mid tibia with a distinct, external carina for about 0.4X its length; hind femur about 5.4X as long as broad; fore wing with venation and setation as in Figs 682, 683; costal cell naked dorsally at apex; apices of postmarginal and stigmal veins connected by a distinct, naked, hyaline streak ( Fig. 682); propodeum medially about 0.17X as long as scutellum, with some shallow, polygonally reticulate sculpture, side completely smooth. Relative measurements: FWL 75.5, FWW 28.5; HWL 61, HWW 14.

Gaster with hypopygium reaching about 0.4X to apex; syntergum nearly 0.9X as long as mid tibia, with apex very weakly angular; ovipositor hardly exserted, the exserted part about one-third length of mid tibial spur or about 0.13X mid tibia.

Paratype. Funicle with linear sensilla present only on F4-F6; gaster without “gland-like” structures on Gt1 or Gt5. Relative measurements: OL 40, GL 11 [MT 31].

Variation. Females vary in overall length from 1.32-1.61mm, the dark brown line above the mouth margin may not be connected to the oblique stripe from the temple, the gaster may be completely dark brown, the head may be only about 10X as wide as the frontovertex and there may be 1 or 2 setae dorsally at apex of costal cell.

Male. Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.

HOSTS. Unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Heredia, 11km SE La Virgen , 10°20’N 84°04’W, 450- 550m, 05/N/TN, 22.ii-20.iv.2003 (INBio-OET-ALAS) . Paratypes: COSTA RICA, 1E, Heredia, OTS La Selva, 100m, 3km S Puerto Viejo, x.1992 (P. Hanson); 1E , Alajuela, PN Volcán Arenal, Sendero Pilón , LN 458050 269200, #61216, 8.xi-7.xii.2000 (G. Carballo) . Holotype in MZUCR, paratypes in NHMUK .

COMMENTS. See comments under fabius (p. 283) and finator (p. 417).