Aloencyrtus hardii Prinsloo 2010, sp. n.
Creators: name: Prinsloo, Rd. L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Encyrtidae
Aloencyrtus
Aloencyrtus hardii

description: Aloencyrtus hardii sp. n.   
(Figs 3, 22, 40, 41)  
 Description. Female.  Length: 1.6−1.8 mm. Colour: head from mouth margin to upper limits of scrobes with a bright metallic green and bronze lustre, the frontovertex dark green; thorax and gaster blackish, pronotum and mesoscutum with a fairly weak dark green sheen, changing to dark purplish in certain plays of light; scutellum with a weak, dark purplish tinge; mesopleura with greenish suffusions. Antenna with scape brownish-yellow to pale brown, remainder blackish-brown. Forewing as in Fig. 3, strongly infuscated from about base of linea calva to hyaline cross-band, the infuscated disc beyond the band a little paler. Legs, including middle tibial spur, mostly blackish-brown except middle and hind tarsi with basal segment white, remaining segments darker.   
Head in dorsal view 3.5−3.8x as wide as frontovertex, anterior margin of the latter slightly concave, without a median notch; ocelli in a slightly acute-angled triangle, small, lateral pair almost contiguous with eye margins, separated from each other by about 3.75x their own diameter; head in frontal view (Fig. 22) only slightly wider than high, malar space about 0.7x as long as an eye; scrobes distinctly inverted V-shaped, deep, narrow, confluent dorsally, with a broad, gently convex interscrobal prominence extending about 0.75x length of scrobes, with a mall, shallow, poorly defined dorsal fovea. Antenna (Fig. 40) with scape about 6.8x as long as wide; pedicel a little longer than basal funicle segment; funicle segments I–III each longer than wide, I about 1.7x as long as wide, II–III each a little longer and broader, segment IV quadrate, V and VI each wider than long, as in Fig. 40; club as long as apical three funicle segments. Sculpture of head, including surface of scrobes, coarsely cellulate-reticulate, the cells small, their margins raised; frontovertex from occipital margin to upper limits of scrobes with small, scatted, punctations, the diameter of each about half of that of median ocellus; remainder of head devoid of punctations; head sparsely and inconspicuously setose, the setae short and fine.  
Thorax squat, fairly strongly convex in profile; mesoscutum strongly rounded from side to side, almost 2x as wide as long, scutellum sloping strongly posteriorly, slightly wider than long; thoracic dorsum with a rather smooth, shiny appearance in contrast to the head, the sculpture of mesoscutum, axillae and scutellum of the same fine texture, cellulate-reticulate, the cells on scutellum elongate and mostly longitudinally orientated; mesoscutum densely and evenly setose, the setae fine, short, decumbent, scutellum less densely so. Middle leg with tibial spur as long as basal tarsal segment.  
Forewing (Fig. 3) 2.2x as long as wide; marginal and postmarginal veins about equal in length, the latter about 0.5x length of stigmal vein; setation as in Fig. 3, the setae confined to cross-band very short and fine, the band appearing asetose under low magnification.  
Gaster short and broad, heart-shaped, only about half as long as thorax in dried specimens; ovipositor not protruding caudally.  
 Male. Colour: head brilliant metallic green, body blackish, thoracic dorsum with a faint greenish and dark purplish tinge. Antenna largely sordid white, the whorls of setae pale. Wings entirely hyaline, discal setae refractive, white; legs with coxae and femora blackish-brown, the latter fading strongly at their distal ends; tibiae and tarsi whitish, the middle and hind tibiae with brownish suffusions in their basal half.   
Differing structurally from the female mainly as follows: head 2.3x as wide as frontovertex, the ocelli in an obtuse-angled triangle; scrobes short, sub-parallel; antenna (Fig. 41) typical of the genus; funicle segment I about 2x as long as wide, a little shorter than each of II–VI which are about equal in size, each 2.5x as long as wide; club as long as apical one and a half funicle segments; funicle with whorls of long, curved setae as illustrated. Forewing with discal setae very fine, barely discernible.  
 Remarks. Based on a combination of the inverted V-shaped scrobes and similar forewing maculation, A. hardii can be grouped with A. nativus and A. distinguendus. Aloencyrtus hardii is, however, readily separated from the latter two species by the scutellum that is black with a weak, dark purplish tinge (not bright green to purple), the sculpture of a similar somewhat smooth texture than that of mesoscutum, as mentioned in the foregoing key.   
 Aloencyrtus hardii is named for Hardi, my elder son.   
 Known distribution. South Africa.   
 Type material examined. ♀ holotype, 1 ♀, 3 ♂ paratypes as follows: SOUTH AFRICA: KwaZulu-Natal: Lake St. Lucia, 18.viii.1969, H.P. Insley, ex. Saissetia sp. on Albizia adianthifolia (Holotype, 2 ♂ paratypes; T 3146); Limpopo: Magoebaskloof, xi.1963, D.P. Annecke, with Saissetia somereni Newstead and Parasaissetia nigra (Nietner) on Syzygium cordatum (1 ♀, card mounted, save 1 forewing and 1 antenna mounted separately on slide, 1 ♂; T 1602).
description: Published as part of Prinsloo, Rd. L., 2010, On some Afrotropical species of Aloencyrtus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae): parasitoids of soft scales (Hemiptera: Coccidae), pp. 1-28 in Zootaxa 2716 on pages 18-19