Gonatocerus (Cosmocomoidea) triguttatus Girault 1916
Creators: name: Triapitsyn, Serguei V.
name: Huber, John T.
name: Logarzo, Guillermo A.
name: Berezovskiy, Vladimir V.
name: Aquino, Daniel A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Mymaridae
Gonatocerus
Gonatocerus triguttatus

description: Gonatocerus (Cosmocomoidea) triguttatus Girault, 1916
(Figs 472–478)
Gonatocerus triguttatus Girault 1916: 297 –298. Lectotype female [USNM] (examined), designated by Huber 1988: 55. Type locality: Caroni, Trinidad Island, Trinidad and Tobago.
Gonatocerus triguttus [sic] Girault: Burks 1979: 1026.
Gonatocerus (Gonatocerus) triguttatus triguttatus Girault: De Santis 1979: 367 (catalog).
Gonatocerus triguttatus Girault: Huber 1988: 55 –57 (lectotype designation, redescription, diagnosis, distribution); Yoshimoto 1990: 41 (list, ater species group); De Santis & Fidalgo 1994: 125 (catalog); Triapitsyn & Phillips 2000: 201 –202 (distribution, first known host record); Triapitsyn, Bezark et al. 2002: 40 (distribution, host associations); Triapitsyn, Hoddle et al. 2002: 654 (distribution, host associations); Logarzo et al. 2004: 486 (distribution, host associations); Irvin & Hoddle 2004: 504–509 (biology); Irvin & Hoddle 2005a: 391 –399 (biology); Irvin & Hoddle 2005b: 204 –213 (biology); de León 2005: 298–300 (molecular data on specimens from Texas, USA); Triapitsyn et al. 2006: 63 (molecular data); Triapitsyn 2006a: 22–24 (taxonomic history, diagnosis, distribution, host associations); Irvin et al. 2006: 359 –373 (larval morphology, competition studies); de León et al. 2006a: 42 (molecular data); de León et al. 2006d: 54 (molecular data); de León et al. 2006e: 57–58 (molecular data); de León & Morgan 2006: 61 (molecular data); Pilkington & Hoddle 2007a: 1 –7 (biology); Pilkington & Hoddle 2007b: 9 –14 (predictions on performance as biological control agent); de León & Morgan 2007: 83 (molecular data); de León et al. 2008: 99, 104–105 (molecular data).
Material examined. MEXICO. BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR, 10 km N of La Paz, 28.x.1983, J.D. Pinto [1 ♀, BMNH]. YUCATÁN, Uxmal, 28.vii.1984, G. Gordh [1 ♀, UCRC]. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO. Trinidad Island, Mitan, i.1915, F.W. Urich (“ Bred from egg-mass of leafhopper ”) [5 ♀, BMNH].
Redescription. See Huber (1988).
Diagnosis. Gonatocerus (Cosmocomoidea) triguttatus is a member of the ater subgroup of the ater species group. Its main distinguishing features are as follows: head and mesosoma of female generally yellow, gaster light yellow with brown bands on terga (Fig. 474); mesonotum of male slightly darker, with light brown or brown areas; female antenna (Fig. 472) with mps present on all funicle segments; propodeum (Fig. 473) with submedian carinae thick, distinct, extending to its anterior margin; wings hyaline, forewing (Figs 475, 477) with cubital row of setae complete, extending to base of marginal vein. Also illustrated here are the male antenna (Fig. 476) and genitalia (Fig. 478).
Gonatocerus triguttatus is closely related to G. (Cosmocomoidea) uat Triapitsyn and G. (Cosmocomoidea) ashmeadi Girault (see cladogram in Triapitsyn et al. 2006), both of which have a dark brown mesosoma in both sexes; it differs genetically from another closely related and morphologically very similar South American species G. (Cosmocomoidea) metanotalis (Ogloblin) (de León 2005; de León et al. 2006e), from which it can be separated by the presence of at least 1 (usually 2) mps on F1 of the female antenna (none in G. metanotalis).
Distribution. NEOTROPICAL: Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago (Triapitsyn 2006a). NEARCTIC: Mexico, and USA (California, Florida, Texas) (Triapitsyn 2006a).
Introduced into California against Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar), initially from Tamaulipas, Mexico, and then from Texas and established there (Morgan et al. 2000; Morgan et al. 2002; Triapitsyn, Bezark et al. 2002; Pilkington et al. 2005; Triapitsyn 2006a).
Hosts. Homalodisca liturata Ball (under laboratory conditions and also likely in the field following introduction into southern California), H. vitripennis (Germar), Oncometopia clarior (Walker), O. nigricans (Walker), Oncometopia sp., and Pseudometopia amblardii (Signoret) or P. phalaesia (Distant) (Cicadellidae) (Triapitsyn 2006a).
description: Published as part of Triapitsyn, Serguei V., Huber, John T., Logarzo, Guillermo A., Berezovskiy, Vladimir V. & Aquino, Daniel A., 2010, Review of Gonatocerus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) in the Neotropical region, with description of eleven new species, pp. 1-243 in Zootaxa 2456 on pages 222-224, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.894928