Ooencyrtus alrake Hayat

Hayat, Mohammad, 2012, On some Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) associated with gall-inducing psylloids, Phacopteron and Trioza species (Hemiptera: Phacopteronidae, Triozidae) in southern India, Zootaxa 3566, pp. 14-22 : 15-17

Ooencyrtus alrake Hayat , sp. nov.

(Figs 1–7)

Female. Holotype. Length, 1.48 mm. Body dark brown to black; frontovertex with purple and bluish lustre, bluish green above scrobes; face purple. Antenna (Fig. 1) with radicle and scape dark brown; pedicel brownish yellow with about basal half brown; funicle and clava pale brownish yellow. Mesosoma with mesoscutum light bluish green; scutellum light bluish green basally and on sides, otherwise largely purple; tegula dark brown. Wings hyaline. Legs with coxae and femora dark brown; fore tibia brownish at base, becoming yellow apically; mid tibia dark brown with about apical quarter yellow; hind tibia brown, becoming brownish yellow apically; tarsi yellow; mid tibial spur yellow except apex pale brown. Gaster with TI largely bluish, other tergites purple with bronzy lustre.

Head. Occipital margin sharp; frontovertex width 0.3× head width; ocellar triangle with dorsal angle slightly acute; POL, OOL and OCL ratios, 9:1.5:4; head, in frontal view, 1.14× as broad as high; scrobes moderately deep, inverted U-shaped with rounded margins; torulus with dorsal margin above level of ventral eye margin and ventral margin separated from mouth margin by a distance slightly greater than own length (8:7); eye height 1.93× malar space; frontovertex with slightly raised reticulate sculpture, the cells small, and with fine setigerous punctures; malar space with elongate reticulate sculpture; setae on head silvery white except brown between posterior ocelli and occipital margin; eyes bare. Mandible (Fig. 2) with two teeth and a truncation, lower tooth separated from the middle tooth by a deep V-shaped incision. Antenna with scape flattened and expanded in distal half, 2.7× as long as broad; F1 1.2× as long as pedicel; F1–F4 longer than broad; F5 quadrate and F6 1.3× as broad as long; clava distinctly broader than F6 (6.5:5.25), slightly shorter than F4–F6 combined, and with all three segments transverse. (In two paratypes: scape 2.81× and 2.96× as long as broad; F1 1.05× and 1.13× as long as pedicel; F 4 in the slidemounted paratype (Fig. 1) appears quadrate, and F6 1.5× as broad as long.) Relative measurements —head dorsal width, 52.5; frontovertex width, 16; head frontal height, 46; eye height, 31; malar space, 16; antennal scape length, 15.5; scape width, 5.75.

Mesosoma 1.55× as long as metasoma (62:40); mesoscutum 1.2× as long as scutellum (30:25); scutellum as long as wide, and 5× as long as median length of propodeum (25:5); mesoscutum with fine polygonal reticulations, the cells very small and slightly transverse, with minute setigerous punctures; scutellum with raised reticulate sculpture, the sides with reticulations elongate; setae brown; propodeum with several silvery white setae on sides. Fore wing 2.45× as long as broad; marginal vein slightly shorter than postmarginal, the latter shorter than stigmal vein (ratios, 0.75:0.81:1.0); ventral surface of costal cell with 3 lines of setae in proximal half, and 2 lines of setae in distal half; linea calva open posteriorly; venation and setation as in Fig. 3. Hind wing 3.7× as long as broad. Relative measurements (paratype slide)—mid tibia length, 62; mid basitarsus length, 17; mid tibial spur length, 19.

Metasoma. Ovipositor and hypopygium as in Figs 4 and 5. Relative measurements (paratype slide)—TVII length, 42.5; ovipositor length, 59.5; third valvula length, 15.

FIG URES 1–7. Ooencyrtus alrake Hayat , sp. nov. Female: 1, antenna; 2, mandibles; 3, basal part of fore wing; 4, ovipositor; 5, hypopygium. Male: 6, antenna; 7, distal part of genitalia.

Male. Length, 1.66 mm. Similar in colour and sculpture to female, except for head dimensions, antenna and genitalia. Frontovertex width 0.42× head width; head in frontal view 1.18× as broad as high; torulus with ventral margin above level of ventral eye margin and separated from mouth margin by 2.42× own length (17:7). Antenna (Fig. 6) with scape slightly more than 2× as long as broad (14.5:7); pedicel subtriangular, slightly broader than long; F1 longest, several times longer than pedicel, and 1.37× as long as F2; funicle segments all longer than broad; clava 2-segmented, shorter than F5 and F6 combined; flagellar segments with short setae. Genitalia with distinct parameres (Fig. 7); phallobase 0.45× mid tibia length; digitus long, with a denticle.

Material examined. Holotype ( NPC, Registration No. 136/13/124/1), female (on card) labelled “ INDIA: KERALA: Kozhikode, Calicut, 27.x.2011, Coll. U.A. Saleem” and “ Trioza jambolanae on Syzygium cumini ”.

Paratypes: 3 females, 2 males: 2 females (one on card, the second specimen on slide under 5 coverslips, slide No. EH.1450) with same data as holotype; 1 female (on slide under 5 coverslips, slide No. EH.1452), 2 males (one on card, the second on slide under 4 coverslips, slide No. EH.1453), with same data as holotype, except collection date is 19.x.2011. ( ZDAMU, Registration No. HYM. CH.657).

Host. Trioza jambolanae Crawford ( Hemiptera : Triozidae ) ( Fig. 24 ) from leaf galls of Syzygium cumini (L.) ( Fig. 23 ).

Distribution. India: Kerala.

Comments. This new species of Ooencyrtus is distinct from all other described species by the following combination of characters: antennal torulus with dorsal margin slightly above level of ventral eye margin and ventral margin separated from mouth margin by a distance slightly greater than own length; mandible with ventral tooth separated from middle tooth by a deep V-shaped incision; antenna with scape flattened and expanded in distal half, slightly less than 3× as long as broad; F1 slightly to distinctly longer than pedicel, and nearly 3× as long as broad; clava robust, 1.2× as broad as the transverse F6, and shorter than F4–6 combined; fore wing with marginal vein about 2.5× as long as broad, but slightly shorter than postmarginal vein; stigmal vein longer than both marginal and postmarginal veins (1.0:0.75:0.81).

I checked all available descriptions and figures of Ooencyrtus species (e.g., Huang & Noyes 1994; Noyes 1985, 2010; Prinsloo 1987; Trjapitzin 1989; Zhang et al. 2005) and found that this new species does not agree with any of these. Further, there are no earlier records of any Ooencyrtus species parasitizing psylloids ( Noyes, 2012).

Etymology. The species name is an anagram of ‘Kerala’ State.

Figures

FIGURES 21 – 25. Psylloid galls: 21, Syzygium caryophyllatum leaf with galls; 22, S. caryophyllatum, galls cut open to show developing psylloids; 23, S. cumini leaf galls; 24, Trioza jambolanae Crawford, adult; 25, Garuga pinnata, leaf galls. (Photographs by M. Nasser)