Leptus nikanori Haitlinger, 2000

Mayoral, J. G. & Barranco, P., 2011, A New Species Of Larval Charletonia (Parasitengona: Erythraeidae) And New Records Of Larval Erythraeidae Parasitizing Orthoptera And Phasmida From Costa Rica, Acarologia 51 (2), pp. 219-227 : 220-222

Leptus nikanori Haitlinger, 2000

Material examined — Twelve larvae, Colonia Palmareaea. San Ramón, Alajuela, Costa Rica. 21- IX-2006. P. Barranco leg. On Scopiorinus mucronatus . P. Barranco det. (R-249B-D, R-249G-I, R-249M-R); 3 larvae, R.B.A.M.B. San Ramón , Alajuela, Costa Rica. 23-IX-2006. P. Barranco leg. On Lophaspis scabricula . P. Barranco det. (R-260A-C) ; 1 larva, R.B.A.M.B. San Ramón , Alajuela, Costa Rica. 23-IX-2006. P. Barranco leg. On Idiarthron hammuliferum Beier, 1960 . P. Barranco det. (R-258) ; 1 larva, R. B.A.M.B. San Ramón, Alajuela, Costa Rica. 19-IX-2006. P. Barranco leg. On Brizoides sp. phasmid (R-261) ; 10 larvae, R. B.A.M.B. San Ramón, Alajuela, Costa Rica. 15-IX-2006. P. Barranco leg. On Planudes sp. phasmid nymph (R-259A-J) .

Remarks — We found L. nikanori in two ar-

eas sampled, inside the R.B.A.M.B. and in the surrounding area of Colonia Palmareaea. This species was relatively common inside of the preserve. These two areas differ in the type of vegetation and in the species of orthopterans present ( Barranco, 2010a, 2010b). Leptus nikanori was found on the two different hosts Phasmida and Orthoptera . We captured a total of 16 larvae parasitizing 3 species of katydids and 11 larvae parasitizing 2 species of phasmids. This species was originally described from Irazoe, Costa Rica on plants ( Haitlinger, 2000) from a unique larva; since morphometric data is only known for the holotype, we are presenting the metric information for the 27 exemplars we captured from San Ramón, Alajuela, Costa Rica ( Table 1 ). This is the second time that this species is captured and it is only known from Costa Rica.