Neococcidencyrtus plinthus, 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 : 140-141

Neococcidencyrtus plinthus sp.nov.

( Figs 341-344)

DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 0.8mm): face with a distinct dark brown band above toruli level with top of interantennal prominence; mesoscutum dark brown with a metallic sheen; tegula pale orange, apex brown; scutellum orange; all coxae dark brown; fore femur and tibia mostly dark orange-brown; mid femur pale orange; hind femur dark brown; hind tibia dark brown, without bands; fore wing ( Fig. 342) with an infuscate pattern; hyaline band distad of venation with widest point about 2X as wide as narrowest point; head about 2.6X as wide as frontovertex; funicle with longitudinal sensilla on F4-F6; clava with outer suture dorsally oblique and incomplete; mandible with one tooth and a broad, straight, truncation; fore wing ( Fig. 342) about 2.4X as long as broad; linea calva interrupted by 2 setae; exserted part of ovipositor about 0.6X as long as mid tibial spur; gonostylus shorter than mid tibial spur. Male: unknown.

Female (holotype): length, including ovipositor, 0.80mm; excluding ovipositor, 0.74mm ( CPD) .

Head with occiput dark orange-brown, frontovertex above scrobes dark brown with a weak, dark blue sheen, eye margins with a coppery purple sheen; face generally pale orange with a transverse, dark brown band with a slight coppery purple sheen immediately below eyes, and a broader dark brown band across toruli, mouth margin medially narrowly pale orange, dark brown laterally; temple and gena dark brown, temple with a weak coppery purple and dark blue sheen, gena with weak dark blue and blue-green sheen; frontovertex with a few inconspicuous, brown setae; a line of inconspicuous, translucent silvery setae between eye and scrobe to position of malar sulcus; gena with only a few, scattered inconspicuous translucent setae, these becoming more dense and conspicuous on lower gena and on interantennal prominence; maxillary palpus dusky pale orange; radicle dusky pale orange, with a dark brown apical ring; scape slightly dusky pale orange narrowly margined dark brown; pedicel and funicle dusky pale orange, clava dark orange-brown; thorax generally dark brown to black with a weak metallic lustre; pronotum with weak coppery purple and dark blue reflections; mesoscutum with a dull, metallic dark blue sheen mixed with some coppery purple, posterior margin dark coppery purple; tegula dark brown with a weak purple and brassy sheen; axilla with a relatively dull, coppery purple sheen; scutellum dorsally orange with a very slight brassy sheen and an irregular, brown spot proximally, side with a metallic dark blue and purple sheen, apex brassy; mesopleuron mainly with a purple sheen mixed with some metallic dark blue; all coxae dark brown; fore femur dark orange-brown, apex pale orange, tibia mostly orange-brown with apical 0.3X pale orange, tarsus dusky orange, apical tarsomere brown; mid femur mostly dark brown, but pale orange in proximal 0.3X and extreme apex very pale orange, mid tibia spur and tarsus pale orange with apical tarsomere brown; hind femur and tibia dark brown with extreme apex of tibia pale orange, tarsus pale orange with apical tarsomere dark brown; fore wing ( Fig. 342) generally weakly infuscate, hyaline below proximal half of submarginal vein and with a pair of opposite, subtriangular, hyaline spots immediately distad of apex of venation; hind wing hyaline; propodeum dark brown with a weak brassy sheen; gaster dark brown with a coppery purple sheen; gonostylus brown with apex pale orange.

Head about 2.6X as wide as frontovertex, slightly collapsed, but in profile about 1.7X as high as deep, tangent to frontovertex forming an angle of about 100° with that of face; occipital margin rounded, indistinct; no oval depression adjacent to eye near occipital margin; ocelli forming an angle of about 80°; frontovertex moderately shiny with fairly shallow, polygonally reticulate sculpture of mesh size mostly a little smaller than eye facet; temple and gena with relatively shallow, longitudinally elongate, fine polygonally reticulate sculpture; top of scrobes with very shallow, regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture; scrobes extremely shallow, indistinct; antenna as in Fig. 342; scape slightly broadened and flattened, about 3.5X as long as broad; funicle with F1-F3 smaller, subequal, subquadrate, F4-F6 larger, subequal, slightly longer than broad, linear sensilla present only on F3-F6; clava slightly shorter than funicle, sutures parallel, outer suture dorsally oblique and incomplete; sensory area small, at apex only giving it a rounded appearance; eye slightly overreaching occipital margin, clothed with short inconspicuous setae, each clearly shorter than diameter of facet; malar sulcus absent; clypeal margin very slightly concave; mandible with one, acute tooth and a very broad, straight truncation that has a small ventral tooth. Relative measurements (head slightly collapsed): HW 50, HH c.39, FV c.19, POL 7.5, OOL 3, OCL c.7, AOL 6, EL c.21, EW c.20, MS 18, SL 21, SW 6.

Thorax with visible part of mesoscutum about 1.8X as broad as long; scutellum about 1.4X as broad as long with subapical setae about 0.8X its length; hind femur about 3.1X as long as broad; fore wing with venation and setation as in Figs 341, 342; propodeum medially about 0.09X as long as scutellum. Relative measurements: FWL 57, FWW 24; HWL 37, HWW 10.

Gaster with hypopygium ( Fig. 344) reaching about 0.8X towards apex; last tergite about 0.8X as long as mid tibia, with apex broadly rounded, virtually truncate; ovipositor exserted, the exserted part about 0.6X length of mid tibial spur or about 0.2X mid tibia. Relative measurements: OL 65, GL 14.4 [MT 45].

Variation. Only holotype examined.

Male. Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.

HOSTS. Unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Heredia, La Selva BS, 50m, 22.i-3.ii.1991 (J.S. Noyes) . Holotype in NHMUK .

COMMENTS. The head of the holotype when card-mounted was slightly collapsed and therefore many of the measurements and ratios obtained from the card-mounted specimen are only approximate. It is likely that the angle formed by the face with the tangent to the frontovertex is less than 90°.

Of the described species, Neoccoccidencyrtus plinthus is most similar to hynodis Noyes It differs in having the head above the scrobes dark brown with a weak dark blue sheen, the clava dark orange-brown, the fore wing infuscation weak, the scutellum with the side and apex with a dark blue and purple sheen, the mid femur dark brown and the frontovertex nearly two-fifths head width. In hynodis the frontovertex is orange-brown below the anterior ocellus, the clava is dark brown, the fore wing infuscation is strong, the scutellum is entirely pale orange, the mid femur is testaceous and the frontovertex is about one-quarter head width.