Leptomastidea abyad Hayat

Hayat, Mohammad, Ahmad, Zubair & Khan, Farmanur Rehman, 2014, Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Zootaxa 3793 (1), pp. 1-59 : 32-33

Leptomastidea abyad Hayat , sp. nov.

( Figs 74–79 )

Female. Holotype. Length, 0.76 mm (Paratype, 0.70 mm) Head white. Antenna ( Fig. 74 ) with radicle dark brown; scape white, with a dark brown streak in middle half of upper surface; pedicel dark brown in basal half, white in distal half; F1 brown, F2–F6 white, becoming pale yellow distally; clava brownish yellow. Mesosoma with pronotum dark brown, except white collar and sides; mesoscutum brown, sides brownish yellow; axilla dark brown; scutellum brown with sides dark brown; tegula white, apically brown; mesopleuron white; metapleuron brown; propodeum between spiracles brown, distal to spiracles white. Fore wing ( Fig. 79 ) hyaline, with an oblique infuscate band below middle of submarginal vein, and a broad infuscate band below distal veins, the band narrowly interrupted by hyaline in posterior third; disc beyond this band and apex, with hyaline setae, with a large subapical area with pale brown setae which appears like a third lightly infuscate band. Hind wing hyaline. Legs, including fore and hind coxae, white; mid coxa brown on outer surface; fore tibia and tarsus pale brownish yellow; mid tibia basally with a faint brown spot. Gaster across base of TI and distal half of TVII dark brown; rest of TI to proximal half of TVII white; TII to TVI each with a faint brown spot on each side.

Head ( Fig. 75 ), in frontal view, 1.15× as broad as high; frontovertex width 0.52× head width; posterior ocellus separated from eye margin by about 2.37× diameter of an ocellus; POL 1.36× OOL; eye height 2.66× malar space; frontovertex with isodiametric, regular polygonal reticulate sculpture; malar space with lineolate reticulate sculpture; setae white; eye with hyaline setae, each seta shorter than a facet. Maxillary palp 3-segmented. Antenna ( Fig. 74 ) with scape slightly longer than width of frontovertex, and about 6.6× as long as broad; pedicel slightly longer than F1 (7:6); funicle segments subequal in length; clava as long as distal half of F4 and F5 and F6 combined. Relative measurements (holotype, slide)—head frontal width, 34; head frontal height, 29.5; frontovertex width, 18; eye height, 20; malar space, 7.5; antennal scape length, 19; pedicel length, 7; F1 length, 6; F6 length, 6.5; clava length, 16.

Mesosoma. Mesoscutum with rugose reticulate sculpture; scutellum with sculpture similar, but cells elongate on sides and posterior third ( Fig. 76 ); setae white; scutellum with about 24 setae, subapical pair long; propodeum with silvery white setae distal to spiracles; propodeum with two submedian ridges, and irregular reticulations laterally. Fore wing ( Fig. 79 ) 3× as long as broad; ratios of lengths of marginal, postmarginal and stigmal veins–1:3:2.2. Hind wing 7.7× as long as broad, with marginal fringe 0.96× wing width. Relative measurements (holotype, slide)—mid tibia length, 41.5; mid basitarsus length, 13; mid tibial spur length, 10.5.

Metasoma 1.26× as long as mesosoma; outer plate of ovipositor and ovipositor as in Figs 77 and 78 . Relative measurements (holotype, slide)—TVII length, 33.5; ovipositor length, 22; third valvula (fused with second valvifer) length, 5.

Male. Unknown.

Material examined. Holotype ( ZDAMU, registration No. HYM. CH.685), ♀ (on slide under 4 coverslips, slide No. EH.1586), labelled “ KSA: AL-BAHA: Qunfudah, vi.2012, (MT), Coll. Z. Ahmad”.

Paratype. 1 ♀, with same data as holotype ( NPC, registration No. 136/11/157/5).

Distribution. Saudi Arabia : Al-Baha.

Etymology. Arabic, abyad (noun) = white, and refers to the colour of the head, a noun in apposition.

Comments. This new species is apparently similar to Leptomastidea matritensis Mercet (1916 , there as a subspecies of L. aurantiaca Mercet ; see also Mercet 1921 and 1924), but differs as follows: head white; antennal flagellum with F1 brown, F2–F6 white becoming pale yellow distally, and clava brownish yellow; mesosoma with pronotum largely dark brown except white collar and sides; mesoscutum brown with sides brownish yellow; axilla dark brown; scutellum brown with sides brownish yellow; fore wing subapically in a wide area with pale brown setae which appear like a third lightly infuscate band; mid coxa brown on outer surface; gaster across base of TI and distal half of TVII dark brown, rest of TI to proximal half of TVII white, and TII to TVI each with faint brown spots on each side. In L. matritensis : head orange yellow; antennal flagellum blackish; pronotum and mesothoracic tergites yellow; gaster yellowish white, with lateral margins brown. This new species differs from all the Afrotropical species of Leptomastidea Mercet ( Prinsloo 2001) by the following characters: head, propleuron and mesopleuron, fore and hind coxae, white; fore wing with 2 infuscate bands, one oblique below submarginal vein and the second, rather broad band, below distal veins and this band narrowly interrupted in posterior third by a hyaline cross-band; disc beyond this band largely and apex with hyaline setae and with a large subapical area with pale brown setae which appears as a third lightly infuscate band; antennal scape white with a dark brown band in upper half of middle; F1 brown; F2–F6 white becoming pale yellow distally; clava brownish yellow. In all the Afrotropical species, except L. pondo Prinsloo (in which the fore wing has an oblique band below submarginal vein, and a spot around distal veins), the fore wing infuscated bands are different; the colour of the antennal segments is different; and the hind coxa is brown to blackish brown. The new species does not run to any of the species in the keys given by Trjapitzin (1989: 143–145) and Noyes & Hayat (1994: 335–336).

Figures

FIGURES 74 – 79. Leptomastidea abyad Hayat, sp. nov. Female: 74, antenna; 75, head, frontal view; 76, scutellum, right half showing sculpture; 77, outer plate of ovipositor; 78, second valvifer with fused third valvula; 79, fore wing.