Pentelicus funiculatus Manickavasagam & Chaitanya

Manickavasagam, S. & Chaitanya, T. Krishna, 2015, Description of three new species of Pentelicus Howard (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) from India, with a key to world species, Zootaxa 3946 (2), pp. 221-232 : 222-225

Pentelicus funiculatus Manickavasagam & Chaitanya , sp. nov.

( Figs 1−6 )

Diagnosis. Female body ( Fig. 1 ) metallic blue to green; scape with basal half brown and apical half yellow, flat and 4.2 × as long as wide; pedicel brown, 1.7× as long as wide; F1–F5 ventrally yellow and dorsally light brown, F6 fully yellow; clava apically obliquely truncate; frontovertex broader than distance between toruli, with silvery white setae and very faint imbricate sculpture between posterior ocelli; fore wing infuscate behind submarginal vein to base of parastigma; stigmal vein 2.5 × as long as marginal vein.

Female. Holotype. Length, 1.2 mm. Head with frontovertex metallic blue to green ( Fig. 2 ), scrobal cavity with metallic green lustre, interantennal prominence basally bluish green. Antenna ( Fig. 3 ) with radicle brown; scape with outer basally brown surface extending laterally to midpoint of scape, inner basal half brown and apical half yellow; pedicel dorsally metallic greenish brown, ventrally brown except apex yellow; F1–F5 ventrally yellow and dorsally light brown, the width of brown colour increasing gradually towards F5, and F6 fully yellow; clava brown. Mesosoma in dorsal view with nota ( Fig. 4 ) metallic bluish brown and tegula black. Fore wing ( Fig. 5 ) infuscate basally behind submarginal vein to base of parastigma; hind wing hyaline except for two faint patches at base behind venation. Legs with coxae and trochanters dark brown; femora brown except apices light yellow; fore and hind tibiae dorsally and ventrally brown and laterally light yellow; tarsi yellowish brown; middle tibiae brown, apices yellow. Metasoma light metallic greenish to dark blue, hypopygium dark brown.

Head ( Fig. 2 ) in frontal view broader than high (54:38); posterior ocellus separated from eye by less than its own diameter; interantennal prominence raised and convex; antennal torulus situated below lower margin of eye; eye in frontal view 1.26× as high as wide; frontovertex with silvery white setae, and very faintly imbricate between posterior ocelli. Antenna ( Fig. 3 ) with scape slightly flattened, 4.2× as long as wide; pedicel 1.7× as long as wide; funicle width gradually increasing, F1 1.3× as long as wide and slightly longer than F2, F5 and F6 quadrate; clava little longer than F4−F6 combined (14:12) and with only apical segment obliquely truncate. Relative measurements —head width 54; head height 38; eye height:width, 24:19; frontovertex width 16; POL 11; OOL 1; OCL 1; scape length:width, 21:5; pedicel length:width, 6:3.5; funicle length:width, F1, 4:3; F2, 3:3; F3, 4:3.5; F4, 4:3.5; F5, 4:4; F6, 4:4; clava length:width, 14:5.

Mesosoma 1.1× as long as wide; mesoscutum 1.9× as wide as long ( Fig. 4 ); pronotum, mesoscutum and axillae imbricate; scutellum 1.25× as wide as long, with elongate reticulate sculpture. Fore wing ( Fig. 5 ) 2.2× as long as wide; costal cell 11.66× as long as wide; postmarginal vein 1.5× as long as marginal vein and a little shorter than stigmal vein; filum spinosum with 2 setae; hind wing 3.13× as long as wide. Relative measurement — mesosoma length:width, 48:43; mesoscutum length:width, 21:40; scutellum length:width, 24:30; fore wing length:width, 88:40; costal cell length:width, 35:3; marginal vein length 2, postmarginal vein length 3, stigmal vein length 5; hind wing length:width, 72:23; mid tibia length 36; mid basitarsus length 11; mid tibial spur length 11.

Metasoma shorter than mesosoma; gaster imbricately sculptured; hypopygium not extending to apex of gaster. Relative measurements —metasoma length 43; syntergum length (from anterior margin of cercal plate to apex) 38; ovipositor length ( Fig. 6 ) 23.

Material examined. Holotype, 1 female (on slide under 4 cover slips) labeled “ INDIA: Tamil Nadu, Chidambaram, Annamalai nagar (N11 23; E079 43), 05.i.2013, S. Manickavasagam” ( EDAU, Registration No. Enc/0 0 6/2015).

Paratype. 1 female (on card) with same data as holotype ( EDAU, Registration No. Enc/0 0 6P /2015).

Host. Unknown.

Male. Unknown.

Comments. This species is similar to P. confusus in having the fore wing infuscate behind the submarginal vein but not below the parastigma (fore wing infuscate basally and an infuscate streak behind the parastigma in P. varicornis, Trjapitzin & Gordh, 1979 ). It is similar to P. confusus and P. aeneifrons in having only the apical segment of the clava obliquely truncate, this being less than 1/3 the length of the clava, but differs in having the basal half of the scape brown and the apical half yellow (scape yellowish basally and apically in P. confusus ), F1−F5 ventrally yellow and dorsally light brown and F6 fully yellow (F4 and F6 whitish in P. confusus and F1 yellow in P. varicornis ).

Etymology. This species is named after its unique colouration of the funicle segments.

Figures

FIGURES 1 − 3. Pentelicus funiculatus sp. nov., ♀ holotype: 1, habitus image; 2, head frontal view; 3, antenna.

FIGURES 4 − 6. Pentelicus funiculatus sp. nov., ♀ holotype: 4, dorsal view of nota; 5, fore wing; 6, ovipositor.