Cryptanusia ajmerensis (Fatma & Shafee, 1998)

Rameshkumar, A., Poorani, J. & V, Naveen, 2015, Additions to the Encyrtidae and Mymaridae (Chalcidoidea) of India with new distribution and host records for some species, Biodiversity Data Journal 3, pp. 5216-5216 : 5216

Cryptanusia ajmerensis (Fatma & Shafee, 1998)

Mira ajmerensis Fatma and Shafee 1988: 25.

Cryptanusia ajmerensis : Noyes and Hayat 1994: 51.

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Sunil Joshi; individualCount: 11 and 3; sex: females and males; lifeStage: Adult; Location: continent: Asia; country: India; stateProvince: Karnataka; municipality: Bangalore; locality: Doddaballapur ; verbatimElevation: 880m; verbatimCoordinates: N13°13' E77°00'; Identification: identifiedBy: M. Hayat; Event: samplingProtocol: Host rearing; eventDate: 21-12-2014; Record Level: institutionID: National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources; institutionCode: NBAIR

Diagnosis

Female (Fig. 6a, b) with very prominent antenna, head and mesosoma yellowish-orange with slight infuscation, scutellum with a characteristic, heart-shaped white patch and a bunch of elongate setae before apex (Fig. 6c), metasoma black with violet metallic reflections. Antenna (Fig. 6d) with scape yellow-orange, greatly expanded, pedicel yellow, funicle dark metallic violet and spindle-shaped, clava white, basally infuscate. Head hypognathous, in front view about as long as broad (Fig. 6c). Fore wing (Fig. 6b) infuscate.

The specimens examined by us agree with the illustrations provided by Hayat 2006 (see Figs. 1588-1591) except for the presence of the scutellar spot and the setal bunch on scutellum (lost in the holotype illustrated by Hayat). The original description indicates that C. ajmerensis is dorsally dark brown, but apparently its colour is quite variable.

Male (Fig. 6f) with head yellow with a median infuscate patch; antenna brownish with elongate whorls of setae; mesosoma dark brown except scutellum orange / yellowish with a basal yellowish-white patch as in female and a few short blackish setae near apex, lacking a setal bunch; metasoma dark brown; legs yellowish; wings more or less hyaline; scape 4.6x longer than wide; funicle segments cylindrical, subequal, each about twice as long as wide, clothed with long seta; clava entire, as long as preceding two funicle segments, base of clava with 8 scale like setae; fore wing hyaline, 2.5x as long as wide; marginal vein shorter than stigmal; postmarginal vein very short; linea calva interrupted by 4 or 5 lines of seta.

Distribution

India: Rajasthan ( Hayat 2006); new record for southern India (Karnataka).

Biology

Reared on Chorizococcus sorghi Williams ( Sternorrhyncha: Pseudococcidae ) infesting the roots of indeterminate plants (new host). Live adults look like small ants with vigorous wiggling of the antennae and can be readily distinguished by the characteristic antenna.