Cheiloneurus scolopax Noyes 2023, sp.nov.
Creators: name: Noyes, John Stuart
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Encyrtidae
Cheiloneurus
Cheiloneurus scolopax

description: Cheiloneurus scolopax sp.nov.   
(Figs 685-690; Hab. E 103)  
 DIAGNOSIS. Female (length about 1.1-1.4mm): body mostly orange, generally with a weak metallic sheen; posterior part of mesoscutum (Fig. 690) dark brown with a metallic sheen, mesopleuron white with a partial, median, brown band, gaster brown mixed pale orange-brown, darker areas with a stronger metallic sheen; antenna (Fig. 687) with scape pale orange, ventral margin brown; pedicel white with a dark brown streak; funicle off-white, mixed brown on side; clava dark brown; mesoscutum in posterior half with dense, silvery setae; coxae white; legs mostly white to pale orange but with mid and hind tibia with some brown areas; fore wing (Fig. 685) mostly infuscate with basal cell almost completely hyaline, a small hyaline area at apex of venation narrowly connected to a small hyaline area on opposite margin via a narrow hyaline area along wing margin; head (Fig. 686) about 9.5X as wide as frontovertex, in facial view slightly broader than long, subrectangular, genae slightly curved but weakly converging, more strongly curved inwards near mouth; frontovertex with two setae medially immediately above scrobes; eye separated from scrobe by slightly less than 2X diameter of anterior ocellus, area between eye and scrobe with deep, distinct sculpture, scrobes quite deep with carinate margins; interantennal prominence with about 60 conspicuous pale setae and dorsally rounded; mandible with two teeth and a truncation, virtually tridentate; antenna (Fig. 687) with scape about 3.2X as long as broad; all funicle segments transverse; linear sensilla on F4-F6; clava 3-segmented, slightly longer than pedicel and funicle combined, apex with a strong oblique truncation, sensory area extending about 0.7X along ventral surface of clava; head width clearly greater than length of funicle; mesoscutum (Fig. 690) in anterior half or so with fine striate to striate reticulate sculpture, posterior part with uniform, polygonally reticulate sculpture; scutellum with a distinct, apical tuft of setae; wings fully developed; fore wing (Fig. 685) about 2.6-2.7X as long as broad; parastigma clearly downcurved; costal cell dorsally with one or two apical setae, ventrally with a line of setae that is broadly interrupted above parastigma; area below proximal part of parastigma with a group of about 15 paler setae; apices of postmarginal and stigmal veins connected by a naked, hyaline line that extends a little way into disc; seta at apex of postmarginal vein about 0.6X as long as marginal vein; mid tibial spur slightly longer than basitarsus; propodeum (Fig. 690) with about 50 setae adjacent to spiracle that extend down side; syntergum about 0.8X as long as mid tibia; ovipositor (Fig. 689) about 3.6X gonostylus or about 1.2X as long as mid tibia; gonostylus about 0.9X as long as mid tibial spur; exserted part of ovipositor about 0.3X as long as mid tibial spur. Male: unknown.   
Female (holotype): length, including ovipositor, 1.31mm; excluding ovipositor, 1.27mm (CPD).  
Head with occiput pale orange, a dark brown, triangular mark above foramen; frontovertex orange, ocellar area dark brown with metallic blue and purple reflections, other parts of frontovertex with much weaker green, brassy and purple reflections; area between eye and scrobe with a fairly strong blue-green and purple reflections, temple similar but a little less shiny; gena with weaker pale blue, brassy, coppery and purple reflections; scrobal area with weak brassy, pale blue and purple reflections; frontovertex clothed with fairly conspicuous, translucent, pale brown setae along inner eye margins, a line of similar setae below eye; gena and interantennal prominence with similar, but shorter and more dense setae, especially on interantennal prominence; maxillary palpus white; antenna (Fig. 687) with radicle pale orange, extreme apex with a narrow brown ring; scape pale orange, apex white, externally with ventral margin narrowly brown proximally and a pale brown subapical band, internally with ventral margin broadly brown proximally almost to dorsal margin and narrowly margined brown subapically; pedicel more or less white with a dark brown streak internally along its length; funicle off-white, brown along sides; clava dark brown; pronotum orange with weak brassy and purple reflections, neck dark brown; prosternum pale orange; mesoscutum orange in anterior half clothed with relatively sparse, brown setae, posterior half dark metallic blue with some purple reflections and clothed with relatively dense, silvery setae, posterior margin purple-brown with a weak purple sheen; tegula orange with apex orange-brown; axilla and scutellum orange, clothed with brown setae, subapical tuft black; metanotum pale orange-brown; mesopleuron white with a weak brassy sheen and an incomplete, vertical median brown stripe; mesosternum very pale orange; fore coxa white; fore femur white, tibia and tarsus pale orange; mid coxa white; mid femur white, apex dusky, very pale orange, tibia pale orange with an incomplete, subbasal brown band, tibial spur and tarsus pale orange; hind coxa white; hind femur white, pale orange at apex, tibia pale orange, externally marked with pale brown in proximal half, tarsus pale orange; fore wing (Fig. 685) mostly infuscate, hyaline towards base, along anterior margin distad of venation and at apex; submarginal vein partially pale yellow, venation otherwise brown; propodeum pale orange with an extensive group of very dense, translucent, silvery setae surrounding spiracle and extending nearly to posterior margin; gaster largely pale orange with weak purple, green and brassy reflections, basal tergites and apex of syntergum brown with a stronger purple and coppery sheen, Gt1 largely metallic green laterally; gonostylus very pale orange.  
