Globulencyrtus politus (Hoffer)

Hayat, Mohammad, Zeya, Shahid Bin & Veenakumari, K., 2013, On some brachypterous Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from India, with description of four new species, Zootaxa 3716 (2), pp. 259-276 : 269-271

Globulencyrtus politus (Hoffer)

( Figs 19–22 )

Semen politum Hoffer, 1957: 207 –209, female, Slovakia, Sturovo.

Globulencyrtus politus (Hoffer) : Hoffer, 1975: 91. Trjapitzin, 1989: 273.

This species is newly recorded from India. It is redescribed based up on the Indian specimen.

Female. Length, 0.79 mm. Body ( Fig. 19 ) wholly black, with dull metallic purple shine; malar space basally bluish. Antenna with radicle black; otherwise antenna brownish yellow except base and dorsal surface of scape, pedicel largely except apex, and last two segments of clava brown. Fore wing rudiments sclerotized; hind wing not seen even in the dissected specimen. Legs with coxae, trochanters and femora dark brown; tibiae in about basal half brown to dark brown, distal half yellowish brown; mid tibial spur brown; all tarsi with segments 1–4 brownish yellow, last segment brown.

Head ( Fig. 20 ) broader than mesosoma (44:37); occipital margin sharp and concave; frontovertex slightly convex and gradually merging with face; frontovertex, at narrowest, 0.45× head width; ocelli small, ocellar triangle with apical angle strongly obtuse; POL:OOL:OCL:AOL = 16:3.5:4:8; head, in frontal view, 1.22× as broad as high; scrobes moderately deep, inverted U-shaped with margins rounded; torulus with upper margin in line with lower margin of eye and separated from mouth margin by about 3× height of a torulus; malar space without a sulcus, but with a ridge that, just before reaching lower eye margin, curves and extends along posterior margin of eye to about half eye height; eye height 2.21× malar space; frontovertex with raised polygonal sculpture of small cells; sculpture becoming fine and slightly longitudinally elongate in lower third of head; setae very sparse and short; eye apparently bare. Antenna ( Fig. 19 ) with scape cylindrical, as long as funicle; pedicel slightly longer than F1 and F2 combined; funicle segments all longer than broad, F5 and F6 subequal in length and each distinctly longer than F1– 3 individually; clava slightly shorter than F3–6 combined. Relative measurements —head dorsal width, 44; frontovertex width, 20; head frontal height, 36; eye height, 25.5; malar space, 11.5; antennal scape length, 15.

Mesosoma ( Fig. 21 ) 1.48× as broad as long; pronotum with posterior margin slightly concave, length 0.36× mesoscutum length, but width apparently (see Fig. 21 ) less than that of mesoscutum (not possible to measure accurately because left half of pronotum hidden by head); mesoscutum transverse, about 2.72× as broad as long; scutellum 1.22× as long as mesoscutum; (not possible to measure width of scutellum because sides are overlapped by sclerotized fore wings); axillae visible as small, elongated sclerites; metanotum and propodeum not visible in card mounted holotype because scutellum appears directly connected to TI of gaster ( Figs 19, 21 ) (metanotum and propodeum in a dissected specimen of a second species, Fig. 25 , are present as very narrow strips); mesopleuron posteriorly reaching to basal half of TI of gaster; pronotum and mesoscutum with slightly raised irregular polygonal reticulate sculpture; scutellum with raised reticulate sculpture, deeper than that on mesoscutum. Fore wing rudiments sclerotized, triangular, and reaching to apex of scutellum; 3 setae are visible on the vein; otherwise fore wing apparently similar to that given in Fig. 24 . Fore femur 3× as long as broad; hind femur 3.42× as long as broad; mid tibia 3.7× as long as mid basitarsus; mid spur 0.71× of mid basitarsus length. Relative measurements — mesosoma length, 25; mesosoma height, 26; pronotum length, 4; mesoscutum length (width), 11(30); scutellum length, 13.5.

Metasoma ( Fig. 22 ). Gaster 1.16× as long as broad; TI 3.36× as broad as long and 3.14× as long as TII; TII to TVI narrow strips; TVII median length 1.54× as long as TI; TVII length measured between cercal plates, 0.92× mid tibia length; hypopygium reaching nearly to apex of gaster ( Fig. 19 ); ovipositor sheaths very slightly exserted.

Male. Unknown.

Material examined. INDIA: KARNATAKA: Kolar, Gouribidanur, 1 female (on card with one fore leg and one mid leg detached and glued on to the same card), 07.xii.2010 (SN), Coll. K.Veenakumari. (NBAII)

Distribution. INDIA: Karnataka.

Comments. We initially considered this specimen as belonging to an undescribed species on the basis of the original description and the figure given by Hoffer (1957: fig. 3), but Dr. J.S. Noyes, who reviewed this paper, is of the opinion that it belongs to G. politus based on a specimen from Portugal in the Natural History Museum, London, and compared with the holotype of G. politus . The differences noted in the dimensions of the gaster and TVII in the Indian specimen (gaster 1.16× as long as broad; TVII 1.25× as broad as long) and the figure given by Hoffer (1957: fig. 3) (gaster 1.52× as broad as long; TVII 3.5× as broad as long) are apparently due to the fact that the tergites in figure 3 given by Hoffer are strongly retracted. Otherwise, these differences in the dimensions of the gaster and TVII may be due to the way the insect has died.

One female was dissected and mounted on a slide under 4 coverslips (Slide No. EH.1503) in ZDAMU ( India: Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, 18.xi.2009 (SN), Coll. K. Veenakumari). This specimen is very similar in all details to the Indian specimen of G. politus , but differs in having the fore and hind femora strongly swollen and in having the two spurs of the hind tibia dark brown in colour. The fore femur is 2.73× as long as broad (3× as long as broad in the Indian specimen of G. politus ) and the hind femur 2.44× as long as broad (3.42× as long as broad in the Indian specimen of G. politus ). Further material is needed to decide whether the dimensions of fore and hind femora and colour of the hind tibial spurs indicate variations within a single species or the specimen from Coimbatore belongs to an undescribed species. The mandible, fore wing, part of mesosoma showing the axilla, metanotum and propodeum, hind leg and ovipositor are illustrated ( Figs 23–27 ) from the slide mounted specimen.

The genus Globulencyrtus and G. politus are newly recorded from India.

Figures

FIGURES 19 – 22. Globulencyrtus politus (Hoffer). Female: 19, body lateral; 20, head dorsal; 21, mesosoma and part of metasoma; 22, metasoma.

FIGURES 23 – 27. Globulencyrtus sp. Female (Coimbatore specimen, on slide No. EH 1503): 23, mandibles; 24, fore wing; 25, right half of mesosoma; 26, hind leg; 27, ovipositor. ax = axilla, mt = metanotum, pr = propodeum, TI = first tergite of gaster, tg = tegula.