Prochiloneurus alasirus, 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 : 463-465

Prochiloneurus alasirus sp.nov.

(Figs 1165-1169)

DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 1.3mm): head orange, frontovertex slightly dusky, temple and gena with a faint brown streak; funicle (Fig. 1165) with F1-F2 orange-brown, F3-F6 mostly white; clava dark brown; thorax largely orange, posterior two-thirds of mesoscutum dark brown with a metallic green sheen and clothed with dense silvery setae; mesopleuron orange; fore wing with a group of 5 or 6 weaker setae below proximal half of parastigma but without a group of pale setae below distal half; hyaline apex of fore wing slightly less than 1.5X as wide as length of marginal vein; fore wing without a subapical band of very slightly paler setae; propodeum orange, laterally with a metallic green and blue-green sheen, with about 3 or 4 silvery setae near spiracle; gaster entirely dark brown with a metallic sheen; head (Fig. 1169) about as broad as high and about 5X as wide as frontovertex; antennal scrobes weakly margined, lateral margin rounded; scape slightly broadened and flattened, about 2.9X as long as broad, broadest in middle; paler parts of mesoscutum (Fig. 1167) generally with obliquely elongate, strigose reticulate sculpture, posterior, darker part with more regular, rounded, polygonally reticulate sculpture; apical scutellar tuft about 0.3X as long as scutellum; fore wing (Fig. 1168) about 2.9X as long as broad; line of setae on ventral surface of costal cell narrowly interrupted above parastigma; exserted part of ovipositor nearly as long as gaster. Male: Unknown.

Female (holotype): length, including ovipositor, 1.29mm; excluding ovipositor, 0.97mm (AD) .

Head generally orange; occiput with a dark brown triangular mark above foramen and hypostomal area bordered brown; frontovertex slightly dusky; temple and gena with a faint, brown streak from occipital margin to scrobal margin near torulus; mouth margin with brown areas below toruli connected by a faint, curved, brown line; area between occipital margin and posterior ocelli with faint brassy and pale blue reflections, ocellar area with slightly stronger metallic blue and purple reflections, anterior part of frontovertex with a faint, metallic blue sheen, purple immediately above scrobes; area between eye and scrobe with a faint brassy and purple sheen; temple with a stronger metallic green, brassy and coppery sheen, especially on brown areas, gena similar but sheen weaker and with some mixed purple; frontovertex with inconspicuous, translucent, pale brown setae along inner eye margins, these continued below eye; gena and interantennal prominence with numerous, scattered setae; maxillary palpus white; antenna with radicle orange, apex dark brown; scape largely orange, apical one-third white, extreme apex brown, ventral margin narrowly faintly brown for most of its length, more widely so on internal surface, a faint, incomplete brown band at about two-thirds; pedicel mostly brown, apex and venter orange; flagellum with F1-F2 orange-brown, F3 mainly white but a little dusky ventrally at base, F4-F6 white, clava dark brown; pronotum orange with weak coppery and brassy reflections, posterior margin translucent; propleuron and prosternum orange; mesoscutum with anterior one-third, or less, orange with weak brassy and coppery reflections and with relatively sparse brown setae, posterior two-thirds or more metallic green with some blue reflections and clothed with relatively dense silvery setae, posterior margin orange-brown with a weak brassy and purple sheen; tegula orange, apex orange-brown; axilla orange with very weak brassy and coppery reflections, with dark brown setae; scutellum orange with weak coppery and brassy reflections, with translucent, golden brown setae, posteriorly with black setae, tuft black, apical setae off-white and translucent; metanotum dusky orange; mesopleuron orange with a weak brassy, coppery and purple sheen; mesosternum orange; fore coxa very pale orange, almost white, fore tibia faintly brownish subbasally, fore legs otherwise pale orange; mid coxa very pale orange; mid femur very pale orange, almost white, tibia pale orange with a brown streak externally for most of its length, spur and tarsus pale orange; hind coxa very pale orange, almost white; hind femur pale orange, virtually white towards base, brownish towards apex, tibia mostly pale orange, subbasally white, externally largely brown, tarsus pale orange; fore wing (Fig. 1168) mostly infuscate but hyaline towards base and at apex, submarginal vein pale orange, rest of venation brown; propodeum orange, medially with a purple sheen, laterally with a metallic green and blue-green sheen, about 3 or 4 translucent silvery setae around spiracle; gaster dark brown, mainly with a purple and coppery sheen with brassy, blue and green reflections, sides of tergites largely metallic blue and green mixed with some copper; gonostylus pale orange.

