Trechnites thelxines, 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 : 570-572

Trechnites thelxines sp.nov.

(Figs 1476-1484; Hab. E 217, G 218)

DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 0.8-1.2mm): head metallic green with some copper; mesoscutum shining green, anteriorly and posteriorly coppery; scutellum dull dark blue and purple; hind tibia pale yellow with a broad dark brown subbasal band, tarsus pale yellow; fore wing (Fig. 1482) hyaline; flagellum (Fig, 1483) with very dense short setae, generally at least 40 setae between pairs of longitudinal sensilla on clava with majority of setae not more than one-quarter of length of linear sensilla; mandible (Fig. 1476) with very short upper and lower teeth with a broadly truncate middle tooth; palp formula 3-2; mesoscutum (Fig. 1481) with shallow, transversely elongate, imbricate sculpture; scutellum with contrasting, deeper, longitudinally very elongate imbricate to striate-reticulate sculpture; notaular lines complete and nearly meeting at posterior margin of mesoscutum; fore wing (Fig. 1482) with linea calva closed by 3 lines of setae. Male (length about 0.7-1.0mm): pedicel not swollen (Fig. 1484); digitus (Fig. 1478) with 2 apical teeth, aedeagus about 6.3X as long as broad and about 0.5X as long as mid tibia with apex broadly rounded.

Female (holotype): length 0.94mm ( CPD) .

Head black with a moderate metallic sheen; frontovertex metallic green with scattered coppery reflections; scrobal area, temple and gena coppery purple; radicle dark brown; antenna (Fig. 1483) with scape mostly dark brown, apical 0.4X very pale yellow, virtually white; pedicel white, dorsally dark brown towards base; F1-F3 brown, F4 pale brown, pale yellow externally, F5 pale yellow; clava proximally brown, apical segments pale yellow; maxillary palpus very pale yellow; thorax mostly dark brown to black with a weak to moderate metallic sheen; pronotum with a coppery purple sheen; mesoscutum coppery purple in anterior half and broadly along lateral and posterior margins, remainder with a metallic dark green sheen; tegula dark brown with a weak coppery purple sheen; axilla and anterior three-quarters of scutellum with weak coppery purple sheen, posterior part of scutellum with a weak dark blue sheen that becomes slightly more conspicuous metallic dark green and coppery towards apex and side; mesopleuron generally with a purple sheen, anteriorly with some coppery and brassy reflections; mesosternum dark brown; all coxae dark brown, distally mixed pale orange; fore femur mostly dark brown, white at base and apex, tibia pale orange with a broad, subbasal brown ring, tarsus pale orange, apical tarsomere slightly dusky; mid femur mostly dark brown, white at base, very pale orange at apex, tibia white with a narrow, subbasal brown ring, spur and tarsus very pale orange; hind femur mainly dark brown, white at extreme base and apex, tibia white at base, pale orange at apex with a dark brown subbasal band extending to about 0.5X, tarsus pale yellow, apical tarsomere dusky; wings (Fig. 1482) hyaline; propodeum dark brown, with a slight purple sheen, side with a stronger, green, blue-green and coppery sheen; gaster dark brown, generally with a fairly strong coppery and purple sheen, with green and blue reflections, Gt1 and syntergum laterally more distinctly metallic green and blue; gonostylus dark brown.

Head (Fig. 1476) about 3.2X as wide as frontovertex, in profile about 1.7X as high as deep, quite flat from occipital margin to top of scrobes, then more curved at top of scrobes and only slightly convex to mouth margin, with interantennal prominence hardly protuberant; occipital margin sharp, not carinate; ocelli forming an angle of about 75°; inner eye margins subparallel; frontovertex shiny, in ocellar area with fairly regular, moderately deep, polygonally reticulate sculpture of mesh size slightly smaller than eye facet, in front of anterior ocellus with slightly transversely elongate, polygonally reticulate to imbricate-reticulate sculpture of similar mesh size to that in ocellar area; frontovertex with at least 10 pairs of setae in front of anterior ocellus, a line of sparse setae along inner eye margin continued along lower eye margin; temple and gena quite shiny, with shallower, longitudinally elongate, polygonally reticulate sculpture; eye slightly overreaching occipital margin, with conspicuous, dense, pale setae that are each about as long as diameter of facet; scrobes shallow, narrowly Λ-shaped, meeting, generally with sculpture similar to that on frontovertex, weakly margined dorsally and laterally; interantennal prominence weak, moderately acute dorsally, with shallow, regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture; antenna as in Fig. 1483; scape subcylindrical, about 4.4X as long as broad; F1-F4 transverse, F5 subquadrate, segments slightly larger and broader distad; clava hardly broadened, about 1.2X as wide as F5, very slightly longer than funicle, sutures not oblique, apex rounded; malar sulcus absent; clypeal margin concave. Relative measurements: HW 54.5, HH 49, FV 17, POL 8, OOL 1, OCL 2.5, AOL 6.5, EL 39, EW 28.5, MS 14.5, SL 22, SW 5.

Thorax (Fig. 1481) in dorsal view with pronotum short, largely hidden by head, with posterior margin broadly and shallowly concave; pronotum dorsally with similar sculpture to that in ocellar area; mesoscutum with shallower and more transversely elongate polygonally reticulate to imbricate-reticulate sculpture; axilla and scutellum with relatively coarse, polygonally reticulate sculpture that is conspicuously deeper than that on mesoscutum, extreme apex and side of scutellum completely smooth and shiny; visible part of mesoscutum about 2X as broad as long, notaular lines present, but not visible externally; scutellum about 1.2X as broad as long; fore wing with venation and distribution of setae as in Figs 1480, 1482; propodeum (Fig. 1481) medially about 0.11X as long as scutellum and with shallow, polygonally reticulate sculpture. Relative measurements: FWL 51, FWW 18; HWL 30, HWW 6.