Head (Fig. 686) about 9.5X as wide as frontovertex, in profile 1.6X as high as deep, anteriorly virtually straight from top of scrobes to mouth margin, interantennal prominence slightly protuberant; occipital margin sharp, weakly carinate; ocelli forming an angle of about 40°; frontovertex slightly shiny, with distinct, fairly regular, polygonally reticulate sculpture of mesh size mostly slightly smaller than diameter of eye facet; sculpture immediately above scrobes distinctly transversely elongate; narrowest area between eye and scrobe a little less than 2X as wide as diameter of anterior ocellus and with distinct, transversely elongate, polygonally reticulate sculpture which, when viewed from above, appears similar to a fingerprint; temple and gena with irregular, elongate, reticulate sculpture, that on temple of larger mesh than that on frontovertex; scrobes quite deep, ∩-shaped, meeting and sharply margined dorsally and below eye; interantennal prominence dorsally rounded and with similar sculpture to frontovertex; antenna as in Fig. 687; scape broadened and flattened, about 3.2X as long as broad; all funicle segments transverse, F1 subquadrate, distal segments broadest; clava strongly broadened, slightly longer than pedicel and funicle combined, sutures strongly oblique, sensory area enlarged, extending ventrally nearly three-quarters along clava, apex strongly obliquely truncate; eye reaching occipital margin, clothed in fairly conspicuous, short setae, each a little shorter than diameter of facet; inner eye margins converging anteriorly; malar sulcus absent; clypeal margin weakly concave medially; mandible with two acute teeth and a truncation, virtually tridentate; apical segment of maxillary palpus not enlarged, hardly longer than radicle. Relative measurements: HW 62, HH 59, FV 6.5, POL 4, OOL 0, OCL 4.5, AOL 9, EL 43, EW 31, MS 30, SL 32, SW 10.  
Thorax (Fig. 690) with pronotum not strongly exposed behind head, about 0.7X as long as mesoscutum, pronotum with polygonally reticulate sculpture that is a little shallower than that in ocellar area; mesoscutum in anterior half with fine striate to striate-reticulate sculpture that is about as deep as sculpture in ocellar area, posterior half with slightly shallower polygonally reticulate sculpture; axilla and scutellum with similar sculpture to pronotum, but slightly coarser and deeper, slightly elongate on side of scutellum; visible part of mesoscutum about 1.7X as broad as long; scutellum nearly 1.2X as broad as long, with a distinct subapical tuft, setae mostly about 0.4X as long as scutellum; mid tibia without a distinct external carina; hind femur about 4X as long as broad; fore wing with venation and setation as in Figs 685, 688; costal cell with 1 or 2 setae dorsally at apex; apices of postmarginal and stigmal veins connected by a distinct, naked, hyaline streak (Fig. 688); propodeum (Fig. 690) medially about 0.16X as long as scutellum, virtually smooth, but with some extremely shallow, reticulate sculpture; setae on side dense, long and conspicuous. Relative measurements: FWL 56, FWW 21; HWL 49, HWW 12.5.  
Gaster with hypopygium reaching about half-way to apex; syntergum about 0.75X as long as mid tibia, with apex weakly angular; ovipositor hardly exserted, the exserted part about 0.3X as long as mid tibial spur or 0.1X mid tibia.  
Paratype. Funicle with linear sensilla present only on F4-F6; gaster without “gland-like” structures on Gt1 or Gt5; ovipositor Fig. 689. Relative measurements: OL 45, GL 12.5 [MT 36.5].  
Variation. Females vary in overall length from 1.06-1.42mm, otherwise very little in material available.  
Male. Unknown.  
DISTRIBUTION. Costa Rica.  
HOSTS. Unknown.  
MATERIAL EXAMINED.  
 Type material. Holotype E: COSTA RICA, Guanacaste, PN Palo Verde, 400m E Puenta, La Espuela, LN 258980 396500, 10m, #60219, no date (I. Jiménez). Paratypes: COSTA RICA, 1E, Guanacaste, NW Volcan Orosi, Cerro El Hacha, 300m, 1988; 1E, Guanacaste, Santa Rosa NP, Hacienda 1-0, 13.iv-4.v.1986 (Janzen, Gauld). Holotype in MZUCR, paratypes in NHMUK.   
COMMENTS. The sculpture between the eye and scrobe in this species is very unusual in that it has the appearance of parts of a fingerprint.
description: Published as part of Noyes, John Stuart, 2023, ENCYRTIDAE OF COSTA RICA (HYMENOPTERA: CHALCIDOIDEA), 4 Subfamily Encyrtinae: tribes Arrhenophagini, Habrolepidini, Cerapterocerini, Cheiloneurini, Trechnitini, Cercobelini, Polaszekiini, Protyndarichoidini, Gahaniellini and Syrphophagini (part), mainly primary parasitoids and hyperparasitoids of Coccoidea and Psylloidea (Hemiptera), pp. 1-921 in Taxonomic Monographs on Neotropical Hymenoptera (Oxford, England) (Oxford, England) 2 (11) on pages 276-278, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.8074943