Brethesiella latifrons ( Timberlake, 1919 )

Trjapitzin, Vladimir A. & Triapitsyn, Serguei V., 2006, A new species of Brethesiella (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) from California, USA, a parasitoid of Steatococcus tabernicolus (Hemiptera: Margarodidae), Zootaxa 1167, pp. 1-16 : 5-7

Brethesiella latifrons ( Timberlake, 1919)

Brethesia latifrons Timberlake 1919: 192 , 193 + plate 40, fig. 14 (holotype female [on point, labeled: 1. (blue) “Antenna mounted”; 2. (blue) “Wing mounted”; 3. “ Icerya purchasi Mendoza, Argentina ”; 4. “Carlos Reed Collector”; 5. (red) “ Holotype ”; 6. (red) “Type No. 22046 U.S. N.M.”; 7. “( Brethesia ) Brethesiella latifrons Timb. Timb. det.”] and 3 paratype females [same collecting data as the holotype], all in USNM, examined).

Brethesiella latifrons (Timberlake) (in Brethesiella Porter): Porter 1920 : 16; De Santis 1964: 171, 172; Noyes 1980: 183; Olazarán Aguilar & Ruíz Cancino 2001: 49 –53; Olazarán­Aguilar et al. 2001: E­156.

Brethesiella latifrons (Timberlake) (in Brethesiella Timberlake): Timberlake 1920 : 96.

Type locality Mendoza, Argentina .

Distribution Argentina, Mexico ( Olazarán Aguilar & Ruíz Cancino 2001; Olazarán­Aguilar et al. 2001).

Hosts Icerya purchasi Maskell in Argentina ( Timberlake 1919) and Icerya sp. on mandarin in Mexico ( Olazarán Aguilar & Ruíz Cancino 2001; Olazarán­Aguilar et al. 2001).

Comments

Member of the latifrons species group. This species was well described originally by Timberlake (1919) and more recently redescribed and illustrated (based on the Mexican specimens) by Olazarán Aguilar & Ruíz Cancino (2001). The paratypes are all incomplete and missing various body parts.

Brethesiella abnormicornis ( Girault, 1917)

Isodromus abnormicornis Girault 1917: 118 , 119 (2 syntype females and 2 syntype males [initially all on points but one complete female remounted on to a slide in Canada balsam at UCRC in September 2005], labeled: 1. “8477° Par. of Icerya braziliensis ”; 2. “A. Hempel, Jan 99. Sao Paulo, Brazil ”; 3. (red) “20606”; 7. “ Isodromus abnormicornis Girault [male and female symbols]”, all in USNM, examined).

Brethesia abnormicornis (Girault) : Timberlake 1919: 193.

Brethesiella abnormicornis (Girault) (in Brethesiella Porter): Porter 1920 : 16; De Santis 1979: 207; Noyes 1980: 183.

Brethesiella abnormicornis (Girault) (in Brethesiella Timberlake): Timberlake 1920 : 96.

Brethesiella abnormicornis (Girault) : Trjapitzin et al. 2004: 57.

Type locality São Paulo, Brazil .

Distribution Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago ( Greathead 1971; Cock 1985), and Uruguay ( De Santis 1979).

Hosts

Icerya brasiliensis Hempel in Brazil ( Girault 1917) and Icerya sp. in Uruguay ( De Santis 1979). This species was introduced from Trinidad in 1961 into Barbados and São Tomé against Icerya purchasi Maskell , but in both cases with unknown results ( Greathead 1971; Cock 1985).

Comments

Member of the latifrons species group. This species is much larger in body size than B. latifrons . The rather short pedicel of the female antenna of B. abnormicornis is 1.2–1.3 x as long as F2. The female head is mostly yellow and the mesoscutum is yellow­orange except for the brown anterior margin and a slight darkening of the posterior margin; the anterior half or so of the gaster is whitish. The male mesoscutum of B. abnormicornis has a wide, conspicuous dark longitudinal medial band and is much darker anteriorly than the female’s mesoscutum. Such a band is absent in the males of both B. coccidophaga (Blanchard) and B. longipes (Blanchard) from Argentina (see De Santis 1964); thus, an assumption that all four described South American species of Brethesiella might belong to the same species ( Noyes 1980) could be not true.

Brethesiella longipes ( Blanchard, 1940)

Perissodromus longipes Blanchard 1940: 107 (holotype female and allotype male, Museo de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina, not examined). Brethesiella longipes (Blanchard) : De Santis 1964: 172 –175; Noyes 1980: 183.

Type locality Chaco, Argentina .

Distribution Argentina.

Hosts Icerya brasiliensis Hempel and Icerya sp. ( De Santis 1964).

Comments

Member of the latifrons species group. Very similar to B. abnormicornis according to De Santis (1964). However, based on our comparison of the De Santis’ redescription of the female B. longipes and examination of the two female syntypes of B. abnormicornis , females of these two species seem to differ both in the proportions of the antennal segments in (as indicated in the key above) and the shape of the dark spot on the forewing (notably broader in B. longipes ).