Cheiloneurus alopes, 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 : 441-444

Cheiloneurus alopes sp.nov.

(Figs 1121-1126)

DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 1.8mm): body mostly orange with some brown areas with a weak to moderate metallic sheen on head, mesoscutum and gaster; mouth margin narrowly dark brown; temple with a distinct diagonal, brown streak to gena; antenna (Fig. 1125) with scape mostly pale orange with ventral margin brown; pedicel pale orange with a dark brown longitudinal streak; funicle mainly pale orange, some segments slightly dusky; clava dark brown; posterior half of mesoscutum probably with dense silvery setae; coxae white, mid coxa off-white; legs mostly white to pale orange with brown areas; fore wing (Fig. 1126) mostly infuscate with basal cell almost completely hyaline, a small hyaline area at apex of venation and an opposite hyaline area on posterior wing margin, apex hyaline; head about 8.2X as wide as frontovertex, in facial view hardly broader than long, subcircular with genae converging and uniformly curved, slightly more curved inwards near mouth margin; frontovertex with two setae medially above scrobes; eye separated from scrobe by about 1.3X diameter of anterior ocellus, area between eye and scrobe completely smooth, scrobal margin sharp; interantennal prominence with about 20 inconspicuous setae and with a dorsal median ridge; mandible with three teeth; antenna (Fig. 1125) with scape about 2.6X as long as broad; funicle with F3 clearly transverse, remaining segments subquadrate; head width very slightly greater than flagellum length; linear sensilla on F4-F6; clava 3-segmented, very slightly longer than F3-F6 combined; sensory area enlarged and forming an oblique truncation, extending about 0.4X along ventral margin; mesoscutum (Fig. 1121) anteriorly with fine, longitudinally elongate, lineolate-reticulate sculpture; scutellum with a distinct, apical tuft of setae; wings fully developed; fore wing (Fig. 1126) about 2.5X as long as broad; parastigma slightly downcurved; costal cell dorsally naked, with a line of setae ventrally that is broadly interrupted above parastigma; area below proximal part of parastigma with a line of about four pale setae; apices of postmarginal and stigmal veins connected by a naked hyaline area that curves a little way into disc (Fig. 1122); apical bristle of postmarginal vein about 0.5X as long as marginal vein; mid tibial spur very slightly longer than basitarsus; propodeum with five or six setae adjacent to spiracle, side naked; syntergum about 0.9X as long as mid tibia; ovipositor about 4.2X gonostylus or about 1.4X as long as mid tibia; gonostylus about as long as mid tibial spur; exserted part of ovipositor about 0.3X as long as mid tibial spur. Male: unknown.

Female (holotype): length, including ovipositor, 1.81mm; excluding ovipositor, 1.75mm ( CPD) .

Head mostly pale orange; frontovertex with a weak blue, green and purple sheen, stronger blue and purple in ocellar area; temple and upper gena with a weak brassy sheen mixed pale blue, green and purple, lower gena with a very weak brassy and purple sheen, area between eye and scrobe with a slightly stronger purple sheen; scrobal area with a weak brassy and purple sheen; scrobes delimited dorsally by a curved, pale brown line; lower face with a median, curved, brown line between toruli and mouth margin that meets mouth margin near base of mandible; temple with a diagonal brown streak from temple behind eye towards torulus; frontovertex clothed with inconspicuous, pale brown setae, a line of fine, translucent setae between eye and scrobe; maxillary palpus white, apical segment pale orange; antenna (Fig. 1125) with radicle pale orange, apex narrowly ringed orange-brown; scape pale orange, white at extreme apex, distinctly margined brown ventrally, more widely so internally towards base; pedicel mostly pale orange with a dark brown streak internally along its length; funicle segments largely pale orange, dark brown internally, F1-F5 dark brown ventrally, F1 mostly, F5 hardly; clava dark brown; pronotum mostly orange, neck with a dark brown spot; prosternum outside coxa dark brown; mesoscutum anteriorly orange, posterior half with a dark brown band with strong metallic blue and purple reflections, behind this narrowly orange, posterior margin mostly brown with a weak purple sheen, anterior half of mesoscutum probably clothed in relatively sparse golden brown to dark brown setae, posterior half probably clothed in relatively dense, translucent, silvery setae mixed with a few dark brown setae (most setae missing in holotype); tegula orange with apex orange-brown; axilla and scutellum orange, axilla clothed with brown setae, scutellum clothed anteriorly with golden brown setae, otherwise setae dark brown, subapical tuft black; metanotum orange; mesopleuron pale orange, orange-brown posteriorly, anterior part with a very weak brassy sheen, posterior part with a weak brassy, coppery and purple sheen; fore coxa white; fore femur concolourous with coxa basally, apex pale orange, tibia and tarsus pale orange; mid coxa off-white; mid leg otherwise similarly coloured to fore leg, except that tibia has remnants of a faint, narrow, brown, subbasal ring; hind coxa white, femur concolourous proximally and pale orange apically, knee brown, tibia and tarsus pale orange; fore wing (Fig. 1126) mostly infuscate, hyaline towards base and at apex; submarginal vein pale orange, venation otherwise brown; propodeum orange, brown with a blue and purple sheen on side, 4 white setae near spiracle; gaster largely pale orange to orange-brown, apex of syntergum and apex of outer plate of ovipositor brown, Gt1 and sides of Gt2-Gt4 dark brown, Gt1 dorsally with a strong metallic green, purple and coppery sheen, gaster otherwise generally with a mixed coppery, purple, green, blue and brassy sheen that is weakest on paler areas; gonostylus very pale orange.

