Encarsia pedana, 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 : 2210-2212

66. Encarsia pedana n. sp.

( Figures 208–210 )

Description

Female. Colour: head yellow, stemmaticum with three small brown spots adjacent to ocelli. Body yellow except pronotum brown and axillae anteriorly slightly brown. Fore wing hyaline. Legs yellow.

Morphology [measurements of holotype in square brackets]: stemmaticum with rugose surface sculpture. Antennal formula 1,1,3,3. Pedicel shorter than F1 (0.66–0.79) [0.79]. F1 elongate, 3.17–3.69 [3.17] times as long as broad. F1 subequal to or slightly longer than F2 (0.95–1.16) [0.95], and subequal to or longer than F3 (1.00–1.21) [1.00]. Flagellomeres with the following numbers of sensilla: F1: 0–2, F2: 1–2, F3: 1–2, F4: 2– 3, F5: 2–3, F6: 3–4. Midlobe of mesoscutum with 10 setae, arranged symmetrically, side lobes with three setae each. Scutellar sensilla very close together, separated by a distance of less than half the width of a sensillum or less. Distance between anterior pair of scutellar setae distinctly smaller than between posterior pair. Fore wing 2.5 times as long as width of disc, evenly and densely setose. Marginal fringe 0.18–0.22 [0.22] times as long as width of disc. Submarginal vein with two to three setae, marginal vein anteriorly with six to eight setae. Basal cell with 8–10 setae. Tarsal formula 5-5-5. Apical spur of midtibia longer than half the length of the corresponding basitarsus (0.63–0.71) [0.71], the latter with a row of three to four pegs. Tergites laterally with the following numbers of setae: T1: 0, T2: 1, T3: 1, T4: 1, T5: 3, T6: 3, T7 with four setae. Ovipositor shorter than midtibia (0.82–0.89) [0.89] and 1.25–1.29 [1.29] times as long as clava. Third valvula 0.30–0.31 [0.30] times as long as second valvifer.

Male. Unknown.

Species group placement. E. strenua group.

Distribution. Australia: New South Wales, Western Australia.

Host. Aleyrodidae : Synaleurodicus sp.

Material examined New South Wales: Holotype: ♀, Cobark For. Pk, Barrington Tops (31 ° 549S, 151 ° 369E),

11 February 1984 (I. D. Naumann), ex ethanol ( ANIC). Western Australia: Paratype: 1♀, Stirling Range National Park (34 ° 23.5739S, 117 ° 48.6289E) , 6 October 2005 (A. Polaszek, S. and O. Schmidt), ex Synaleurodicus sp. ( ZSMG) .

Comments

The species can be separated from other species of the strenua group treated in this study by the elongated F1 and the relatively short ovipositor.

Figures

Figures 208–210. Encarsia pedana n. sp., female. (208) Mesosoma and gaster. (209) Antenna. (210) Fore wing.