Meromyzobia

May 2018
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Females and males

1 Females (brachypterous) ……………. ……………………………………………..……….… 2
1’ Males (full winged) ………………………………………………………………………..…. 3

2(1) Club apparently solid; mid coxa dark; mesoscutum 0.5X pronotum length  ….… deserticola
2’ Club clearly3-segmented; mid coxa yellow; mesoscutum 0.67x pronotum length ………. sp. 1

3(1) Pronotum length about equal to mesoscutum length ……………………………. deserticola
3’ Mesoscutum length distinctly longer than pronotum  ………………………………..………. 4

4(3) Mesosoma dorsally completely dark …….…………………….……………………………. 5
4’ Mesosoma dorsally with lighter areas ………………………………………………………… 6

5(4) Metasoma yellow in basal third dorsally, basal half ventrally; face dark, except for narrow strip above mouth ………..……… sp.1
5’ Metasoma with only slight yellowing at very base; face yellow ………………………….. sp. 2

6(4) Funicle segments slim, length F1 almost 3x width; main body color yellow ………….. sp. 3
6’ Funicle segments not as slim, length F1 about 2x width; main body color orange ………. sp. 4

 

Sp. 1: Solano, Stanislaus (RLZC, UCDC)
Sp. 2: Inyo, Lassen (CSCA, RLZC, UCDC) (Only males known)
Sp. 3: Imperial (UCDC, UCRC) (Only 2 males known)
Sp. 4: Orange (UCRC) (Only 1 male known)

 
Described Nearctic species and distribution

bifasciata (Ashmead, 1890): USA (CO)
deserticola Gordh, 1987: USA (CA)
flava Ashmead, 1900: USA (DC)
flavicincta (Ashmead, 1888): USA (CO, FL)
maculipennis (Ashmead, 1893): USA (NJ, OH)
melanosoma Gordh, 1987: USA (FL, GA, NC, NJ)
pedicelata Gordh, 1987: USA (FL)
texana Gordh, 1987: USA (TX)
unifasciata Ashmead, 1900: USA (MI, MO)

 
Remarks
Specimens of M. bifasciata from the USNM key to couplet 6, but F1 and F2 are transverse. Males of M. maculipennis key to sp. 3, but the forewing of the former has a medial cloud, while the latter is hyaline; M. maculipennis is also much bigger and has other color differences. Males of M. melanosoma key to sp. 4, but the former has a hyaline band between the medial and distal darkenings of the forewing, while the latter has only a central dark cloud. Males of M. texana key to couplet 6, but the scutum and scutellum are all yellow, whereas sp. 3 and sp. 4 have darkened areas.

References

Ashmead, W.H. 1888. Descriptions of new Florida chalcids belonging to the sub-family Encyrtinae. Entomologica Americana 4: 15-17.
Ashmead, W.H. 1890. On the Hymenoptera of Colorado; descriptions of new species, notes and a list of the species found in the State. Bulletin No 1 of the Colorado Biological Association, Washington: 47 pp.
Ashmead, W.H. 1893. Descriptions of new parasitic Hymenoptera bred by Prof. F.M. Webster. Bulletin of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, Technical Series 1: 159-165.
Ashmead, W.H. 1900. On the genera of the chalcid-flies belonging to the subfamily Encyrtinae. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 22: 323-412.
Gordh, G. 1987. A taxonomic study of Nearctic Meromyzobia Ashmead, 1900 (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). The Pan-Pacific Entomologist 63: 16-36.