Erythmelus (Erythmelus) tingitiphagus ( Soares, 1942 )

Triapitsyn, Serguei V., Berezovskiy, Vladimir V., Hoddle, Mark S. & Morse, Joseph G., 2007, A review of the Nearctic species of Erythmelus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), with a key and new additions to the New World fauna, Zootaxa 1641 (1), pp. 1-64 : 52-53

Erythmelus (Erythmelus) tingitiphagus ( Soares, 1942)

( Figs 74, 75 )

Anaphes tingitiphagus Soares 1942: 265 , plates 4–6 (syntypes: possibly, according to the original photographs, 2 females and 1 male on 3 slides [ Escola Nacional de Agronomia , Rio de Janeiro, Brazil], not examined. Type locality: Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).

Mymar tingitiphagus (Soares) : Costa Lima 1962: 197.

Erythmelus tingitiphagus (Soares) : Huber 1992: 77; Costa et al. 2003: 205–206 (host, parasitism rate).

Erythmelus (Erythmelus) tingitiphagus (Soares) : Triapitsyn 2003: 24–27 (redescription, diagnosis, distribution, hosts).

Material examined. ARGENTINA. BUENOS AIRES, Moreno , 34°08’57’’S 58°46’57’’W: 9.iii.2005, C. Coviella [1 female, UCRC]; 23.iii.2005, C. Coviella [1 female, UCRC] . FORMOSA, Estancia Guaycolec, 25

km N of Formosa, 25°59’S 58°12’W, 185 m, 26.ii–10.iii.1999, S.L. Heydon, J. Ledford [1 female, UCDC]. MISIONES, Loreto: 12.ii.1936, A.A. Ogloblin (ex. eggs of Tingidae on Solanum bonariense ) [1 male, MLPA]; 14.ii.1936, A.A. Ogloblin (ex. eggs of Tingidae on Solanum bonariense , male misidentified by A.A. Ogloblin as E. cingulatus Ogloblin ) [1 female, 1 male, MLPA]; ii.1936, A.A. Ogloblin (ex. eggs of Tingidae on Solanum bonariense ) [1 female, MLPA]; 14.iv.1936, A.A. Ogloblin (on Solidago sp. , misidentified by A.A. Ogloblin as E. cingulatus Ogloblin ) [1 male, MLPA]. 24.iv.1936, A.A. Ogloblin (ex. eggs of Tingidae on Solanum bonariense ) [1 female, MLPA]; 22.vi.1936, A.A. Ogloblin (ex. eggs of Tingidae on Solanum bonariense , misidentified by A.A. Ogloblin as E. cingulatus Ogloblin ) [1 female, MLPA]. COLOMBIA. Palmeras de la Costa, 28.i.1984, E.G. Paz (ex. Leptopharsa gibbicarina Froeschner on African palm, Elacis guineensis) [3 females, USNM].

Diagnosis. Erythmelus (E.) tingitiphagus was only provisionally assigned to the flavovarius species group by Triapitsyn (2003). It indeed belongs in there. This distinctive, minute species (body length 440–510 µm) was redescribed and illustrated by Triapitsyn (2003). It is somewhat similar to E. (E.) pastoralis Ogloblin from Argentina. The relative length of the longest marginal cilia to the greatest width of the forewing (1.8– 2.1: 1 in E. (E.) tingitiphagus and about 1.4: 1 in the holotype of E. (E.) pastoralis ), and especially the number and distribution of the setae on the forewing blade ( Figs. 75 , 89 , respectively) allow for separation of these two species. The funicle of the female antenna is normally 6–segmented ( Fig. 74 ) but often it is 5–segmented due to a fusion of any two neighboring funicular segments or a loss of one of the funicular segments, usually of F3 or F4 ( Triapitsyn 2003).

Distribution. Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela ( Triapitsyn 2003), and Colombia (new record).

Hosts. Tingidae : Corythaica cyathicollis (Costa) , C. monacha (Stål) , Gargaphia lunulata (Mayr) , Leptodictya tabida (Herrich-Schaeffer) , Leptopharsa heveae Drake & Poor ( Triapitsyn 2003) , and also Leptopharsa gibbicarina Froeschner (new record). According to the labels on several slides with the specimens collected by A.A. Ogloblin in Loreto, Misiones, Argentina, some of them were reared from eggs of an unidentified species of Tingidae .

Figures

FIGURES 74, 75. Erythmelus (E.) tingitiphagus (female). 74. Antenna (Barquisimeto, Lara, Venezuela). 75. Forewing (Belém, Pará, Brazil). Scale bars = 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 87–89. Erythmelus (E.) pastoralis (female, holotype). 87. Antenna. 88. Body. 89. Wings.