Telenomus parides Loiácono et Margaría, 2015

Almeida, Gilberto De Souza Soares De, Loiácono, Marta Susana, Margaría, Cecilia Beatriz & Monteiro, Ricardo Ferreira, 2015, A new species of Telenomus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) egg parasitoid of Parides ascanius (Cramer) (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae), a threatened species from Brazil, Zootaxa 3986 (3), pp. 387-392 : 388-391

Telenomus parides Loiácono et Margaría sp. nov.

Figs. 1–6

Description. Female. Body length 0.8 mm.

Color. Head and body dark brown, covered by short whitish setae; coxae light chestnut brown; femora, tibiae and tarsi yellow; A1–A6 yellow, A7–A11 light brown, gradually darkening distally.

Head. Vertex smoothly rounded onto occiput medially, occiput coriaceous throughout; hyperoccipital carina absent; occipital carina simple; frons slightly coriaceous; orbital bands present; frontal pit absent; frontal depression absent; frons not bulging between toruli and inner orbits; eyes extremely large, hairy; malar space coriaceous, temples not bulging, not grooved; frons width equal eye height; Antennae 11-segmented; clava 5-segmented; A2 subequal to A3; A6 as long as wide; A9–A10 transverse.

Mesosoma. Mesoscutum convex, finely coriaceous, setose; scutellum smooth, scarcely setose, submarginal foveae about equal in size to dorsellar punctures; mesoscutellum rectangular, overlapping metapectal-propodeal complex, finely punctate reticulate; acetabular carina simple; episternal foveae and mesopleural carina absent; width of intercoxal space less than length of fore coxa, intercoxal space greater than length of setae arising from its surface; wings clear (Fig. 3), surpassing apex of metasoma in flexed position; basal vein not pigmented; postmarginal vein longer than stigmal; hind wing narrow, greatest width only slightly greater than width of fringe at that point.

Metasoma (Fig. 4). T1 with 1 pair of sublateral setae and 3 pairs of lateral setae; greatest length of basal costae on T2 about two times medial length of T1. L/W T1: 28/75; L/W T2: 18/15; L/W metasoma: 69/43.

Male: Identical to the female differing only in the normal secondary sexual characters; antennae A2 subequal to A3; A3–A5 longer than wide; A6–A11 moniliform; A12 longer than wide (Fig. 5). Genitalia: digitus with 3 small teeth, laminae volsellares not well-delimited medially, aedeagal lobe rounded (Fig. 6).

Distribution: Rio de Janeiro City, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Host. Parides ascanius ( Lepidoptera , Papilionidae ) (Fig. 7).

Biological data. Telenomus parides is a gregarious egg endoparasitoid of Parides ascanius with 2–15 parasitoids developing in one host egg (mean = 8.56 ± 2.46; N = 48). The progeny size of gregarious Telenomus usually range from 5– 10 specimens ( Johnson 1984), but may reach 20 ( Margaría et al. 2007). Parasitized eggs of Parides darkening progressively until they became entirely black, similar to the host eggs of other proctotrupomorph parasitoids ( Tyler et al. 1994; Austin et al. 2005; Loiácono et al. 2006). The sex ratio (female offspring/total offspring) of natural Telenomus parides populations were female biased, ranging from 0.73 to 1 (mean = 0.89 ± 0.09; N = 11). Female biased sex ratio is common in Telenomus species both in natural and in captive populations ( Bruce et al. 2009; Carleton et al. 2010; Pomari et al. 2012).

FIGURES 1–4. Telenomus parides Loiácono et Margaría sp. nov. Female 1. Head in lateral view (SEM). 2. Mesosoma and metasoma dorsal view (SEM). 3. Fore wing. 4. Mesosoma and metasoma details in dorsal view (SEM).

Material examined. Holotype female, Parque Natural Municipal de Marapendi (Itaúna), 23º0'44.53''S 43º25'13.7''W, (Rio de Janeiro City, Brazil), 7.XII.2008, Almeida coll., ( UFES). Paratypes, 7 females, 8.IX.2005, Almeida coll. ( UFES); 26 females, 4 males, 7.X.2005, Almeida coll. ( UFES); 31 females, 5 males, 7.XII.2008, Almeida coll. ( UFES); 3 females ( UFES), 5 females ( MLP), 2 males ( MLP, mounted and microscopic slide), same data as holotype. Paratypes, 3 females ( UFES), 3 females ( MLP), same data as holotype except 12.XII.2008; 1 male ( UFES), 2 males ( MLP, mounted and microscopic slide), same data as holotype except 12.XII.2008; 8 females, 1 male, 12.XII.2008, Almeida coll. ( UFES); Parque Natural Municipal de Marapendi (head office), 23º1'0.23"S 43º26'55.13"W, (Rio de Janeiro City, Brazil), 7 females, 30.VIII.2005, Almeida coll. ( UFES); Parque Natural Municipal Bosque da Barra, 22º59'58.65''S 43º22'23.63"W, (Rio de Janeiro City, Brazil), 4 females, 6.VIII.2005, Almeida coll. ( UFES); 8 females, 1 male, 27.XII.2008, Almeida coll. ( UFES).

FIGURES 5–6. Telenomus parides Loiácono et Margaría sp. nov. Male. 5. Antenna. 6. Genitalia.

Diagnosis. Telenomus parides belongs to the T. californicus species-complex (see key in Johnson, 1984) by the following morphological characters: female antennal clava 5-segmented; eyes hairy; occipital carina simple; metascutellum about as long laterally as medially, punctate above; episternal fovea absent, metapleural carina absent. Basal wing not pigmented. T1 with one pair of sublateral setae. The new species belong to the “Other unplaced species of the T. californicus complex” as T. demodoci based on the presence of small digital teeth and not well-delimited laminae volsellares.

Telenomus parides is similar to T. demodoci Nixon 1936 , both differs from other members of the complex by the very distinctive male genitalia, longer and narrower. Telenomus demodoci and T. parides genitalia is 4–4.2x as long as wide, whereas in other Telenomus species of the californicus group is about 3.5x as long as wide. Both species were reared from eggs of papilionids: Telenomus demodoci from Papilio demodocus in Uganda ( Nixon, 1936) and T. parides from Parides ascanius in Brazil. Telenomus parides differs from T. demodoci by the female antenna segments: A2 is longer than A 3 in demodoci , subequal in parides ; A9–A10 more transverse in demodoci ; fringe of hind wing with about two thirds to three-fourths the greatest width of the wing in demodoci , only slightly greater than width of fringe at that point in parides . Male genitalia of parides has digital teeth slightly shorter than demodoci , laminae volsellares fused for part of their length in parides and in the form of two well-sclerotized ventral rods in demodoci , aedeagal lobe shorter in parides than in demodoci .

FIGURE 7. Parides ascanius egg after the emergence of adult wasps.