Cheiloneurus mandyanus Hayat

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 : 261-262

Cheiloneurus mandyanus Hayat , sp. nov.

( Figs 1–3 )

Female. Holotype. Length, 0.98 mm. Body yellow to pale brownish yellow ( Fig. 1 ); head with vertex yellow, frons and malar space pale brown, shiny; inter-torular region and mouth margin pale brown. Mandible with tip black. Antenna with radicle brownish yellow; scape brownish yellow with dorsal margin reddish brown; pedicel and F1 brown; F2–6 yellow (appears white on slide); clava dark brown. Mesosoma brownish yellow except as follows: sides and posterior two-fifths of mesoscutum (with silvery white setae) pale yellow; scutellum brownish yellow, but with reddish tinge, and sides and apical margin reddish brown; propodeum pale brownish yellow with reddish tinge on middle third, laterally up to spiracles whitish yellow, and dark brown distal to spiracles; mesopleuron white except apical fifth or so brown. Fore wing in basal third infuscate, and with a darker infuscated streak subapically, otherwise hyaline including apex ( Fig. 3 ). Hind wing hyaline. Legs with coxae, trochanters, basal third of fore femur, and basal three-fourth of mid femur, white; rest of fore and mid femora and hind femur brownish yellow; fore tibia yellow, becoming whitish apically; mid tibia brownish yellow with base brown and apically whitish with a brown streak along basal half of dorsal margin; hind tibia dark brown, except base narrowly and apical two-fifths brownish yellow; tarsi all white, last segment of hind tarsus brown. Gaster pale brown; T1 dark brown, with purple shine; ovipositor sheaths whitish.

Head ( Fig. 1 ). Occipital margin sharp; frontovertex slightly convex, when fully exposed, head dorsal width 1.3× as broad as long (26:20) and 5.77× as broad as frontovertex width; frontovertex 0.17× head width, and 4.44× as long as broad; ocelli with apical angle acute; posterior ocelli touching eye margins, POL:OCL:AOL = 3:4:4; eyes large, antero-posterior length greater (18.5) than dorso-ventral height (14.5); malar space 0.79× eye height, and with a fine sulcus present; distance between toruli greater than width of frontovertex (5.5:4.5); frons with white setae; setae on vertex and those along eye margins brown. Antenna ( Fig. 2 ) with scape slightly flattened, 4.35× as long as broad, and 2.64× as long as pedicel; pedicel 2.24× as long as broad and slightly shorter than F1–F3 combined; F1 subquadrate, other segments all broader than long; F6 1.36× as long as and 1.85× as broad as F1; F3– F6 with longitudinal sensilla; clava large, as long as distal half of F1 and F2–F6 combined and with third segment obliquely truncate. Relative measurements —head dorsal width, 26; head dorsal length (frontovertex fully exposed), 20; frontovertex width, 4.5; head frontal height, 24; eye length with head in profile, 18.5; eye height,14.5; malar space, 11.5; antennal scape length, 15.

Mesosoma ( Fig. 1 ). Mesoscutum very finely reticulate; scutellum with raised polygonal reticulations, and deeper than that on mesoscutum; collar of pronotum with a line of brown setae; mesoscutum in anterior three-fifth largely with silvery white setae, and a pair of brown setae in middle of posterior margin; axilla with a few brown setae; scutellum with short, largely pale brown setae, and apically with 3 pairs of brown setae of which the last pair longer and recurved; sides of propodeum with silvery white setae. Fore wing ( Fig. 3 ) 3.78× as long as broad, with apex rounded, reaching slightly beyond TII of gaster. Hind wing very short, about 0.22× fore wing length and 3× as long as broad. Relative measurements — mesosoma length, 29; pronotum length (width), 3 (16); mesoscutum length (width), 10 (20.5); scutellum length (width), 12 (11); propodeum median length, 2.5.

Metasoma slightly longer than mesosoma (35:29), elongated and apically narrowed; exserted part of ovipositor 0.14× gaster length.

Male. Unknown.

Material examined. Holotype (NBAII, Registration No. ICAR/NBAII/EN8), female (on card with right antenna and wings on slide No. EH.1643) labelled “ INDIA: KARNATAKA: Mandya, 26.ix.2012 (MT), Coll. K.Veenakumari”.

Distribution. India: Karnataka.

Etymology. The species name is derived from the locality (Mandya) from where the holotype was collected.

Comments. The genus Cheiloneurus Westwood contains 140 world species (Noyes, 2012). Some species exist either only in brachypterous (short winged) forms or both in brachypterous and macropterous forms (Anis & Hayat 2002; Hayat 2006; Trjapitzin & Triapitsyn 2008; Timberlake 1922, under Hypergonatopus ). The narrow frontovertex with width less than distance between antennal toruli, and absence of scutellar brush of setae excludes the new species from the brachypterous forms of species known from India ( C. bangalorensis and C quadricolor ). It differs from C. flavipes (Timberlake) and C. hemipterus (Timberlake) (Timberlake 1922; Guerrieri & Viggiani 2005) in dimensions of head width, frontovertex width, different dimensions of flagellar segments, and body colour.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 3. Cheiloneurus mandyanus Hayat, sp. nov. Holotype female: 1, body dorsal; 2, antenna; 3, fore wing.