Cheiloneurus fabius, 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 : 281-283

Cheiloneurus fabius sp.nov.

( Figs 697-700; Hab. E 105)

DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 1.6-1.8mm): body mostly orange with mouth margin dark brown below torulus, mesopleuron posteriorly and propodeum laterally pale brown, gaster sometimes pale brown anteriorly, darker areas with a weak to moderate metallic sheen; antenna ( Fig. 699) with scape pale orange; pedicel pale orange with a dark brown stripe; funicle and clava dark brown; mesoscutum with dense silvery setae posteriorly; fore and hind coxae white, mid coxa white with pale orange and brown; legs almost completely white to pale orange; fore wing ( Fig. 700) mostly infuscate with basal cell almost completely hyaline, the small hyaline area at apex of venation is narrowly connected to apical hyaline area at apex and then narrowly nearly to opposite wing margin; head about 12X as wide as frontovertex, in facial view about as long as broad, subcircular with genae moderately curved inwards, more strongly so near mouth margin; frontovertex with three setae medially above scrobes; eye separated from scrobe by about 1.5X diameter of anterior ocellus, area between eye and scrobe completely smooth and shiny, scrobes moderately deep with sharp margins; interantennal prominence with about 12 inconspicuous setae and dorsally rounded; mandible more or less tridentate; antenna ( Fig. 699) with scape about 3.7X as long as broad; funicle with all segments subequal in length and longer than broad; head width about equal to length of funicle; linear sensilla on F3-F6; clava 3-segmented, slightly longer than F4-F6 combined; sensory area enlarged and forming an oblique truncation, extending slightly more than 0.3X along ventral margin; mesoscutum ( Fig. 698) anteriorly and laterally with coarse, longitudinally elongate striate-reticulate sculpture, posteriorly with uniform, fairly shallow, polygonally reticulate sculpture; scutellum with a distinct, apical tuft of setae; wings fully developed; fore wing ( Fig. 700) about 2.6X as long as broad; parastigma hardly downcurved; costal cell dorsally naked or with a single apical setae, ventrally with a complete line of setae; area below proximal part of parastigma with a line of three to six setae; apices of postmarginal and stigmal veins connected by a naked hyaline area that continues a little way into disc ( Fig. 697); apical bristle of postmarginal vein about 0.5X as long as marginal vein; mid tibial spur slightly longer than basitarsus; propodeum with about five setae adjacent to spiracle, side naked; syntergum about 0.9X as long as mid tibia; ovipositor about 3.5X gonostylus or about 1.4X as long as mid tibia; gonostylus about 1.1X as long as mid tibial spur; exserted part of ovipositor about 0.7X as long as mid tibial spur. Male: unknown.

Female (holotype): length, including ovipositor, 1.76mm; excluding ovipositor, 1.67mm (CPD).

Head pale orange, mouth margin weakly infuscate below torulus; frontovertex with a weak blue and purple sheen, less blue immediately above scrobes; area between eye and scrobe with a weak purple and green sheen; temple along eye margin mostly with a weak green sheen, otherwise purple; gena with an even weaker metallic green and purple sheen; scrobal area with a weak green and purple sheen; frontovertex clothed with inconspicuous, translucent, pale brown setae, a line of fine, translucent setae between eye and scrobe; maxillary palpus white, apical segment very pale orange; antenna ( Fig. 699) with radicle and scape pale orange; pedicel pale orange with a dark brown streak internally along its length; funicle and clava dark brown; pronotum orange, neck slightly dusky; prosternum orange; mesoscutum orange, posterolaterally with a very slight purple sheen, anteriorly clothed with relatively sparse, dark brown setae, posteriorly with translucent silvery setae that are slightly more dense laterally; tegula orange with apex orange-brown; axilla and scutellum orange clothed with golden brown to dark brown setae, subapical tuft black; metanotum slightly dusky, orange; mesopleuron orange with posterior half orange-brown; mesosternum orange; fore coxa white; fore femur white at extreme base, otherwise leg pale orange; mid coxa white mixed pale orange, brown towards base externally; mid femur white with apex pale orange, leg otherwise mostly pale orange, but tibia slightly dusky proximally; hind coxa white; leg otherwise mostly pale orange but area around knee slightly dusky; fore wing ( Fig. 700) mostly infuscate, hyaline towards base, along anterior margin distad of venation and at apex; submarginal vein pale orange, venation otherwise brown; propodeum pale orange, pale brown with a slight blue sheen around spiracle, side with a weak purple sheen, 3 or 4 translucent, silvery setae outside spiracle; gaster pale orange to orange, with a weak, mixed, purple, brassy and green sheen, Gt1 laterally brownish with a stronger green, blue and purple sheen, apex of syntergum and outer plate of ovipositor brownish; gonostylus very pale orange, almost white.

