Psyllaephagus alisanos, 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 : 586-588

Psyllaephagus alisanos sp.nov.

(Figs 1532-1535)

DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 1.2mm): antenna (Fig. 1534) with scape mostly dark brown; funicle pale yellow; clava brown; tegula dark brown; femora dark brown; hind tibia mostly dark brown, apices pale orange; head about 2.4X as wide as frontovertex and about 2.9X as wide as mouth opening; ocelli forming an angle of about 90°, with posterior ocellus very slightly further from eye than occipital margin; frontovertex with piliferous punctures that are about 2X diameter of eye facet; clypeal margin slightly emarginate and straight; antenna (Fig. 1534) with scape about 2.6X as long as broad and very slightly shorter than minimum width of frontovertex; pedicel clearly longer than F1 which is quadrate, F2-F4 longer than broad, F5-F6 transverse, linear sensilla present F2-F6, or absent from F2; segments of clava subequal in length, sensory area enlarged and extending very nearly half way along ventral surface giving apex an obliquely truncate appearance; mandible with two acute teeth and a broad truncation; mesoscutum more shiny than scutellum; scutellum flat, with sculpture that is slightly longitudinally elongate and shallower than on mesoscutum; fore wing (Fig. 1535) about 2.5X as long as broad; costal cell with one line of setae dorsally, marginal vein (Fig. 1533) sightly less than 2X as long as broad; linea clava closed; Gt3 with a distinct, strongly reticulate area anteromedially; ovipositor (Fig. 1532) longer than mid tibia and hidden; second valvifer with about 9 or 10 subapical setae. Male: unknown.

Female (holotype): length 1.19mm ( CPD) .

Head with occiput generally dull, dark metallic green, frontovertex coppery, marked metallic green along inner eye margins, scrobal area, temple and gena coppery purple, slightly violet between eye and scrobe, mouth margin largely metallic dark blue; setae on frontovertex, interantennal prominence and gena indistinct, translucent, pale brown, slightly silvery in some aspects; antenna (Fig. 1534) with radicle dark brown; scape dark brown with apical 0.3X or so pale yellow; pedicel dark brown; funicle slightly dusky pale yellow; clava brown; thorax generally dark brown to black; pronotum generally coppery, side coppery purple; mesoscutum relatively bright. metallic blue-green, posterior and side margins narrowly coppery; tegula dark brown with a slight coppery purple sheen; axilla with a coppery purple sheen; scutellum coppery, posteriorly narrowly mixed brassy and metallic dark blue, side narrowly metallic dark blue; metanotum with a slight brassy green and purple lustre; mesopleuron with a slight metallic coppery purple, green and brassy lustre; all coxae dark brown; femora dark brown, fore and mid femora pale orange at apices, hind femur orange-brown at distal apex; fore tibia mostly dark brown, pale orange at apices, tarsus slightly dusky pale orange, apical tarsomere orange-brown; mid tibia pale orange with a subbasal brown band to about 0.4X, spur and tarsus pale orange, apical tarsomere slightly dusky; hind tibia pale orange at extreme base, dark brown to about 0.8X, apex pale orange, tarsus pale orange, apical tarsomere slightly dusky; wings (Fig. 1535) hyaline; propodeum dark purple-brown, generally with a slight coppery purple and brassy sheen, side with a metallic dark green sheen and with a few pale, translucent setae outside spiracle; gaster dark brown, dorsally mainly with a coppery sheen, Gt1 with a strong metallic dark blue and dark green sheen, side and venter mainly with a coppery purple sheen mixed with some purple, green, blue and brassy reflections; gonostylus dark brown

Head about 2.4X as wide as frontovertex and about 2.9X as wide as mouth opening, in profile about 1.5X as high as deep, evenly curved from occipital margin to top of scrobes and then fairly straight to mouth margin, with interantennal prominence not protuberant; occipital margin weakly rounded, more or less acute, not carinate; ocelli forming an angle of about 90°; frontovertex with slightly irregular, shallow, polygonally reticulate sculpture of mesh size subequal to eye facet, piliferous punctures shallow and small, hardly larger than eye facet, generally separated by at least about their own diameters; frontovertex with about 6 or 7 pairs of setae in front of anterior ocellus, only 1 line descends between eye and scrobe to gena; temple and gena with shallow, longitudinally elongate, imbricate-reticulate to polygonally reticulate sculpture; eye reaching occipital margin, with conspicuous, pale setae, each slightly longer than diameter of facet; scrobes shallow, broadly ∩-shaped, meeting, weakly margined dorsally and laterally, dorsally with shallow, slightly transversely elongate, polygonally reticulate sculpture; interantennal prominence weak, narrowly rounded dorsally, with very shallow, polygonally reticulate sculpture; antenna as in Fig. 1534; scape slightly broadened and flattened, widest about middle, about 2.6X as long as broad; funicle segments subequal in length, subquadrate, becoming slightly broader distad, linear sensilla present on F2-F6 or absent from F2; clava slightly longer than F4-F6 combined, sensory area enlarged and extending very nearly half way along ventral surface giving apex an obliquely truncate appearance; malar sulcus absent; clypeal margin slightly concave medially; mandible with two acute teeth and a broad truncation. Relative measurements: HW 68, HH 55, FV 28, POL 14, OOL 4, OCL 3.5, AOL 8, EL 39.5, EW 32, MS 21, SL 25.5, SW 10.

Thorax in dorsal view with pronotum short, largely hidden by head, dorsally with slightly irregular, moderately deep, imbricate-reticulate to polygonally reticulate sculpture that is about as deep as sculpture on frontovertex, and of similar mesh; mesoscutum with regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture that is similar depth and mesh size to that in ocellar area on frontovertex; axilla almost smooth, with much shallower polygonally reticulate sculpture than mesoscutum; scutellum generally with polygonally reticulate sculpture that is similar to that on mesoscutum, but slightly shallower, more irregular and more longitudinally elongate; visible part of mesoscutum about 1.6X as broad as long; scutellum flat, about as long as broad; fore wing with venation and distribution of setae as in Figs 1533, 1535; costal cell with only a single line of dorsal setae; propodeum medially about 0.1X as long as scutellum, virtually smooth. Relative measurements: FWL 66, FWW 26; HWL 46, HWW 12.5.

Gaster with hypopygium reaching about 0.8X along gaster; Gt3 with a distinct, strongly reticulate area anteromedially; syntergum about 0.6X as long as mid tibia, with apex broadly rounded; ovipositor (Fig. 1532) hidden. Relative measurements: OL 37, GL 8 [MT 28].

Variation. Only holotype examined.

Male. Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.

HOSTS. Unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Heredia, 16km SSE La Virgen , 10°16’N 85°05’W, 1050- 1150m, 11/M/TN, 10.ii-21.iv.2001 (INBio-OET-ALAS) . Holotype in NHMUK .

COMMENTS. Psyllaephagus alisanos is very close to heles and trioziphagus (see comments under heles , p. 585).