Mahencyrtus asirensis Hayat

Hayat, Mohammad, Ahmad, Zubair & Khan, Farmanur Rehman, 2014, Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Zootaxa 3793 (1), pp. 1-59 : 34-36

Mahencyrtus asirensis Hayat , sp. nov.

( Figs 80–86 )

Female. Holotype. Length, 1.39 mm Head dark brown with greenish blue shine, between posterior ocelli and occipital margin purple. Antenna with scape yellow, dorsal margin brown; pedicel brownish yellow; flagellum brownish yellow, distal two segments of clava on outer surface pale brown. Mesosoma dark brown to nearly black; pronotum with bronzy shine; mesoscutum greenish blue, posterior margin purple; scutellum dark brown, margins smooth and bluish green; tegula black; mesopleuron dark brown; metapleuron black; propodeum dark brown. Fore wing ( Fig. 82 ) subhyaline, with a distinct elongate-oval infuscate streak on disc distal to venation; hind wing hyaline. Fore leg with coxa dark brown; femur, except white apical fourth, dark brown; tibia pale yellow; tarsus white, fifth segment brown. Mid leg with coxa dark brown; femur, except white basal third and apex narrowly, brown; tibia, tarsus and tibial spur white. Hind leg with coxa and femur dark brown; tibia and tarsus white. Metasoma dark brown, shiny; TI of gaster largely bluish green; ovipositor sheaths dark brown.

Head. Occipital margin rounded; frontovertex width 0.29× head width; ocellar triangle with apical angle slightly acute; posterior ocellus diameter, 1.25; OOL, 0.5; POL, 5.75; OCL, 6.5; AOL, 4.75; head, in frontal view ( Fig. 81 ), 1.10× as broad as high; eye height 2.75× malar space; frontovertex with raised, polygonal reticulate sculpture and with sparse, minute setigerous punctures; eye appears bare, but with sparse, very short setae. Mandible ( Fig. 81 ) tridentate, dorsal tooth rounded. Antenna ( Fig. 80 ) with scape more than 6× as long as broad, and as long as F1–F5 combined; pedicel slightly shorter than F1 and F2 combined; funicle segments longer than broad; dimensions of funicle segments of right antenna–F1, 1.75×; F2, 1.64×; F3, 1.33×; F4, 1.4×; F5, 1.28×; and F6, 1.14×, as long as broad; in the right antenna, F2 longer than F3 (14:12), but in left antenna, F2 shorter than F3 (12.5:14); clava nearly as long as F3–F6 combined. Relative measurements (holotype, card)—head dorsal width, 31; frontovertex width, 9; head frontal height, 28; eye height, 22; malar space, 8; antennal scape length, 13.5.

Mesosoma ( Fig. 83 ). Mesoscutum with fine, irregular, polygonal reticulate sculpture; scutellum with raised reticulate sculpture, the cells slightly elongated in about posterior half; propodeum medially with five ridges; setae on pronotum brown; mesoscutum with silvery white setae, with 6–7 longer setae along posterior margin brown; scutellum with brown setae; propodeum distal to spiracles with silvery white setae. Fore wing ( Fig. 82 ) 3× as long as broad; venation 0.48× wing length; relative lengths of marginal, postmarginal and stigmal veins vary in the two wings, but marginal vein longer (1.25×, 1.5×) than stigmal vein, and longer (2.44×, 1.8×) than postmarginal vein; costal cell with a line of setae in distal half of dorsal surface; ventral surface with one line of setae in distal threefifths and two lines of setae in proximal two-fifths; disc proximal to linea calva setose to base, without a bare area in basal triangle. Hind wing 5.6× as long as broad; marginal fringe about one-third wing width. Relative measurements (holotype, slide)—mid tibia length, 42; mid basitarsus length, 13; mid tibial spur length, 14.5.

Metasoma slightly longer than head plus mesosoma (59:56); TI of gaster with the characteristic (of the genus), slightly curved ridge on each side ( Fig. 83 ). Relative measurements (holotype, slide)—TVII length, 54; ovipositor length, 75; third valvula length, 18.

Male. Length, 1.13 mm. Colour more or less similar to that in female, except as follows: antennal scape yellow, margins pale brown; pedicel pale brown; flagellum brownish yellow, becoming brown on clava. Fore wing hyaline. Legs largely yellow to brownish yellow, except all coxae, and hind femur (with base and apex brownish yellow) dark brown; fore tarsus brown.

Head. Vertex convex; frontovertex width 0.48× head width; ocellar triangle with apical angle a right angle; POL 2.8× as long as OOL, and 2× as long as OCL; head, in frontal view ( Fig. 85 ), slightly (1.11×) broader than high; toruli situated almost in middle of head; head with short brown setae, those above mouth margin and on malar space silvery white. Antenna ( Fig. 84 ) with scape less than 3× as long as broad (11:4); pedicel about 1.4× as long as broad; F1 2.7× as long as pedicel, and 4.56× as long as broad; funicle segments longer than broad; clava unsegmented, about as long as distal half of F5 and F6 combined; funicle segments with whorls of setae, each seta not less than 2× as long as width of a segment.

Mesosoma with sculpture and setation as in female. Fore wing more or less similar to that of female.

Metasoma. Gaster subequal in length to mesosoma; genitalia ( Fig. 86 ) with a tubular phallobase which gradually becomes narrowed anteriorly; parameres very short; digiti short, and each digitus with a denticle; phallobase 1.75× as long as mid basitarsus and 1.66× as long as mid tibial spur; aedeagus 0.78× phallobase length.

Material examined. Holotype ( ZDAMU, registration No. HYM. CH.686), ♀ (on slide under 4 coverslips, slide No. EH.1697), labelled “ KSA: ASIR: Abha, Raidah, vi.2011, (MT), Coll. Z. Ahmad”.

Paratypes. 2 ♂. 1 ♂ with same data as for the holotype; Al-Qassim: Unaizah, 30.v.2013 (35F), Coll. F.R. Khan (1 ♂, on slide, EH.1694) (1 ♂ in NPC, registration No. 136/11/157/6; 1 ♂, on slide, in ZDAMU, registration No. HYM. CH.686).

Distribution. Saudi Arabia : Asir; Al-Qassim.

Etymology. The species name is derived from the name of the province from where the holotype was collected.

Comments. This new species is similar to the Indian species, M. indicus Singh & Agarwal (1993 ; see also Hayat 2006) and M. sudhiri Hayat (2010) in having all the funicle segments longer than broad, but differs from both in leg colour (all coxae, fore femur and hind femur, dark brown). In the two Indian species the legs, including coxae, are brownish yellow to yellow. The new species is also similar to M. comara (Walker) (see Trjapitzin 1989) and M. nitidus (Howard) (see Noyes 1979). In M. comara : fore coxa and femur and mid coxa are yellow; mid femur dark brown; funicle segments, except F1, short, quadrate to broader than long. In M. nitidus : fore coxa white; fore and mid femora yellow; funicle segments, except F1 and F2, quadrate to broader than long.

Figures

FIGURES 80 – 86. Mahencyrtus asirensis Hayat, sp. nov. (80 – 83, female): 80, antenna; 81, head, frontal view, with mandible enlarged; 82, fore wing; 83, mesosoma with TI of gaster, arrow points to curved ridge. (84 – 86, male): 84, antenna; 85, head, frontal view; 86, genitalia.