Pentelicus punctatus 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 : 225-229

Pentelicus punctatus Manickavasagam & Chaitanya , sp. nov.

( Figs 7−12 )

Diagnosis. Female body ( Fig. 7 ) dark blue to black; scape with about basal half brown and apical half yellow, slightly flattened and 5.2× as long as wide; pedicel dark brown and 2.5× as long as wide; funicle dark brown except F6 and apex of F5 yellow; clava conspicuously obliquely truncate apically; frontovertex broader than distance between toruli, with scattered, deep, setigerous punctures and imbricate sculpture that fades out from occiput to scrobal cavity; fore wing with basal half distinctly infuscate behind submarginal vein and faintly along leading margin beyond venation and also at center of disc; stigmal vein 2× as long as marginal vein.

Female. Holotype. Length, 1.6 mm. Head ( Fig. 8 ) with frontovertex metallic blue to greenish black, scrobal cavity with metallic green lustre, interantennal prominence bluish green. Antenna ( Fig. 9 ) with radicle metallic bluish brown; scape with outer basally brown surface extending laterally to midpoint of scape, inner surface with about basal half brown dorsally and up to ¾ ventrally and remaining apical scape yellow; pedicel dark brown basally and light brown ventroapically; F1−F4 dark brown, F5 basally dark brown and apically light brown, F6 yellow; clava dark brown. Mesosoma in dorsal view with nota ( Fig. 11 ) metallic greenish to dark blue and tegula black. Fore wing ( Fig. 10 ) infuscate basally behind submarginal vein, along leading margin beyond venation, and with centre of disc faintly infuscate; hind wing hyaline except for two faint patches basally, 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, and middle tibia brown except apically yellow; tarsi yellowish brown. Metasoma light metallic greenish brown, hypopygium dark brown.

Head ( Fig. 8 ) in frontal view broader than high (66:43); 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 1.22× as high as wide; frontovertex with scattered, deep, setigerous punctures and imbricate sculpture that fades out from occiput to scrobal cavity. Antenna ( Fig. 9 ) with scape slightly flattened, 5.2× as long as wide; pedicel 2.5× as long as wide; funicle gradually decreasing in length and increasing in width; F1 1.75× as long as wide and slightly longer than F2, and F6 quadrate; clava apically conspicuously obliquely truncate and a little longer than F4−F6 combined (16:14). Relative measurement —head width 66; head height 43; eye height:width, 27:22; frontovertex width 22; POL 15; OOL 1; OCL 1; scape length:width, 26:5; pedicel length:width, 10:4; funicle segments length:width, F1, 7:4; F2, 6:4; F3, 5.5:4; F4, 5:4; F5, 4.5:4; F6, 4.5:4.5; clava length:width, 16:7.

Mesosoma 1.2× as long as wide; pronotum imbricate anteriorly; mesoscutum 1.9× as wide as long; mesoscutum and scutellum coriarious-punctuate; scutellum 1.06× as long as wide. Fore wing ( Fig. 10 ) 2.6× as long as wide; costal cell 9.3× as long as wide; postmarginal vein 1.3× as long as marginal vein and a little shorter than stigmal vein; filum spinosum with 3 setae; hind wing 3.06× as long as wide. Relative measurements — mesosoma length:width, 63:52; mesoscutum length:width, 26:45; scutellum length:width, 32:30; fore wing length:width, 114:43; costal cell length:width, 56:6; marginal vein length 3, postmarginal vein length 4, stigmal vein length 6; hind wing length:width, 101:33; mid tibia length 38; mid basitarsus length 11; mid tibial spur length 11.

Metasoma almost as long as mesosoma (62:63); gaster with prominent imbricate sculpture; hypopygium not extending to apex of gaster. Relative measurements —metasoma length 62; syntergum length (from anterior margin of cercal plate to apex) 39; ovipositor length 23 ( Fig. 12 ).

Variation. Length 1.5–1.6 mm. Variation exists in the intensity of the brown colour of the flagellum, in some specimens F1−F4 are fully brown, F5 is brown dorsally but yellow ventrally, and in others F5 and F6 are fully yellow or sometimes orange-yellow; pedicel in some specimens with metallic blue reflections; fore wing filum spinosum with 2 or 3 setae..

Material examined. Holotype, female (on card) labeled “ INDIA: Tamil Nadu, Salem, Yercaud, (N11 48.84, E078 12), 26.viii.2013 Krishna Chaitanya. T. and S. Palanivel” deposited with ( EDAU, Registration No. Enc / 0 0 7/2015).

Paratypes. 1 female (on slide under 5 cover slips), 26.iii.2013 and 8 females (on card) with ( EDAU, Registration No. Enc/0 0 7P/2015) same data as holotype; 1 female on card deposited with NBAIR.

Male. Unknown.

Host. Unknown.

Comments. This species resembles P. aldrichi in having deep setigerous punctures separated by less than their own diameter on the frontovertex and mesosoma, but differs in pattern of the fore wing infuscation, scape with about basal half brown and apical half yellow, and trochanter dark brown ( P. aldrichi with fore wing hyaline, scape honey yellow and trochanter yellow). This species resembles P. orientalis in having the funicle dark brown except F6 and sometimes the apex of F5 yellow, but differs in having the frontovertex with scattered deep setigerous punctures, and the mesoscutum and scutellum coriarious-punctuate ( P. orientalis with frontovertex having shallow setigerous punctures, and mesoscutum and scutellum with scaly reticulate sculpture).

Etymology. This species is named after its prominent setigerous punctures on vertex and mesothoracic dorsum.

Figures

FIGURES 7 − 9. Pentelicus punctatus sp. nov., ♀ holotype: 7, habitus image; 8, head frontal view; 9, antenna inner aspect.

FIGURES 10 − 12. Pentelicus punctatus sp. nov., ♀ paratype: 10, fore wing; 11, dorsal view of nota; 12, ovipositor.