Erythmelus (Erythmelus) vladimir S. Triapitsyn & Fidalgo, 2001

Triapitsyn, Serguei V., Berezovskiy, Vladimir V., Hoddle, Mark S. & Morse, Joseph G., 2007, A review of the Nearctic species of Erythmelus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), with a key and new additions to the New World fauna, Zootaxa 1641 (1), pp. 1-64 : 12-13

Erythmelus (Erythmelus) vladimir S. Triapitsyn & Fidalgo, 2001 , comb. n.

( Figs 6, 7 )

Erythmelus (Parallelaptera) vladimir S. Triapitsyn & Fidalgo 2001: 163–165 (holotype female [IMLA], examined. Type locality: Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil); Triapitsyn 2003: 35.

Diagnosis. Erythmelus vladimir belongs to the nominate subgenus of Erythmelus because it has a single seta on the forewing blade behind the base of the marginal vein ( Fig. 7 ). This is one of the most easily recognizable species of the flavovarius species group because of its minute body size (length 310–386 µm) and the unique funicle of the female antenna ( Fig. 6 ), which is apparently 4–segmented due to an apparent loss of F3 and a complete or partial fusion of F1 and F2 ( Triapitsyn & Fidalgo 2001). It was described in the subgenus E. ( Parallelaptera ) by mistake because of its peculiar antenna and the forewing with subparallel margins; this feature is apparently a convergence due to the extremely small body size of this species, which parasitizes lace bug eggs of similar size as eggs of the hosts of E. ( Parallelaptera ) species. Members of the subgenus E. ( Parallelaptera ) are not known to occur in Central or South America except for E. (P.) rex , which might have been unintentionally introduced into the Buenos Aires area of Argentina. In South America, among the Mymaridae , their ecological niche as egg parasitoids of Tingidae appears to be occupied by minute members of E. ( Erythmelus ) such as E. (E.) tingitiphagus , E. (E.) vladimir , and E. (E.) toreador sp. n.

The male is unknown.

Distribution. Brazil ( Triapitsyn & Fidalgo 2001)

Host. Acanthocheila armigera (Stål) (Tingidae) ( Triapitsyn & Fidalgo 2001).

Figures

FIGURES 6, 7. Erythmelus (E.) vladimir (female, paratype). 6. Antenna. 7. Forewing. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.