Anicetus arche, 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 : 508-510

Anicetus arche sp.nov.

(Hab. E 186)

DIAGNOSIS. Female (overall length about 1.8mm): hind tibia pale orange with a faint pale brown, subbasal ring; hind tarsus with base and apex dark brown, contrasting with pale orange remainder; frontovertex, except for a narrow strip dorsally along transfacial carina, with distinct punctate-reticulate sculpture of cell size slightly smaller than diameter of eye facet; scape about 1.5X as long as broad with apex of dorsal margin flattened and conspicuously shiny; pedicel dorsally flat and shiny, asymmetrical, with an elongate ventral process; funicle about as long as first segment of clava (measured dorsally); clava, in profile, about 2X as long as broad; ovipositor clearly exserted, the exserted part about 1.3X as long as mid tibial spur. Male: Unknown.

Female (holotype): length, including ovipositor, 1.83mm; excluding ovipositor, 1.61mm ( CPD) .

Head generally orange with very weak brassy lustre and a transverse brown band across face level with torulus; transfacial carina dorsally with a coppery purple sheen; setae on frontovertex, temple and upper gena dark brown, those across transfacial carina, on interantennal prominence and on lower gena translucent, and slightly silvery; radicle pale orange-brown, apically dark brown; scape orange with ventral margin dark brown and apical half of dorsal margin dark brown with a metallic green sheen; pedicel orange with apical part of ventral process dark brown and dorsal margin dark brown with a metallic green sheen; funicle similarly coloured to pedicel; clava orange with ventral margin dark brown and dorsal margin dark brown with a metallic green sheen, coppery purple towards apex; darker markings on antenna stronger on internal surfaces; thorax generally orange with mesosternum dark brown; mesoscutum with a weak brassy sheen and some pale coppery reflections; scutellum and axilla similar to mesoscutum, but less shiny with coppery reflections a little more conspicuous; mesopleuron with a weak brassy sheen; fore leg almost completely pale orange with posterior part of coxa dark brown and apical tarsomere orange-brown; mid leg pale orange with spur dark orange-brown; hind leg pale orange with extreme apex of femur dark brown, tibia with extreme base dark brown, subbasal area white followed by a faint, pale brown subbasal ring, tarsus with basitarsus proximally pale orange, distal half mainly dark brown, apical tarsomere dark brown, remainder of tarsus white; fore wing mostly infuscate but hyaline towards base and at apex, venation orange-brown; hind wing mainly hyaline, but weakly infuscate anteriorly below distal part of venation and slightly beyond; propodeum orange with a weak brassy lustre, setae outside spiracle translucent, pale brown and moderately conspicuous; gaster mostly orange with Gt1-Gt6 dorsally dark brown with a mixed purple, coppery and brassy sheen, side of Gt2-Gt5 with a metallic green and blue-green sheen; gonostylus pale orange.

Head about 6.4X as wide as frontovertex; ocelli forming an angle of about 40°; narrowest point of frontovertex slightly behind anterior ocellus; frontovertex about 3.3X as long as broad with very fine, punctate-reticulate sculpture on frontovertex of cell diameter much less than diameter of facet, dorsal part of transfacial carina almost smooth but with some very shallow reticulate sculpture; a shallow, shiny bottomed depression present adjacent to eye margin between posterior ocellus and occipital margin; eye overreaching occipital margin and clothed with fairly conspicuous translucent setae that are each about as long as diameter of facet; face below transverse brown band clothed with conspicuous, very dense setae; clypeal margin medially very weakly convex; occipital margin carinate; narrowest point between eye and transfacial carina less than half diameter of facet; interantennal prominence with a median carinate ridge that extends almost to transfacial carina; antenna similar to that of oroso (Fig. 1268); scape about 1.5X as long as broad, subtrapezoidal, with proximal part of dorsal margin subequal in length to distal part and with proximal part of ventral margin about 1.6X as long as distal part; distal part of dorsal margin of scape completely flat, smooth and shiny; dorsal part of pedicel completely smooth and shiny; pedicel and all funicle segments subequal in width, dorsal and ventral margins subparallel; clava relatively very long, about 1.8X as long as pedicel and funicle combined, sutures strongly oblique, sensory area about 7X as long as ventral margin, apex strongly obliquely truncate; malar sulcus absent; mandible with two acute teeth and a truncation. Relative measurements: HW c.106 (head slightly collapsed), FVL 54; FV 16.5, POL 7, OOL 1, OCL 5.5, AOL 13, EL c.51, EW c.53, MS c.46, SL 55, SW 37.

Thorax with polygonally reticulate to imbricate reticulate sculpture on pronotum and mesoscutum that is slightly shallower than, but of similar mesh size to, sculpture on frontovertex; mesoscutum, along mid-line, with an irregular series of pores; axilla with similar sculpture to that on frontovertex; scutellum with longitudinally elongate, polygonally reticulate sculpture that is slightly coarser and deeper than on frontovertex; visible part of mesoscutum about 2X as broad as long; scutellum about as broad as long; mid tibia with a strong external carina for about half its length; hind femur about 3.6X as long as broad; fore wing with venation and setation similar to that of oroso (Figs 1270, 1272) but area below submarginal vein with a more or less complete line of setae; cubital vein track with about 8 or 9 setae that nearly reach base of wing; costal cell with 2 setae dorsally at apex; apices of postmarginal and stigmal veins more or less connected by a naked, hyaline streak; propodeum medially about 0.15X as long as scutellum, with some shallow, irregular reticulate sculpture and also several irregular carinae medially, a transverse carina running from anterior margin submedially towards spiracle, this connected to anterior margin of propodeum by three conspicuous carinae, 8 setae anterior to and outside spiracle. Relative measurements: FWL 104, FWW 44; HWL 83, HWW 24.5.

Gaster with hypopygium reaching about 0.4X to apex; syntergum about 0.6X as long as mid tibia, with apex broadly rounded; ovipositor strongly exserted, the exserted part about as long as mid tibial spur or 0.3X length mid tibia. Relative measurements: GL 54 [MT 29].

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. Anicetus arche is close to oroso and also to the extra-limital species, primus (Howard) (from Mexico) and quintanai, De Santis ( Argentina, Peru), all four species having the funicle not longer than the first clava segment (measured dorsally) and the frontovertex with conspicuous, deep, regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture throughout. It differs from all three species in having the exserted part of the ovipositor much longer than the mid tibial spur, whereas in the other species the exserted part of the ovipositor is not more than about two-thirds as long as the mid tibial spur. It is probably most similar to oroso , but, in addition to the relative length of the ovipositor, differs from this species in having a distinct, median, carinate ridge on the interantennal prominence that nearly connects with the transfacial carina, a virtually complete line of setae below the submarginal vein and 7 or 8 setae along cubital vein track. In oroso the interantennal prominence apparently lacks a median carina and the setae below the submarginal vein and along the cubital vein track are much less numerous than in arche . Of the other two species it is probably closest to primus since the funicle is about as long as the first clava segment, whereas in quintanai the funicle is not more than 0.75X as long as the first segment. It differs also from both primus and quintanai in having the head more than 6X as wide as the frontovertex with the ocelli forming an angle of not more than 40° whereas in primus and quintanai the head is less than 6X as wide as the frontovertex and the ocelli form an angle of at least 60°.