Encarsia papaceki, 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 : 2207-2209

64. Encarsia papaceki n. sp.

( Figures 202–204 )

Description

Female. Colour: head and mesosoma yellow except pronotum, anterior margin of mesoscutal midlobe, and most of the axillae, brown. Stemmaticum with three small brown marks adjacent to ocelli. Fore wing hyaline. Legs yellow.

Morphology: stemmaticum with weak and irregular rugose-reticulate surface sculpture. Antennal formula 1,1,3,3. Pedicel subequal in length to F1 (0.91–1.03). F1 2.00 times as long as its maximum width, subequal in length to F2 and slightly shorter than F3 (0.88– 0.91). Flagellomeres with the following numbers of sensilla: F1: 0, F2: 0, F3: 2, F4: 2, F5: 2–3, F6: 2. F6 dorsally at apex with indentation. Midlobe of mesoscutum with eight setae arranged symmetrically, side lobes with three setae each. Scutellar sensilla close together, separated by a distance of about the width of a sensillum or less. Distance between anterior pair of scutellar setae distinctly smaller than between posterior pair. Fore wing 2.4–2.5 times as long as width of disc. Marginal fringe 0.29–0.33 times as long as width of disc. Submarginal vein with two setae, marginal vein anteriorly with six setae. Basal cell with 5– 10, costal cell distally with two setae. Tarsal formula 5-5-5. Apical spur of midtibia longer than half the length of the corresponding basitarsus (0.67–0.87). 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 longer than midtibia (1.17–1.29) and 1.60–1.93 times as long as clava. Third valvula 0.35–0.40 times as long as second valvifer.

Male. Head pale, antennae light brown. Mesosoma yellow except pronotum, mesonotum anteriorly and axillae largely brown. Metasoma brown except pale at base and at apex. Legs pale. Apical two segments of antennae fused, but sensilla not or only very slightly overlapping.

Species group placement. E. strenua group.

Distribution. Australia: Queensland.

Host. Aleyrodidae : Aleurocanthus sp.

Material examined

Queensland: Holotype ♀, Mundubbera, 27 October 97 (D. Papacek), ex Aleurocanthus sp. on Citrus sp. (Rutaceae) (D. Papacek) (ANIC). Paratypes 1 „, same data as holotype (ANIC); 1 „, Mundubbera, 2 May 1997 (D. Papacek), ex Aleurocanthus sp. on Citrus sp.

Valencia ( Rutaceae ) (ZSMG); 1♀, Emerald, 15 July 2001 (P. De Barro), ex whitefly on Acacia sp. (Mimosaceae) (ZSMG).

Comments

This species is very close to E. citri (Ishii) , but differs in having eight setae on the mesoscutal midlobe ( E. citri usually has 10, rarely 12 setae), a shorter F1 (2.0 times instead of 2.4–3.0 times) and a longer marginal fringe (0.29–0.30 times, as compared to 0.18–0.25 times in citri ).

Figures

Figures 202–204. Encarsia papaceki n. sp., female. (202) Mesosoma and gaster. (203) Antenna. (204) Fore wing.