Ooencyrtus xenasteiae Hayat & Gupta, 2018

Hayat, Mohammad, Gupta, Ankita & Selvaraj, Krishnan, 2018, A new species of Ooencyrtus Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), parasitoid on pupae of Xenasteia sp. (Diptera: Xenasteiidae) from Karnataka, India, Zootaxa 4521 (2), pp. 258-264 : 259-262

Ooencyrtus xenasteiae Hayat & Gupta , sp. nov.

( Figures 1–20 )

Female. Holotype. Length, 1.23 mm (gastral tergites slightly stretched). (Paratypes, 1.14–1.19 mm). Female habitus as in Fig. 1 ; body with metallic shine. Head with frontovertex dull purple, anteriorly light bluish; face and scrobes bluish; malar space largely dull purple with some greenish shine. Antenna with radicle dark brown; scape off-white with very pale brown infuscation distally; pedicel off-white, pale brown basally; funicle segments with some pale brown infuscation on F2 onwards; clava nearly dark brown. Mesosoma with pronotum dark brown; mesoscutum bluish green; scutellum largely purple, with sides and apex narrowly bluish green; tegula dark brown; propodeum with sides distal to spiracles light bluish. Wings hyaline. Legs, including coxae, off-whitish to yellowish. Gaster with TI bluish; other tergites light bluish with some violet shine; third valvula dark brown.

Head, in dorsal view ( Fig. 4 ), with occipital margin narrow; eye slightly over-reaching occipital margin posteriorly; frontovertex width 0.2× head width; ocellar triangle with apical angle acute; POL less than OCL (2.5:3.5); head, in frontal view ( Fig. 3 ), very slightly broader than high; scrobes inverted U-shaped, with margins rounded; eye height 2.08× malar space; frontovertex with slightly raised, polygonal reticulate sculpture, with the cells small; sculpture on face fine; malar space with elongate reticulate sculpture; setae on head white; eye with setae hyaline, each seta shorter than a facet diameter. Mandible ( Fig. 5 ) with two teeth and a small truncation which may be rounded. Antenna ( Fig. 6 ) with scape nearly 6× as long as broad, and 1.25× as long as clava; F1–F5 each longer than broad, F6 quadrate to slightly longer than broad; clava about as long as F4–F6 combined. Relative measurements (holotype, card): head dorsal width, 34; head frontal height, 33; frontovertex width, 7; eye height, 25; malar space, 12.

Mesosoma ( Fig. 2 ). Mesoscutum with regular, slightly raised, polygonal reticulate sculpture; scutellum largely with fine, hardly visible in slide mount, polygonal reticulate sculpture, in about one-fifth on each side with slightly raised, elongate reticulations, sides and apex narrowly smooth ( Figs 2 , 7 ); setae on pronotal collar, and mesoscutum (except 4 or 5 longer brown setae along posterior margin), white; on axilla and scutellum setae pale brown; propodeum distal to spiracles with seven silvery white setae. Fore wing 2.6× as long as broad, linea calva closed posteriorly by one or two lines of setae; basal cell bare; marginal vein nearly 2× as long as postmarginal vein, and slightly shorter than stigmal vein ( Figs 8, 9 , from slide EH.2337). Hind wing 5.53× as long as broad. Mid tibia 2.76× as long as mid basitarsus; mid tibial spur 0.69× mid basitarsus length. Relative measurements (paratype, slide, EH.2336): fore wing length (width), 96 (36.5); hind wing length (width), 68 (15); mid tibia length, 36; mid basitarsus length, 13; mid tibial spur length, 9.

Metasoma. Gaster subequal in length to mesosoma; ovipositor with second valvifer 2.57× as long as third valvula; TVII, hypopygium and ovipositor as in Figs 10–12 . Relative measurements (paratype, slide, EH.2336): TVII length (width), 30 (31); ovipositor length, 50; third valvula length, 14. [Ovipositor 1.38× as long as mid tibia; third valvula slightly longer than mid basitarsus, and 1.55× as long as mid tibial spur.]

