Quetsira tinthrax, 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 : 124-125

Quetsira tinthrax sp.nov.

( Figs 287-293; Hab. E 48)

Female (holotype): length, including ovipositor, 0.90mm; excluding ovipositor, 0.86mm (CPD).

Head dark brown to black with a weak metallic lustre; occiput with a weak brassy sheen; frontovertex with a weak silky sheen with some weak coppery purple reflections; scrobal area with a weak coppery purple sheen with some weak dark blue and brassy reflections; temple and gena with a mixed, weak coppery purple and dark blue sheen; frontovertex with a few, inconspicuous, scattered, brown setae; gena and interantennal prominence with a few scattered, inconspicuous, translucent, brown setae; maxillary palpus white; radicle brown; scape white; pedicel white, brown in proximal half or so; F1-F4 white, F5 dusky white, F6 very pale orange-brown; clava pale orange-brown; thorax dark brown to black with a metallic lustre; pronotum with a weak coppery purple sheen with some dark blue reflections; mesoscutum with a weak coppery purple sheen; tegula dark purple-brown with a weak brassy sheen; axilla with a weak coppery purple and brassy sheen; scutellum more or less matt, but with a slight, silky sheen, extreme side and apex shining coppery purple; mesopleuron with a moderate coppery purple sheen; fore coxa white, slightly brownish proximally; fore femur white with a brown streak dorsally in middle, tibia white, with an incomplete, brown subbasal ring, tarsus dusky very pale orange with apical tarsomere pale brown; mid coxa very pale orange, slightly dusky proximally; mid femur white with a slender, oblique brown ring at about 0.7X, tibia white to very pale orange and a narrow, subbasal dark, brown band, spur and tarsus very pale orange; hind coxa pale yellow, proximally pale brown; hind femur white with a moderately broad, brown band at about 0.6X, tibia very pale yellow with a narrow, subbasal, brown band, tarsus pale yellow with apical tarsomere slightly dusky, pale orange; wings hyaline; propodeum dark brown with a weak brassy and coppery purple sheen; gaster dark purple-brown, with coppery purple, green and brassy reflections; gonostylus dark brown.

Head ( Fig. 290) about 2.7X as wide as frontovertex, in profile about 1.6X as high as deep; occipital margin sharp, not carinate; no distinct oval depression adjacent to eye near occipital margin; ocelli forming an angle of about 80°; frontovertex not narrowing in front of anterior ocellus, with very fine, vermiculate sculpture of distinctly silky appearance, area between eye and scrobe with sculpture tending to imbricate; temple and gena with relatively shallow, longitudinally elongate, fine vermiculate sculpture; top of scrobes with similar, but shallower sculpture; interantennal prominence and mouth margin with shallow, imbricate-reticulate sculpture; scrobes moderately deep, indistinctly margined laterally, but quite sharply margined dorsally, more or less Λ-shaped; interantennal prominence dorsally acute and extended towards frontovertex as a narrow, median ridge; antenna as in Fig. 288; scape very slightly broadened and flattened, about 3.5X as long as broad; funicle with F1-F5 small, subequal and slightly to strongly transverse, F6 conspicuously larger and slightly longer than broad; clava about 3.5X as long as broad, about 1.4X as wide as F6, slightly longer than funicle, sutures slightly oblique, sensory area enlarged, extending nearly 0.4X along ventral surface giving apex an obliquely truncate appearance; eye slightly overreaching occipital margin; malar sulcus present, but shallow and very indistinct; clypeal margin evenly very slightly concave. Relative measurements: HW 43, HH 39.5, FV 16, POL 8, OOL 1, OCL 3.5, AOL 6.5, EL 27, EW 22, MS 15.5, SL 22.5, SW 6.5.

Thorax ( Fig. 287) with pronotum hardly exposed behind head; pronotum, mesoscutum and axilla relatively shiny, with coarse, aciculate-imbricate sculpture that is about as deep as that in ocellar area; scutellum dorsally of silky in appearance, with similar sculpture to that on mesoscutum, but more longitudinally elongate anteriorly and laterally, extreme side and apex completely smooth and shiny; visible part of mesoscutum about 2X as broad as long; scutellum about 1.25X as broad as long and with about 20 setae; hind femur about 3.4X as long as broad; fore wing with venation and setation as in Figs 289, 291; propodeum ( Fig. 287) medially about 0.08X as long as scutellum. Relative measurements: FWL 37.5, FWW 17.5; HWL 28, HWW 7.5.

Gaster with hypopygium reaching about 0.9X to apex; last tergite about 0.7X as long as mid tibia, with apex rounded; ovipositor exserted, the exserted part about 0.5X as long as mid tibial spur or about 0.2X mid tibia.

Paratype. Funicle with linear sensilla present only on F6; hypopygium Fig. 292; ovipositor Fig. 293. Relative measurements: OL 62.5, GL 16 [MT 72].

Variation. Females vary in overall length from 0.46-0.90mm, the frontovertex may be orange-brown, the scape may be largely pale brown, F3-F5 may be pale brown and the legs may be slightly paler or darker than in the holotype, the dark markings may be reduced and almost absent or more extensive, occasionally the hind tibia has a partial second, brown band at about 0.7X and this may be connected to the subbasal band.

Male. Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.

HOSTS. Unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Guanacaste, Santa Rosa NP, Sn. Emilio 6-C, 5.vi-22.vi.1985 (Janzen, Gauld) . Paratypes: COSTA RICA, 6E, Guanacaste, Santa Rosa NP , various localities and dates 11.v.1985 - 15.v.1987 (D. Janzen, I.D. Gauld); 1E, Guanacaste, Murcielago ( ACG), 75m, MT, 24.i-4.ii.1996 (J. Ugalde); 2E, Guanacaste, Maritza ( ACG), 700m, MT/YPT, 20.i-24.ii.1996 (J.S. Noyes); 1E , Heredia, La Selva BS, 50m, MT/YPT, 22.i-3.ii.1991 (J.S. Noyes); 1E , Limón, RB Hitoy-Cerere, Send. Espavel, LS 401200 569800, 500m, #74462, 21.vi-8.vii.2003 (R. Gamboa, et al.) . Holotype in MZUCR, paratypes in MZUCR and NHMUK .