Acroclisoides africanus Ferrière, 1940

Tselikh, Ekaterina V., Mitroiu, Mircea-Dan, Lee, Jaehyeon, Dale-Skey, Natalie & Ku, Deok-Seo, 2025, Revision of Acroclisoides Girault & Dodd, 1915 (Chalcidoidea, Pteromalidae, Metasteninae), ZooKeys 1257, pp. 153-214 : 153-214

Acroclisoides africanus Ferrière, 1940

Figs 1–8

Acroclisoides africanus Ferrière, 1940: 145. Syntype female ( NHMUK, examined).

Type material.

Syntype • female, Kenya, “ E. AFRICA Kenya ”, “ 1137. 17.7. 33 Ex Eggs Antestia lineaticollis Kiambu R. H. LePelley ”, “ 1137 ”, “ Type ”, “ Acroclisoides africanus ♀ Ch. Ferrière Type ”, “ Pres. By Imp. Inst. Ent. B. M. 1940-163 ”, “ B. M. TYPE HYM.5.865 ” ( NHMUK) .

Additional material examined.

Democratic Republic of the Congo • 5 females, “ BELGIAN CONGO Mulungu Dist. 1947 P. C. Lefevre 492 ”, “ IMP. INST ENT. COLL. NO. 10426 ”, “ Ex. Antestia sp. nr. Lineaticollis Stal. ”, “ Pres. By Imp. Inst. Ent. B. M. 1948-321 ”, “ NHMUK 013456011 ”, “ NHMUK 013456015 ”, “ NHMUK 013456016 ”, “ NHMUK 013456017 ”, “ NHMUK 013456018 ” ( NHMUK, ZISP) • 2 females, “ Mus. Congo, Rutshuru , III- 1937, J. Ghesquière, 6135 ” ( MRAC) • 1 female, “ Mus. Congo, Mulungu, 1937, P. Lefèvre, 27 ”, “ Récolté sur Caféier ” ( MRAC) . Uganda • 8 females, 4 males, “ UGANDA Jono 5. IV. 1926 H. Hargreaves ”, “ Ex eggs Antestia lineaticollis ”, “ NHMUK 013455892 ”, “ NHMUK 013455893 ”, “ NHMUK 013455894 ”, “ NHMUK 013455895 ”, “ NHMUK 013455896 ”, “ NHMUK 013455897 ”, “ NHMUK 013455898 ”, “ NHMUK 013455899 ”, “ NHMUK 013455900 ”, “ NHMUK 013455901 ”, “ NHMUK 013455902 ”, “ NHMUK 013455903 ” ( NHMUK) .

Description.

Female. Body length 1.13–1.50 mm; fore wing length 1.13–1.45 mm.

Coloration. Head and mesosoma dorsally dark blue with diffuse metallic luster; head frontally dark green with diffuse coppery luster; antenna with scape yellow; pedicel and anelli yellowish brown; F 1 – F 6 and clava brown. All coxae, femora and tibiae yellowish brown, all tarsi yellow. Fore wing hyaline, venation brown. Metasoma dorsally dark brown with metallic blue luster; ovipositor sheaths yellowish brown or brown.

Sculpture. Head and mesosoma reticulate; clypeus striate-reticulate; scutellum strongly reticulate, but frenal area finely reticulate; propodeum reticulate, nucha alutaceous; petiole smooth; metasoma smooth and shiny.

Head. In dorsal view 2.10–2.22 × as broad as long and 1.15–1.38 × as broad as mesoscutum; in frontal view 1.40–1.50 × as broad as high. POL 0.75–0.90 × as long as OOL. Eye height 1.11–1.19 × eye length and 1.66–1.82 × malar space. Distance between antennal toruli and lower margin of clypeus 4.70–5.00 × distance between antennal toruli and median ocellus. Antenna with scape 0.97–1.00 × as long as eye height and 1.11–1.15 × as long as eye length; pedicel 1.25–1.38 × as long as broad; combined length of pedicel and flagellum 1.12–1.20 × breadth of head; F 1 – F 6 longer than broad, F 1 2.10–2.66 × as long as broad and with two rows of sensilla; clava 2.80–3.00 × as long as broad, with small microsetose area on C 3 and C 4. Lower posterior corner of gena rounded. Lower margin of clypeus deeply concave bilaterally, in middle part arched and straight.

Mesosoma. 1.20–1.26 × as long as broad. Scutellum moderately arched, 0.83–0.85 × as long as broad, frenal area differentiated by a change in sculpture. Propodeum 0.50–0.54 × as long as scutellum, without costula and median carina, nucha small. Fore wing 1.89–2.06 × as long as its maximum width; basal cell setose; basal vein setose; speculum small and closed below; M 0.76–0.81 × as long as PM and 1.35–1.62 × as long as S, stigma small.

Metasoma. 1.39–1.40 × as long as broad, 0.83–0.89 × as long as mesosoma, 0.61–0.72 × as long as mesosoma and head. Petiole 1.00–1.22 × as long as broad. Ovipositor sheaths projecting slightly beyond apex of metasoma.

Male. Body length 0.85–0.92 mm; fore wing length 0.75–0.90 mm. Distance between antennal toruli and lower margin of clypeus 3.00–3.10 × distance between antennal toruli and median ocellus. Propodeum 0.70–0.76 × as long as scutellum. Fore wing with M 0.95–1.00 × as long as PM. Otherwise, similar to female.

Biology.

Egg parasitoid of the hemipterans Antestiopsis faceta (Germar, 1837) , A. lineaticollis (Stål, 1853) , A. facetoides Greathead, 1965 , A. intricata (Ghesquière & Carayon, 1948) , A. orbitalis (Westwood, 1837) , A. thunbergii (Gmelin, 1790) , Atelocera notatipennis Stål, 1858 , ( Pentatomidae ) and hyperparasitoids of Asolcus sp. and Trissolcus sp. ( Scelionidae ) ( UCD Community 2025).

Distribution.

Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Senegal, Uganda ( UCD Community 2025).

Comments.

Acroclisoides africanus Ferrière belongs to a group of species where both sexes have a hyaline fore wing. This species is very similar to A. simbis Tselikh & Mitroiu , sp. nov.; the differences between these species are given in the key.

Material from Ghana was misidentified as A. africanus Ferrière by D. S. Hill; in this paper this material is considered to be a new species, A. fusus Tselikh & Mitroiu , sp. nov. (see below).

Figures

Figures 1–8. Acroclisoides africanus Ferrière, 1940, 1. female, holotype and 2–8. female, not type. 1. Habitus, lateral view; 2. Mesosoma and propodeum, dorsal view; 3. Antenna; 4. Head, frontal view; 5. Fore wing; 6. Head, lateral view; 7. Habitus, dorsal view; 8. Head and pronotum, dorsal view.