Comperiella lemniscata Compere & Annecke, 1961

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 : 143-144

Comperiella lemniscata Compere & Annecke

( Figs 345-349; Hab. E 55)

Comperiella lemniscata Compere & Annecke, 1961:32-33 . Syntypes E, India (Maharashtra), USNM, not examined.

DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 0.7-1.2mm): head (Fig, 345) largely dark brown with a weak metallic sheen; frontovertex pale yellow with a median brown stripe that is moderately metallic green, from occipital margin to transfacial carina; antenna dark brown; thorax as in Fig. 349; pronotal collar with a median, rectangular, yellow area; mesoscutum with very well defined median longitudinal metallic blue-green stripe, a little less than one-third width of mesoscutum, contrasting strongly with the lateral dark coppery purple areas, this colouration carried on to scutellum where it is bordered by completely smooth, strong metallic dark blue and purple; fore wing ( Fig. 347) with two, strongly divergent, subequal, radiating lines from middle, one reaching wing apex and other distal margin at anal angle, posterior ocelli separated by about their own diameters; antenna with club ( Fig. 346) slightly narrower than F1, slightly shorter than pedicel and funicle combined and clearly narrowing towards apex; fore wing ( Fig. 347) about 2.5-2.8X as long as broad, setae basad of linea calva modified, slightly flattened and apically rounded, venation as in Fig. 348; mid tibial spur as long as basitarsus. Male (length about 0.5-1.1mm): head with area delimited by ocelli and occipital margin dark brown; eye margin, line across frontovertex between anterior ocellus ant top of scrobes and sometimes occiput behind eye yellow to orangepink; antenna with scape about 2.3X as long as broad; funicle clothed in long setae, longest about 2.3X as long as diameter of segment; linear sensilla on F4-F6; phallobase about 4.3X as long as wide; aedeagus about 0.5X as long as mid tibia.

DISTRIBUTION. Spain. Italy, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, India, China, Australia (see Noyes, 2019) and recorded below from Costa Rica (new record) and Thailand (new record).

HOSTS. This species has been recorded as a primary parasitoid of Aonidiella orientalis and Chrysomphalus dictyospermi ( Hemiptera : Diaspididae ) (see Noyes, 2019).

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Non type material. COSTA RICA, 1E, Heredia, Santo Domingo, INBio Parque, 9°59’N 84°06’W, 12.ii.2011 (J.S. Noyes); 1E, Heredia, Santo Domingo, INBio Parque, 9°59’N 84°06’W, 14.ii.2015 (J.S. Noyes). SAUDI ARABIA, 1E, Riyadh, Deirab, ex scale sp. 6 Aonidiella orientalis, CIE A 19693, 10.xi.1987; 5G, Oleisha, ex Aonidiella orientalis on Ficus nitida , sp. 14 CIE A20151, 20.x.1988 (A. Al-Ahmad); IRAN, Jiroft, 6E, ex Aonidiella orientalis on sweet lemon, 27.viii.1991 (R. Lachinani); INDIA, 11E, Jharkhand, AOCI, Nankum, Lac Res. Inst., ex Aspidiotus orientalis , 1933 “ Comperiella bifasciata How. E Ch Ferrière det.”; THAILAND, 4E, Chiang Mai, diaspine on oleander, 12.i.1993 (F.D. Bennett); CHINA, 2E, Hong Kong, Tai Po, ex Aonidiella orientalis on papaya,, SzR 1200, 26.xi.1943 (S.E. Flanders), erroneously labelled as “ Paratype ”; 7E, Hainan, Haikou, ex Aonidia on oleander, 2.vi.1988 (F.D. Bennett, Ren Hui). Material in NHMUK.

COMMENTS. I have not examined the syntypes of Comperiella lemniscata , but Prinsloo (1996) provides an excellent diagnosis of the species based on his study of them. It is closest to pia (Girault) from Australia and bifasciata (Howard) a cosmopolitan species, the females of all three species having two divergent, subequal, radiating lines from the middle of the wing, separated from main infuscate area by a hyaline break, one reaching the wing apex and other the distal margin at the anal angle of the wing. Comperiella lemniscata can be separated from pia by having the fore wing less than 3X as long as broad and from bifasciata by the mesoscutum having a very well-defined median, longitudinal, metallic blue-green stripe that is slightly less than one-third width of mesoscutum and is very strongly margined laterally by the metallic dark coppery purple sides of the mesoscutum. In pia the fore wing is more than 3X as long as broad and in bifasciata the metallic stripe on the mesoscutum is at least about half the width of the mesoscutum and its lateral margins are rather more diffuse. The males can be separated from those of bifasciata by the presence of linear sensilla on F4-F6 of the funicle whereas those of bifasciata have linear sensilla only on F5-F6 (see Battaglia, 1989).