Head about 8.2X as wide as frontovertex, in profile about 1.8X as high as deep, anteriorly quite straight below top of scrobes, interantennal prominence hardly protuberant level with torulus; occipital margin sharp, carinate; ocelli forming an angle of about 45°; frontovertex quite shiny, with shallow, fairly regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture of mesh conspicuously smaller than diameter of eye facet; area between eye and scrobe about as wide as diameter of anterior ocellus, smooth; scrobes shallow, more or less Λ-shaped, sharply margined above; interantennal prominence with similar sculpture to frontovertex, dorsally with a strong, carinate, median ridge that does not quite reach frontovertex, not quite separating scrobes; temple virtually smooth with very shallow, irregular, elongate sculpture, gena with slightly deeper, irregular, reticulate sculpture; antenna as in Fig. 1125; scape broadened and flattened, about 2.6X as long as broad; funicle with segments broader and larger distad, proximal segments subquadrate, distal segments transverse; linear sensilla present only on F4-F6; clava broadened, nearly as long as F2-F6 combined, sutures oblique, sensory area enlarged, extending ventrally nearly 0.4X along clava, giving it an obliquely truncate appearance; eye reaching occipital margin, clothed with inconspicuous short setae, each much shorter than diameter of facet; inner eye margins clearly converging anteriorly, diverging a little way above scrobes; malar sulcus absent; clypeal margin weakly concave medially; mandible with 1 tooth and a broad, concave truncation, more or less tridentate; apical segment of maxillary palpus not enlarged, hardly longer than radicle. Relative measurements: HW 82, HH 80, FV 10, POL 7, OOL 0, OCL 6, AOL 10.5, EL 56, EW 44, MS 35, SL 41, SW 16.

Thorax (Fig. 1121) with irregular, polygonally reticulate sculpture on pronotum that is of similar depth to that on frontovertex; mesoscutum with polygonally reticulate sculpture in posterior two-fifths that is a little deeper than that on frontovertex, anterior three-fifths with fine, longitudinally elongate, striate to striate-reticulate sculpture; axilla mostly with fairly regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture that is conspicuously deeper and coarser than that on frontovertex, scutellum with longitudinally striate-reticulate sculpture that is coarser than that on anterior part of mesoscutum; visible part of mesoscutum about 2.4X as broad as long; scutellum about as long as broad with a distinct subapical tuft, setae mostly about half as long as scutellum; mid tibia with a distinct, subbasal, external carina for about half its length; hind femur about 4.2X as long as broad; fore wing with venation and setation as in Figs 1122, 1126; costal cell dorsally with 1 or 2 at apex; apices of postmarginal and stigmal veins connected by a distinct, naked, hyaline streak; propodeum (Fig. 1121) with side completely smooth, medially about 0.1X as long as scutellum and virtually smooth. Relative measurements: FWL 84, FWW 33; HWL 71, HWW 18.

Gaster without “gland-like” structures on Gt1 or Gt5; hypopygium (Fig. 1124) reaching about half-way to apex; syntergum about 0.8X as long as mid tibia, with apex more or less obtuse; ovipositor slightly exserted, the exserted part about one-third as long as mid tibial spur or about one-seventh mid tibia. Relative measurements: OL 65.5, GL 15.5 [MT 46].

Variation. Only holotype examined.

Male. Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.

HOSTS. Unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Guanacaste, Guanacaste NP, East. Cacao, 1200m, 13.ii.1995 (L. Masner) . Holotype in NHMUK .

COMMENTS. Cheiloneurus alopes is extremely close to janzeni and amethes , all three having very fine striate to lineolate-reticulate sculpture on the anterior part of the mesoscutum and almost identical pattern of infuscation on setation of the fore wing. Other superficially similar species (e.g. aesernia , gyges ) have the sculpture on the anterior part of the mesoscutum coarse and composed of elongate reticulate cells, the hyaline streak connecting the apices of the postmarginal and stigmal veins less well defined, less curved and shorter and the apical hyaline area of the fore wing less extensive and the setation at the base of the wing different. Apart from F6 being paler than the clava (see key), alopes differs from janzeni in having the scape about 2.6X as long as broad whereas in janzeni the scape is a little more than 3X as long as broad. In addition to the relatively narrower frontovertex (see key), alopes differs from amethes in having the scape about 2.6X as long as broad, no linear sensilla on F3, the clava slightly more than 2X as wide as the pedicel and the ovipositor about 1.4X as long as the mid tibia, whereas in amethes the scape is about 2.9X as long as broad, linear sensilla are present on F3, the clava is slightly less than 2X as wide as the pedicel and the ovipositor is about 1.7X as long as the mid tibia.

See also comments under cero (p. 415) and finator (p. 417).