Ceranisus lepidotus Graham, 1963, 1991

Triapitsyn, Serguei V., 2005, Revision of Ceranisus and the related thrips-attacking entedonine genera (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) of the world, African Invertebrates 46, pp. 261-315 : 301-303

Ceranisus lepidotus Graham, 1963

Figs 49–52

Ceranisus lepidotus Graham, 1963: 271 , 272. (Type locality: Britain, unlocalized [sic] (Graham 1963)) Ceranisus lepidotus Graham : Boucek & Askew, 1968: 137; Loomans & van Lenteren 1995: 130, 196; Lacasa, Sánchez & Lorca 1996: 341–345, 347, 348.

Diagnosis: As noted by Graham (1963), this species somewhat resembles C. pacuvius (especially chaetotaxy of the forewing) but yet its both sexes can be easily distinguished from those of C. pacuvius by the obvious metallic green colouration of the dorsum of head and mesosoma, which are also much strongly sculptured in C. lepidotus . Also in

C. lepidotus , F1 is about as long as wide in both sexes and male scape is relatively slender, whereas in C. pacuvius F1 is clearly longer than wide and male scape is strongly swollen. The forewing of C. lepidotus is relatively wider and its marginal setae are relatively shorter than those of C. pacuvius .

Redescription: Female (n=1, paratype). Body and appendages dark brown except head and mesosoma dark metallic green dorsally, basal metasomal terga just a little, but not contrastingly, lighter (brown); head, mesosoma, coxae, and femora with variable reticulate sculpturing.

Vertexal suture slightly sinuate. Antenna ( Fig. 49 ) with scape slightly broadened medially and notably narrowed distally, about 4.8 x as long as wide; pedicel longer than funicle; both anelli conspicuous; funicle segments subequal, about as long as wide (F2 more quadrate than F1), each with 1 sensillum; clava about 2.1 x as long as wide, its distal segment 1.7–2.0 x as long as basal claval segment.

Mesosoma about as long as metasoma; midlobe of mesoscutum with 2 pairs of setae. Forewing ( Fig. 50 ) about 2.5 x as long as wide; longest marginal setae about 1/5 maximal width of forewing; disc hyaline, uniformly covered with numerous setae; submarginal vein with 2 hypochaetae opposite to proximal dorsal macrochaeta, postmarginal vein a little shorter than stigmal vein. Hind wing 6.3 x as long as wide; longest marginal setae about 4/5 its maximal width; disc hyaline, uniformly covered with numerous setae.

Petiole about 1.8 x wider than long. Ovipositor short, occupying about 3/5 length of gaster, not exserted; ovipositor length/metatibia length ratio 2.0:1.

Measurements (n=1, paratype). Body: about 1000.Antenna: scape: 138; pedicel: 75; F1: 27; F2: 27; clava: 91. Forewing: 812/326; longest marginal seta: 64. Hind wing: 720/115; longest marginal seta: 94. Ovipositor: 249.

Male (description, hitherto unknown). Similar to female except for normal sexually dimorphic features and the following. Antenna ( Fig. 51 ) with scape short (about 3.6 x as long as wide), just a little dilated medially, notably longitudinally striate; F1 slightly narrower than F2 and with 1 sensillum, F2 with 2 sensilla; clava 3-segmented as normal for the genus, about 2.0 x as long as wide. Submarginal vein of forewing with 3 hypochaetae opposite to proximal dorsal macrochaeta. Genitalia as in Fig. 52 .

Type material examined: Paratype female on point [ BMNH], labelled: 1. “Wytham Wood, BERKS, (1) 21.6.1952, M. W. Graham. ”; 2. “near clavicornis sec. Type in coll. Thomson ”; 3. “ PARATYPE ”; 4. “ Ceranisus lepidotus sp. n. M. de V. Graham det. 1963 Paratype^”. This badly shriveled specimen was then remounted onto a slide in Canada balsam at UCRC, and that enabled its detailed study and also made possible drawing the illustrations .

Other material examined: SPAIN: Valencia, 5.vi.1991, 1ơ (“ex. Diplotaxis erucoides Univ. Politer , Valencia, coll. 327-16, IIE 2181. Ceranisus lepidotus Graham Det. J. LaSalle, 1991 ”) [BMNH].

Distribution: Great Britain (an unspecified location) (Graham 1963) as well as England ( UK) and Spain.

Hosts: Found in association with various thrips species ( Lacasa, Sánchez & Lorca 1996) but not reared from any of them, although C. lepidotus was observed parasitising larvae of Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) and Limothrips cerealium (Haliday) ( Lacasa, Contreras et al. 1996) .

Comments: The holotype of this species (not examined) is in the Haliday Collection, National Museum of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland (Graham 1963); it is unfortunate that it was chosen by the author as a primary type because it has a very vague, insufficient label data (it would have made much more sense if the current paratype specimen were used in such capacity) .

Lacasa, Sánchez & Lorca (1996) reported C. lepidotus from Spain but were obviously confused about pertinence of their specimens to a particular sex: they claimed that only females of this species were found; however, they keyed (and also illustrated) apparently a male, which has a 3-segmented clava, whereas that of female is 2-segmented, as normal for Ceranisus .

Figures

Figs 49–52. Ceranisus lepidotus: (49, 50) female (paratype): (49) antenna, (50) forewing; (51, 52) male (Valencia, Spain): (51) antenna, (52) genitalia. Scale lines = 0.1 mm.