Coccophagus bandus Zhang & Zhang, 2023

Zhang, Lan-Wei, Hu, Hong-Ying & Zhang, Yan-Zhou, 2023, Two new species of Coccophagus Westwood (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) from China, Zootaxa 5258 (3), pp. 342-350 : 343-344

Coccophagus bandus Zhang & Zhang , sp. nov.

( Figs. 1–12 )

Type material. Holotype. ♀ [on slide], CHINA, Qinghai, Xining , 22.VI.2007, XB Wang and X Zhang (deposited in IZCAS), reared from Rhodococcus sariuoni Borchsenius on Prunus persica Batsch . Paratypes. 30♀, 12♁, same data as holotype (deposited in IZCAS) .

Other material. CHINA, 13♀, 5♁, Henan, Zhengzhou, 27.IV.2009, YZ Zhang, reared from Rhodococcus sariuoni Borchsenius on Prunus cerasifera Ehrhar ; 31♀, Inner Mongolia, Baotou, 24. V.2013, XB Wang and X Zhang, reared from Rhodococcus sariuoni Borchsenius on Malus micromalus Makino ; 54♀, 12♁, Qinghai, Xining, 26. V.2013, YZ Zhang, reared from Rhodococcus sariuoni Borchsenius on Prunus cerasifera Ehrhar ; 2♀, Tibet, Lasa, 2. VI.2019, QT Wu, sweeping; 3♀, Yunnan, Wenshan, 22.IV.2022, XB Wang, reared from Takahashia japonica Cockerell on Cerasus pseudocerasus Lindl ; 2♀, Tibet, Rikaze, 19. V.2022, HL Li and LW Zhang, reared from Eulecanium kuwanai Kanda on Prunus cerasifera Ehrhar.

Diagnosis. Female. Head in front view lemon yellow with facial part whitish yellow. Occiput yellow with a dark brown band above occipital foramen. Apex of midfemur and base of midtibia ( Fig. 6 ) without peg-like bristles.

Description. Female. Body length 1.5mm. Head lemon yellow with facial part whitish yellow; occiput with a dark brown band above occipital foramen; eyes and ocellus dark brown; antenna ( Fig. 3 ) mostly dark brown except scape lemon yellow. Mesosoma mostly lemon yellow except for the following distinctly dark brown parts: pronotum, mesoscutum and axilla ( Fig. 8 ). Fore- and hindwing hyaline. Legs mostly yellow to pale yellow except fore leg ( Fig. 5 ) with dorsal two thirds of tibia dark brown; mid leg ( Fig. 6 ) with distal half or more of coxa darker dorsally; hind leg ( Fig. 7 ) with about basal one thirds of coxa and apices of all tarsi brown. Ovipositor ( Fig. 10 ) dark brown.

Head. Head 0.8× as long as wide in frontal view. Frontovertex with numerous brown setae and 0.43× as long as head width. Eyes densely setose, each setae shorter than diameter of a facet; POL 1.83×as long as OOL; ocellus triangle with apical angle obtuse. Mandible with two small teeth and a truncation. Torulus with upper margin below level of lower eye margin.Antenna stout ( Fig. 3 ); scape about 4.5× as long as wide and slightly longer than clava; pedicel 1.27× as long as wide; F1 2× as long as wide, longer than F2 and F3; F2 1.3× as long as wide and longer than F3; F3 1.19× as long as wide; clava 2× as long as wide and about half the lengh of funicle. Relative measurements: HL 22, HW 28 FV 12, POL 5.5, OOL 3, SL 9, SW 2, PL 2.8, PW 2.2, F1L 6, F1W 3, F2L 4, F2W 3, F3L 3.8, F3 W 3.2, CL 8, CW 4.

Mesosoma. Dorsum of mesosoma finely reticulate; axilla ( Fig. 8 ) with elongated reticulate sculpture and 2 long setae. Mesoscutum with median area about 0.76× as long as wide. Mesoscutellum ( Fig. 8 ) 1.5× as long as wide with densely setose and lateral with a pair of setae. Fore wing ( Fig. 4 ) 2.2× as long as wide; marginal vien with 19 setae and 1.19× as long as submarginal vien; postmarginal vien distinctly shorter than stigma vein; stigma with sensilla arranged in a line. Hind wing 4.13× as long as wide. Midtibial spur ( Fig. 6 ) slightly shorter than corresponding basitarsus. Relative measurements: SCL 18, SCW 12, FWL 66, FWW 30, SMV 16, MV 19, HWL 54, HWW 13, MT 12.3, MST 4, MBT 4.3.

Metasoma. Metasoma about 1.18× as long as mesosoma. Ovipositor ( Fig. 10 ) originating from the base of TIV and 1.22× as long as midtibia; second valvifer 4× as long as third valvula and the latter 0.7× as long as midbasitarsus. Relative measurements: OL 15, SVL 12, TVL 3.

Male. Very similar to female except for sexual differences. Moreover the pronotum and axilla of males often dark brown.

Variation. The coloration on the dorsum of mesosoma and mesopleuron are variable in females. They can vary from nearly completely dark brown (yellow in the sides of the side lobe, Fig. 1 ) to almost pale yellow (dark brown in the middle of pronotum, and anterior part of mesoscutum). In males, the posterior part of mesoscutum and mesoscutellum can vary from pale yellow ( Fig. 11 ) to dark brown ( Fig. 12 ).

Host. Rhodococcus sariuoni Borchsenius ; Eulecanium kuwanai Kanda and Takahashia japonica Cockerell ( Hemiptera : Coccidae ).

Etymology. The specific name refers to its occiput with a dark brown band.

Comments. This species had been treated as Coccophagus sp 4 in Zhou et al. (2018), but they did not provide description of this species. Using the key of Hayat (1998) and Li & Chen (2017), the species runs to C. silvestrii , C. chloropulvinariae Hayat and C. tropicanus Sugonjaev and Ren. The females of new species can be easily separated from these species by combination of the following: occiput yellow with a dark brown band above occipital foramen, apex of midfemur and base of midtibia without peg-like brisles, outer plates of ovipositor 2× as long as broad.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Coccophagus bandus, sp. nov., ♀. (lateral view, Scale bar= 0.5mm).

FIGURES 2–10. Coccophagus bandus, sp. nov., ♀; 2, head; 3, antenna; 4, fore wing; 5, fore leg; 6, mid leg; 7, hind leg; 8, dorsum of mesosoma excluding the metanotum; 9, metasoma; 10, ovipositor.

FIGURES 11–12. Coccophagus bandus, sp. nov., ♁; 11, dorsum of mesosoma (mesoscutum posteriorly and mesoscutellum pale yellow); 12, dorsum of mesosoma (variation, mesoscutum and mesoscutellum black).