Neococcidencyrtus dracaenus, 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 : 138-140

Neococcidencyrtus dracaenus sp.nov.

( Figs 336-340)

DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 1.3mm): face ( Fig. 336) 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 pale brown; scutellum orange; all coxae dark brown; fore femur mostly dark brown, fore tibia mostly pale orange; mid femur pale orange; hind femur dark brown; hind tibia dark brown, without bands; fore wing ( Fig. 340) with an infuscate pattern; hyaline band distad of venation with widest point about 1.5X as wide as narrowest point; head ( Fig. 336) about 4.6X as wide as frontovertex; funicle with longitudinal sensilla on F3-F6; clava ( Fig. 337) with outer suture complete and dorsally oblique; mandible with three teeth; fore wing ( Fig. 340) about 2.4X as long as broad; linea calva interrupted by 3 setae; exserted part of ovipositor about 0.3X as long as mid tibial spur; gonostylus shorter than mid tibial spur. Male: unknown.

Female (holotype): length, including ovipositor, 1.25mm; excluding ovipositor, 1.17mm ( CPD) .

Head generally orange; frontovertex brown between ocelli and in this area with metallic dark blue and purple reflections; face ( Fig. 336) below top of scrobes mainly white with a narrow, slightly curved, transverse, dark brown band between lowest eye margins and another, slightly broader, transverse, dark brown band across ventral parts of toruli and gena to occiput, mouth margin orange; temple and gena orange; 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 pale orange, with a dark brown apical ring; scape pale orange, ventral margin narrowly dark brown; pedicel pale orange, with a complete dark brown stripe internally; F1 and F2 orange-brown, darker internally, remainder of funicle pale orange but F3 slightly dusky; clava dark brown; thorax mixed orange and dark brown with a metallic lustre; pronotum orange, posterior margin completely translucent, neck dusky; mesoscutum dark brown with a strong, metallic, mixed green, blue-green and dark blue sheen with some brassy reflections; tegula orange, apex pale brown with a weak coppery purple sheen; axilla orange, margined dark brown; scutellum orange, dorsally with weak coppery reflections, side and apex with a metallic dark blue and purple sheen; mesopleuron mainly dark brown with a very weak purple, coppery and dark blue sheen, anterior part orange-brown; all coxae dark brown; fore femur mostly dark brown, apex pale orange, tibia mostly pale orange with dorsal and ventral margins brown proximally, tarsus dusky orange, apical tarsomere brown; mid femur mostly pale orange with dorsal margin brown proximally and a slender, oblique subapical brown band, extreme apex white, mid tibial spur and tarsus pale yellow, almost white; hind femur and tibia dark brown with apex of tibia pale orange, tarsus white with apical tarsomere orange-brown; fore wing ( Fig. 340) generally infuscate, hyaline below proximal half of submarginal vein and with a complete, slightly irregular, hyaline band immediately distad of apex of venation, apex more or less broadly hyaline; hind wing hyaline; propodeum dark brown with a weak purple sheen; gaster dark brown with a coppery purple sheen; gonostylus brown with apex broadly pale orange.

Head ( Fig. 336) about 4.6X as wide as frontovertex, slightly collapsed, but in profile about 1.8X as high as deep, tangent to frontovertex forming an angle of about 80° with that of face; occipital margin rounded, indistinct; no oval depression adjacent to eye near occipital margin; ocelli forming an angle of about 45°; frontovertex ( Fig. 336) 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, interantennal prominence and mouth margin with shallow, regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture; scrobes extremely shallow, indistinct; antenna as in Fig. 337; scape very slightly broadened and flattened, about 4.1X as long as broad; funicle with F1-F2 smaller, subequal, subquadrate, F3-F5 larger, slightly longer than broad, gradually increasing in size distad, F6 largest and subquadrate, linear sensilla present only on F3-F6; clava about as long as F3-F6 combined, sutures parallel, outer suture complete and dorsally oblique; sensory area small, at apex only, giving it a rounded appearance; eye slightly overreaching occipital margin, naked; malar sulcus absent; clypeal margin weakly concave; mandible more or less tridentate, with one acute tooth and an upper, broad, slightly concave truncation. Relative measurements (head slightly collapsed): HW c.76, HH c.60, FV c.16.5, POL 7, OOL 1, OCL c.10, AOL 11, EL c.37, EW c.37, MS 31, SL 37, SW 9.

Thorax visible part of mesoscutum about 1.75X as broad as long; scutellum about 1.5X as broad as long with subapical setae about 0.75X its length; hind femur about 3.8X as long as broad; fore wing with venation and setation as in Figs 339, 340; propodeum medially about 0.09X as long as scutellum. Relative measurements: FWL 86, FWW 35.5; HWL 63.5, HWW 16.5.

Gaster with hypopygium ( Fig. 338) reaching about 0.7X; last tergite about 0.7X as long as mid tibia, with apex broadly rounded; ovipositor exserted, the exserted part about 0.4X length of mid tibial spur or about 0.15X mid tibia. Relative measurements: OL 95, GL 19 [MT 74].

Variation. Only holotype examined.

Male. Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.

HOSTS. Unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Guanacaste, Santa Rosa NP, BH 90, xi.1986 (D. Janzen, I.D. Gauld) . 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.

Neococcidencyrtus dracaenus is similar in general appearance to hynodis Noyes. However, in dracaenus the mesoscutum has a strong green, blue-green and dark blue sheen, the scutellum is orange with coppery reflections and metallic dark blue on the side and apex and the apex of the fore wing is more or less hyaline or at least conspicuously paler than area proximad. In hynodis the mesoscutum has only a slight metallic blue and purple sheen, the scutellum is yellow orange to orange and the apex of the fore wing is clearly infuscate.