Head (Fig. 1169) about 5X as wide as frontovertex, in profile about 1.7X as high as deep, anteriorly fairly evenly curved from occipital margin to top of scrobes, virtually straight from top of scrobes to mouth margin, interantennal prominence weakly protuberant between toruli; occipital margin sharp, not carinate; vertex with a short, indistinct groove behind each posterior ocellus; ocelli forming an angle of about 50°; frontovertex quite shiny, ocellar area with deeper, fairly regular, fine, polygonally reticulate sculpture of mesh size subequal to diameter of facet, anterior parts of frontovertex with more irregular, shallower sculpture that is mainly of slightly larger mesh size than diameter of facet, area above scrobes mainly with slightly coarser, more irregular, transversely elongate sculpture; narrowest point between eye and scrobe about 0.18X length of scape, with very shallow sculpture, almost completely smooth; temple with shallow, irregular, transversely elongate, sculpture, gena with similar, but slightly deeper, more longitudinally elongate sculpture; scrobes moderately deep, very broadly ∩-shaped, meeting, dorsally very smooth and weakly margined, lateral margin more or less rounded; interantennal prominence without median ridge, broadly rounded and largely with weak, regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture but completely smooth dorsally; antenna as in Fig. 1165; scape slightly broadened and flattened, broadest about middle, about 2.9X as long as broad; F1 very slightly longer than broad, F2-F6 clearly transverse, segments larger and broader distad, linear sensilla present only on F6; clava clearly broadened, nearly as long as funicle and pedicel together, sutures oblique, sensory area enlarged, extending ventrally about 0.7X length of clava, apex strongly obliquely truncate; eye virtually reaching occipital margin, separated by much less than diameter of facet, clothed in inconspicuous short setae that are much shorter than diameter of facet; inner eye margins clearly diverging below anterior ocellus; malar sulcus absent; clypeal margin weakly convex medially; mandible with three teeth; apical segment of maxillary palpus not enlarged, hardly longer than radicle. Relative measurements: HW 51, HH 51.5, FV 11, POL 4.5, OOL 0, OCL 6, AOL 5.5, EL 34, EW 26, MS 21(?), SL 28, SW 9.5.

Thorax (Fig. 1167) with polygonally reticulate sculpture on pronotum that is finer than that in ocellar area; sculpture on mesoscutum similar to that in ocellar area; paler anterior part of mesoscutum with slightly oblique, longitudinally elongate, strigose reticulate sculpture, darker, posterior part with more regular, rounded, polygonally reticulate sculpture; axilla and scutellum with similar sculpture to mesoscutum but clearly of smaller mesh and a little deeper; visible part of mesoscutum about 1.8X as broad as long; scutellum about as long as broad, with a distinct tuft that is situated almost in middle, setae about 0.3X as long as scutellum; mid tibia without a conspicuous external carina; hind femur about 4X as long as broad; fore wing with venation and setation as in Figs 1168; costal cell with a single seta dorsally at apex; apices of postmarginal and stigmal veins connected by a naked, hyaline streak; propodeum medially about 0.25X as long as scutellum and smooth. Relative measurements: FWL 53, FWW 18; HWL 41, HWW 8.

Gaster with syntergum about 0.8X as long as mid tibia; exserted part of ovipositor nearly as long as gaster or mid tibia; hypopygium Fig. 1166. Relative measurements: OL 56, GL 27 [MT 26].

Variation. Only holotype examined.

Male. Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.

HOSTS. Unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Guanacaste, Guanacaste NP (error for Santa Rosa NP ), 7km E of HQ, “small house”, 8-10.iii.1990 (J.S. Noyes) . Holotype in NHMUK .