Head about 11.5X as wide as frontovertex, in profile about 1.6X as high as deep, anteriorly quite straight between top of scrobes and mouth margin, interantennal prominence hardly protuberant above torulus; occipital margin sharp, not carinate; ocelli forming an angle of about 40°; frontovertex slightly shiny, with shallow, fairly regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture of mesh size a little smaller than diameter of eye facet, deepest in ocellar area; narrowest area between eye and scrobe about 1.5X as wide as diameter of anterior ocellus, area immediately below lowest part of eye almost completely smooth, very shiny; scrobes moderately deep, meeting, ∩-shaped, sharply margined between eye and scrobe; interantennal prominence with similar sculpture to frontovertex, clothed in sparse translucent setae, dorsally rounded; temple with very shallow, irregular, elongate sculpture, gena with slightly deeper, irregular, reticulate sculpture; antenna as in Fig. 699; scape slightly broadened and flattened, about 3.7X as long as broad, widest below middle; funicle with all segments subequal in length and longer than broad, distal segments broadest, F1 about 2X as long as broad, F6 about 1.1X as long as broad; clava hardly broadened, a little longer than F4-F6 combined, sutures oblique, sensory area enlarged, extending ventrally about one-third along clava, giving it an obliquely truncate appearance; eye slightly overreaching occipital margin, clothed in numerous, inconspicuous, very fine setae, each a little shorter than diameter of facet; inner eye margins strongly converging anteriorly; malar sulcus absent; clypeal margin weakly concave medially; mandible virtually tridentate, with two sharp teeth and a truncation; apical segment of maxillary palpus not enlarged, about 1.5X as long as radicle. Relative measurements: HW 69, HH 69, FV 6, POL 4.5, OOL 0, OCL 6.5, AOL 8.5, EL 48, EW 40, MS 30, SL 36.5, SW 10.

Thorax ( Fig. 698) with irregular, polygonally reticulate sculpture on pronotum that is about as deep as that in ocellar area of frontovertex; mesoscutum in anterior one-third and on side with coarse, longitudinally elongate striate-reticulate sculpture, middle and posterior two-thirds with uniform, fairly shallow, polygonally reticulate sculpture; axilla and scutellum with similar sculpture to pronotum, but more regular and deeper, more elongate laterally on scutellum; visible part of mesoscutum about 1.8X as broad as long; scutellum hardly longer than broad, with a distinct subapical tuft, setae mostly about 0.4X as long as scutellum; mid tibia without a distinct, external carina; hind femur about 5X as long as broad; fore wing with venation and setation as in Figs 697, 700; costal cell naked dorsally at apex; apices of postmarginal and stigmal veins connected by a distinct, naked, hyaline streak ( Fig. 697); propodeum ( Fig. 698) medially about 0.13X as long as scutellum, with some very shallow, polygonally reticulate sculpture, side completely smooth. Relative measurements: FWL 77.5, FWW 29.5; HWL 63, HWW 16.

Gaster with hypopygium reaching about 0.4X to apex; syntergum about 0.9X as long as mid tibia, with apex weakly angular; ovipositor slightly exserted, the exserted part about two-thirds length of mid tibial spur or about one-quarter mid tibia.

Paratype. Funicle with linear sensilla present only on F3-F6; gaster without “gland-like” structures on Gt1 or Gt5. Relative measurements: OL 63.5, GL 18 [MT 45.5].

Variation. Females vary in overall length from 1.55-1.81mm, otherwise very little in material available, although the mid tibia may have a very inconspicuous external carina proximally.

Male. Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.

HOSTS. Unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Puntarenas, Las Cruces , MT/YPT, 18-22.iii.1990 (J.S. Noyes) . Paratypes: COSTA RICA, 1E, Heredia, 9km NE Vara Blanca, 10°14’N 84°06’W, 1450-1550m, 15/M/NOTN, ii-. iv.2005 ( INBio / OET-ALAS); 2E, San José, Zurqui de Moravia , 1600m, ix-x.1993 and iv.1995 (P. Hanson); 1E , Puntarenas, Buenos Aires, Est. Altamira, LS 331700 572100, 1320m, #3349, x.1994 (M. Segura, Z. Fuentes); 1E, Puntarenas, Buenos Aires, Est. Altamira, LS 572100 331700, 1450m, #4519, i-ii.1995 (J.F. Quezada, M. Segura); 1E, Puntarenas, Est. Altamira, Send. los Gigantes, LS 331800 572100, 1460m, 10.i-10.ii.2002 ( D. Rubí ); 1E, Puntarenas, San Vito , Las Alturas , 8°57’N 82°50’W, 1500m, 20.ii.2015 (J.S. Noyes); 1E, same data as holotype . Holotype in MZUCR, paratypes in NHMUK and MZUCR .

COMMENTS. Cheiloneurus fabius is superficially fairly similar to miranda in that both species have largely pale orange bodies and the antennal flagellum is dark with relatively elongate segments. However, the two can be distinguished fairly easily because fabius lacks a brown genal stripe, the mesopleuron is mostly orange marked brown posteriorly, the apical margin of the infuscate area of the fore wing is curved and subparallel to the apical margin of the wing and the gaster is mostly orange. In miranda , the temple and gena have a broad, distinct oblique brown stripe, the mesopleuron is white with a vertical dark brown stripe in the middle, the apex of the fore wing has a subtriangular hyaline area and the gaster is dark brown with a strong metallic sheen.