Gaster with syntergum about 0.8X as long as mid tibia, with apex rounded.

Paratype. Funicle with linear sensilla present only on F4-F5; flagellum with very dense short setae, generally at least 40 setae between pairs of longitudinal sensilla on clava with majority of setae not more than one-quarter of length of linear sensilla; mandible with very short upper and lower teeth with a broadly truncate middle tooth; palp formula 3-2; apex of syntergum with a pair of subapical, lateral membranous invaginations; hypopygium Fig. 1477; ovipositor Fig. 1479. Relative measurements: OL 44, GL 19 [MT 64.5].

Variation. The overall length of the female varies from 0.81-1.23mm, the frontovertex may be completely coppery, F3 and F4 vary from pale orange to brown, the clava may be completely white, the mesoscutum may be mostly metallic dark green, the entire scutellum may have an indistinct, weak, dark blue sheen, the coxae may be completely dark brown; the hind tibia may have only the apical one-third pale orange and the head varies from about 2.9-3.3X as wide as the frontovertex with the ocelli forming an angle of about 75-90°.

Male: length 0.74-0.97mm.

Extremely similar to female but for structure of clava and genitalia. Antenna (Fig. 1484) generally unicolorous brown, sometimes with clava partially or completely off-white; clava solid with sensory area enlarged forming a distinct, oblique apical truncation, genitalia (Fig. 1478) with

2 apical teeth on digitus and aedeagus about 0.5X as long as mid tibia, slender with apex obtusely rounded. Relative measurements: AL 44, MT 90.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.

HOSTS. Unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Puntarenas, PN Corcovado, Send. Los Patos/Sirena, LS 509200 275700, 70m, 20.ii.2002 (J. Azofeifa). Paratypes: COSTA RICA, 1G, Guanacaste, Pitilla ( ACG), 700m, YPT, 11.ii.1996 (L. Masner); 1E, Guanacaste, San Lorenzo, Tienes Morenas, LN 287800 427600, iv.1995 (G. Rodriguez); 1E, Alajuela, PN Arenal, Sendero Pilón, 10°27’N 84°43’W, 600m, 26.ii.2003 (J.S. Noyes); 1E, Alajuela, ACA San Carlos, RF Arenal, Sendero Pilón, LN 269100 457900, 600m, MT, #53363, 17-18.v.1999 (G. Carballo); 1E, Heredia, OTS-La Selva, 10°26’N 84°01’W, canopy fog FVK/11, Virola koscheyi , 4.ix.1993 (INBio-OET); 3G, Heredia, OTS La-Selva, FVK 24, 15.x.1994 ( ALAS); 2E, 3G, Heredia, OTS-La Selva, FVK 27, 20.x.1994 ( ALAS); 1E, Heredia, Puerto Viejo, Est. Biol. La Selva, LN 264463 532850, 100-200m, #67193, 30-31.iii.2002 (J. Azofeifa); 2E, Heredia, 11km SE La Virgen, 10°20’N 84°04’W, 450-550m, 05/N/TN, 22.ii-20.iv.2003 (INBio-OET-ALAS); 1E, Puntarenas, Est. Altamira, 9°03’N 83°00’W, 1450m, ii.2002 (C. Hansson, D. Rubí ); 1E, Puntarenas, Est. Altamira, Send. a Casa Coca, LS 331750 574400, 1700m, ii.2002 (C. Hansson, D. Rubí, J.Azofeifa ); 2E, Puntarenas, San Vito, Las Cruces, Wilson Bot. Gdns, 1500m, 18-22.iii.1990 (J.S. Noyes); 1E, Puntarenas, San Vito, Las Cruces, Wilson Bot. Gdns, 8°46’N 82°57’W, 1300m, 15-16.ii.2006 (J.S. Noyes); 2E, Puntarenas, La Gamba Biol. Sta., 8°42’N 83°12’W, 150m, 13-14.ii.2006 (J.S. Noyes); 1E, Puntarenas, Pen. Osa , 8km S. R. Rincon, Coopermarti, xii.1990 (P. Hanson); 1E, 3G, Puntarenas, PN Corcovado, Los Patos, 8°33’N 83°30’W, 200m, ii.2000 (J.S. Noyes, J.A. Azofeifa); 1E, Puntarenas, PN Corcovado, Est. Los Patos, 200m, 21.ii.2002 (J.S. Noyes); 2G, Puntarenas, PN Corcovado, Los Patos, LS 517900 281600, 200m, 21.ii.2002 (J. Azofeifa); 1E, Puntarenas, Golfito, Est. Agujas, LS 526650 276750, 300m, canopy fog, #61183, 15.iii.2000 (A. Solis); 3G, Puntarenas, Golfito, Est. Agujas, LS 526550 276750, 300m, 22.xii.2000 - 9.i.2001 and 9-24.ii.2001 (J. Azofeifa); 1E, Limón, RB Hitoy-Cerere, 100m, 14-19.i.1991 (J.S. Noyes). Holotype in MZUCR, paratypes in MZUCR and NHMUK.