Encarsia armillata, Schmidt & Polaszek, 2007

Schmidt, Stefan & Polaszek, Andrew, 2007, The Australian species of Encarsia Förster (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea: Aphelinidae), parasitoids of whiteflies (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha, Aleyrodidae) and armoured scale insects (Hemiptera, Coccoidea: Diaspididae), Journal of Natural History 41 (33 - 36), pp. 2099-2265 : 2126-2127

9. Encarsia armillata n. sp.

( Figures 31–33 )

Description

Female. Colour: head yellow, mesosoma yellow except the following parts more or less brown: pronotum, mesoscutellar midlobe anteriorly and anteromedial stripe, axillae anteriorly, and propodeum. Gaster mostly pale, petiole, T1 and T5–T6 with brown band, T2–T4 with more or less distinct brown patch laterally. Third valvula brown, lighter at base than at apex. Antenna yellow. Fore wing hyaline. Legs yellow.

Morphology [measurements of holotype in square brackets]: stemmaticum with rugosely strigose surface sculpture. Antennal formula 1,1,3,3. Pedicel longer than F1 (1.56–1.85) [1.71]. F1 slightly longer than its maximum width (1.14–1.44) [1.40], distinctly shorter than F2 (0.62–0.81) [0.67] and F3 (0.65–0.81) [0.70]. F2 subequal in length to, or slightly longer than, F3 (1.11–1.14) [1.05]. Flagellomeres with the following numbers of sensilla: F1: 0, F2: 1–2, F3: 1–2, F4: 2–3, F5: 2, F6: 2–3. Midlobe of mesoscutum with eight setae, arranged symmetrically, side lobes with three setae each. Scutellar sensilla very distantly placed (approximately eight or nine times the maximum width of a sensillum). Distance between anterior pair of scutellar setae subequal to distance between posterior pair. Fore wing 2.3–2.4 times as long as width of disc. Marginal fringe 0.22–0.35 [0.22] times as long as width of disc. Submarginal vein with two setae, marginal vein anteriorly with five or six setae. Basal cell with two to three setae. Tarsal formula 5-5-5. Apical spur of midtibia longer than half the length of the corresponding basitarsus (0.76–0.86) [0.86]. Tergites laterally with the following numbers of setae: T1: 0, T2: 1, T3: 1, T4: 1, T5: 2, T6: 3, T7 with four setae. Ovipositor subequal in length to midtibia and 1.38–1.48 [1.41] times as long as clava. Third valvula 0.57–0.69 [0.63] times as long as second valvifer, third valvulae appearing hook-shaped apically, with rounded apex.

Male. Unknown.

Species group placement. E. lutea group.

Distribution. Australia: Queensland, Western Australia.

Host. Aleyrodidae : Aleurolobus sp.

Material examined

Queensland: Holotype: ♀, Brisbane, Longpocket, 5 April 2001 (P. De Barro), ex hardbodied whitefly on Harpullia pendula Planch. ex F. Muell. (ANIC) . Paratype: ♀, same data as holotype (ZSMG). Western Australia: Paratypes: 6♀, Purnululu National Park, 8 May 2000 (S. and O. Schmidt) (ANIC, ZSMG), and 2♀, same locality as before, but ex Aleurolobus sp. on Eucalyptus sp. (Myrtaceae) (ANIC, ZSMG); 1♀, Keep River National Park, 4 May 2000 (S. and O. Schmidt) (ZSMG).

Comments

The species is close to E. uncinata n. sp., and both species are similar to E. hamata (Huang and Polaszek) and E. udaipuriensis (Shafee) . For separating E. armillata from E. hamata and E. udaipuriensis see comments under E. uncinata .

Figures

Figures 31–33. Encarsia armillata n. sp., female. (31) Mesosoma and gaster. (32) Antenna. (33) Fore wing.