Caldencyrtus balor, 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 : 628-629

Caldencyrtus balor sp.nov.

(Figs 1702-1707)

DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 2.5mm): antennal scape dark orange-brown; scutellum uniformly dull blue-green with some copper and purple; fore tibia pale orange; mid femur and tibia pale orange; hind tibia orange-brown, paler proximally; frontovertex (Fig. 1704) with numerous, deep, conspicuous piliferous punctures; antenna (Fig. 1705) with flagellum about 1.5X head width; F1 2.2X as long as wide and 1.3X as long as pedicel; F6 about 1.4X as long as wide; mid tibia about 1.5X as long as syntergum, with mid tibial spur a little shorter than basitarsus; mesopleuron not extending past posterior margin of propodeum; postero-lateral angle of propodeum with a moderately long, finger-like process; ovipositor (Fig. 1703) slightly more than 2X as long as syntergum and 3X as long as gonostylus; hypopygium (Fig. 1706) with depth of posterior invagination about 0.3X length of mid tibial spur. Male: unknown.

Female (holotype): length, including ovipositor, 2.53mm; excluding ovipositor, 2.31mm ( CPD) .

Head with occiput generally dull coppery purple; frontovertex, scrobal area and anterior part of gena fairly bright, metallic blue-green, bottoms of piliferous punctures with a violet hue; mouth margin, temple and posterior part of gena coppery and slightly brassy; setae on frontovertex, interantennal prominence and gena pale brown, slightly translucent and fairly conspicuous; antenna (Fig. 1705) with radicle orange-brown; scape and pedicel dark orange-brown; flagellum dark brown; thorax generally dark brown to black; pronotum with a weak metallic blue-green sheen with some violet reflections, posterior margin coppery purple; mesoscutum with relatively dull dark blue and violet sheen; tegula with a weak coppery purple sheen; axilla with a weak coppery purple and metallic green sheen; scutellum with a relatively dull metallic blue-green sheen with some coppery purple and violet reflections; metanotum with a weak brassy sheen; mesopleuron slightly brassy; coxae dark brown; fore femur dark brown in proximal half, apex pale orange, tibia pale orange, tarsus pale orange, orange-brown distally; mid femur and tibia pale orange, spur pale orange, extreme apex dark brown, tarsus pale orange, slightly dusky apically; hind femur brown, proximally and distally pale orange, pale area wider ventrally, tibia orange-brown, slightly paler at extreme base, tarsus pale orange, apical tarsomere brown; wings largely hyaline but fore wing (Fig. 1702) weakly infuscate apically distad of apex of venation; propodeum dark purple-brown, with a slight brassy sheen, side with a relatively bright metallic blue-green, dark green and coppery sheen, at least about 40 dense, conspicuous, silvery setae outside spiracle; gaster dark purple-brown with a slight coppery and brassy sheen with some green and purple reflections, Gt1 anteriorly with a bright dark blue, blue-green and violet sheen, side and venter of gaster with mixed green, coppery, and purple reflections; gonostylus brown, apex pale orange.

Head (Fig. 1704) submenisciform, about 2.4X as wide as frontovertex, in profile, about 2X as high as deep, evenly curved from occipital margin to top of scrobes and fairly straight from top of scrobes to mouth margin with interantennal prominence hardly protuberant; occipital margin acute, sharp and carinate; a slender, shallow, shiny-bottomed groove adjacent to eye margin extends from level with anterior margin of posterior ocellus nearly to occipital margin; ocelli forming an angle of about 95°; frontovertex with irregular, shallow, polygonally reticulate sculpture of generally smaller mesh size than eye facet, piliferous punctures large and conspicuous, about 0.5X size of ocellus, mostly separated by about half their own diameters, a few almost touching, frontovertex with 11-12 pairs of setae in front of anterior ocellus and at least 2 lines descending between eye and scrobal area on to gena; temple and posterior part of gena with similar sculpture to frontovertex, but slightly longitudinally elongate; eye virtually reaching occipital margin, separated by much less than 0.5X diameter of facet, with sparse, inconspicuous, pale setae, each much shorter than diameter of facet; scrobes shallow, short, very broadly ∩-shaped, meeting shallowly, weakly margined dorsally and laterally, bottoms of scrobes smooth and shiny; interantennal prominence hardly prominent, truncate dorsally, with finer and much shallower polygonally reticulate sculpture than on frontovertex, but with conspicuous piliferous punctures that are only slightly smaller and shallower than those on frontovertex; upper margin of torulus a little above lower eye margin; antenna as in Fig. 1705; scape very slightly broadened and flattened, nearly 5X as long as broad; all funicle segments clearly longer than broad, slightly broader and shorter distad, linear sensilla present in more than a single row on all funicle segments; clava a little longer than F5-F6 combined, sensory area at apex only; malar sulcus present, distinct; mouth margin about 1.2X as wide as frontovertex, with a broadly truncate median lobe; mandible with two relatively short lower teeth and a truncate upper tooth. lowest tooth acute, middle tooth rounded. Relative measurements: HW 125, HH 114, FV 53, POL 22, OOL 6.5, OCL 7.5, AOL 12, EL 70, EW 49.5, MS 44, SL 56.5, SW 11.5.

Thorax in dorsal view with pronotum largely hidden by head, with similar sculpture to that on frontovertex above scrobes; mesoscutum and axilla with similar sculpture to on frontovertex; scutellum with similar sculpture to mesoscutum, but slightly deeper; visible part of mesoscutum about 1.8X as broad as long, notaular lines absent; scutellum about 1.1X as long as broad, a short carina between axillae; fore wing with venation and distribution of setae as in Figs 1702, 1707, costal cell with only one line of dorsal submarginal setae in distal 0.5X; mesopleuron not quite reaching level with posterior margin of propodeum; propodeum medially about 0.17X as long as scutellum, with 7 longitudinal carinae in middle one-third or so, otherwise with irregular, shallow sculpture and virtually smooth, side with a conspicuous, truncate tooth posteriorly above hind coxa, area between tooth and spiracle not depressed, more or less convex. Relative measurements: FWL 81, FWW 34; HWL 42.5, HWW 15.

Gaster about as long as thorax with hypopygium (Fig. 1706) reaching about 0.5X to apex; last tergite about 0.7X as long as mid tibia, with apex acute; ovipositor (Fig. 1703) slightly exserted, the exserted part about 0.8X as long as mid tibial spur or a little more than 0.2X mid tibia. Relative measurements: OL 102, GL 33 [MT 70].

Variation. Only holotype examined.

Male. Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.

HOSTS. Unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Cartago, La Cangreja , 9°48’N 83°58’W, 1950m, vi-vii.1992 (P. Hanson) . Holotype in NHMUK .