Male. Length, 0.75 mm. Similar to female, except for head dimensions, antennal structure and genitalia. Male habitus as in Fig. 13 .

Head ( Fig. 15 ) with frontovertex width 0.37× head width; head width 1.13× head height; antennal torulus with upper margin slightly below lower margin of eye, and separated from mouth margin by height of a torulus. Antenna ( Fig. 14 ) with scape slightly expanded in basal half; pedicel subtriangular, slightly shorter than F1; F1 shorter than F2 which is shorter than F3; funicle segments all longer than broad, F1 about 1.5×, F2 slightly more than 2×, and F3–F6 each at least about 3×, as long as broad; funicle segments with setae arranged in whorls, and setae shorter than 2× width of each segment; clava shorter than F5 and F6 combined. Genitalia ( Fig. 16 ) with phallobase 1.58× as long as mid basitarsus.

Variation. There is little variation in the four paratype females. The width of the frontovertex varies from 0.21× to 0.23× head width.

Material examined. Holotype, ♀ ( NBAIR, registration No. ICAR / NBAIR /1517 A), labelled “ INDIA: KARNATAKA: Udupi, Malpe beach, 1.v.2017, Coll. K. Selvaraj ” and “ Ex. Pupa of Xenasteia sp. on Calophyllum inophyllum L.” Paratypes: 4 ♀, 3 ♂ (2 ♀ and 2 ♂ on 3 slides, Nos EH.2336, EH.2337, EH.2338), with data same as for holotype. (2 ♀ and 2 ♂, on 3 slides, in ZDAMU; registration No. HYM. CH.798; 2 ♀, 1 ♂, in NBAIR; registration Nos ICAR / NBAIR /1517 B) .

Distribution. India: Karnataka.

Host. Pupae of Xenasteia sp. ( Diptera : Xenasteiidae), on Calophyllum inophyllum L. ( Calophyllaceae ) ( Figs 17 ¯20).

Etymology. The species name is derived from the generic name of the host insect, Xenasteia.

Comments. This new species does not run to any species in the keys to Ooencyrtus species by Noyes (1985, Neotropical species); Prinsloo (1987, sub-Saharan Africa); Trjapitzin (1989, Palaearctic species); Huang & Noyes (1994, Indo-Pacific species); Zhang et al. (2005, Chinese species); Noyes (2010, Costa Rican species); and Hayat et al. (2017, Indian species). The following combination of characters separate this new species from all the described species of the genus characterized by body entirely dark brown with metallic shine and completely white to pale yellow legs; frontovertex width about one-fifth head width; mandible with two teeth and a small truncation which may be rounded; scutellum largely with fine, polygonal reticulate sculpture, clearly shallower than that on mesoscutum, except on sides with elongate reticulate sculpture; and ovipositor distinctly longer than mid tibia.

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. Ooencyrtus xenasteiae Hayat & Gupta, sp. nov. 1, female, lateral view, paratype. (2–4) Holotype, female: 2, head and mesosoma, dorsal view; 3, head, frontal view; 4, head, dorsal view.

FIGURES 5–12. Ooencyrtus xenasteiae Hayat & Gupta, sp. nov. Paratypes, females: 5, mandibles; 6, antenna; 7, scutellum; 8, fore wing; 9, distal veins of fore wing; 10, TVI and TVII of gaster; 11, hypopygium; 12, ovipositor. (Figures 8 and 9 from slide EH.2337; remaining figures from slide EH.2336)

FIGURES 13–16. Ooencyrtus xenasteiae Hayat & Gupta, sp. nov. Paratypes, males: 13, body, lateral view; 14, antenna, with scape from a second antenna; 15, head, frontal view; 16, genitalia, with digiti enlarged and shown separately.

FIGURES 17‒20. Xenasteia sp.: 17, pupae on leaf of Calophyllum inophyllum L. along with RSW colony; 18, pupae in enlarged view; 19, female of O. xenasteiae emerging from pupa; 20, male of O. xenasteiae emerging from pupa.