Euplectrus ronniei Schauff

Hansson, Christer, Smith, M. Alex, Janzen, Daniel H. & Hallwachs, Winnie, 2015, Integrative taxonomy of New World Euplectrus Westwood (Hymenoptera, Eulophidae), with focus on 55 new species from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica, ZooKeys 485, pp. 1-236 : 95

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Eulophidae

Euplectrus ronniei Schauff Figures 651-655

Euplectrus ronniei Schauff, in Schauff & Janzen, 2001: 219-220. Holotype ♀ (INBio), not examined.

Material.

Type material: 1♀ paratype of Euplectrus ronniei (USNM). Additional material: 1♀ 1♂ with same label data as female paratype (USNM), but not included in the original description.

Diagnosis.

Lower face medially white with median ⅓ pale yellowish-brown, extending to half-way between level of outer lateral margins of toruli and eyes (Fig. 652); legs yellowish-white with hind coxae pale yellowish-brown (Fig. 651); petiole 0.7 × as long as wide; gaster with anterior ½ yellowish-white (female, Fig. 653) or white (male, Fig. 654) with dark brown anterior and lateral margins, posterior ½ dark brown. Very similar to Euplectrus chrisgrinteri the only differences are that Euplectrus ronniei has shorter petiole (both sexes) and different host preferences, possibly also in the characters of male scape - but the appearance of the male scape in Euplectrus ronniei is not known (head is missing in single known male specimen).

Description.

Female. Length of body 2.2 mm. Antenna (missing in non-type specimen) with scape white with apex and pedicel yellowish-brown, flagellum yellowish-brown with ventral parts pale yellowish-brown (Fig. 655). Mandibles and palpi white. Head black and shiny, lower face medially white with median ⅓ pale yellowish-brown, extending to half-way between level of outer lateral margins of toruli and eye, parts between pale area and eyes black (Fig. 652). Frons close to eyes with two rows of setae. Vertex smooth. Occipital margin rounded.

Mesosoma black and shiny (Fig. 651). Each sidelobe of mesoscutum with 12 setae. Scutellum 0.9 × as long as wide; with weak engraved reticulation, posterior margin smooth. Dorsellum along anterior margin with a groove that is divided by longitudinal carinae. Propodeum with very weak reticulation; anteromedially with a triangular cup that has posterior part strongly raised; propodeal callus with seven setae. Legs yellowish-white with hind coxa pale yellowish-brown (Fig. 651). Fore wing: costal cell on ventral surface predominantly with one row of setae, two rows at base, and margin with three setae close to marginal vein; with 15 admarginal setae, in one row.

Gaster with anterior ½ yellowish-white with dark brown anterior and lateral margins, posterior ½ dark brown (Fig. 653).

Ratios. HE/MS/WM = 2.0/1.0/1.1; POL/OOL/POO = 6.0/2.7/1.0; OOL/DO = 1.2; WE/WF/WH/HH = 1.0/2.8/5.1/3.7; WH/WT = 1.0; PM/ST = 1.3; TS1/TS2/LT/LT1/LT2/LT3/LT4 = 4.4/2.7/7.1/2.4/1.6/1.0/1.9; LP/WP = 0.7; MM/LG = 1.1.

Male. Length of body without head 1.5 mm. Similar to female except shorter gaster with pale area white (Fig. 654). The head is missing in single available male specimen.

Ratios. MM/LG = 1.2.

Hosts and biology.

Cautethia spuria ( Sphingidae ) feeding on Exostema mexicanum ( Rubiaceae ) ( Schauff and Janzen 2001).

Distribution.

Costa Rica (Guanacaste Province) ( Schauff and Janzen 2001).

Remarks.

The type series of Euplectrus ronniei contains two females, one the holotype, from Cautethia spuria ( Sphingidae ), and three males reared from Oxidercia toxea ( Noctuidae ). The specimens from Cautethia , among them the holotype, belong to a different species than the specimens from Oxidercia . As the holotype of Euplectrus ronniei is from Cautethia spuria , being the name-bearing type, these two females are Euplectrus ronniei . The male specimens from Oxidercia belong to a different species, possibly Euplectrus garygibsoni , which has the same host, but some morphological features do not agree between the females of Euplectrus garygibsoni and the males that formerly were Euplectrus ronniei . There are no barcode for the specimens from Oxidercia . The identity of the males from Oxidercia remains unsolved until further information becomes available.