California Cheiloneurus
Updated June 2017
1 Scutellar tuft reduced or absent ……………………………………….…………………………….. 2
1’ Scutellar tuft present and not reduced ……….……………………….…………………………….. 6
2(1) Scutellum at least partly yellow ……………………………………………………………….. sp. 1
2’ Scutellum all dark …………………………………………………………………………………… 3
3(2) Mesopleura not expanded; body length > 2.0 mm ………………………………..……………… 4
3’ Mesopleura expanded, touching base of metasoma; body length <1.5mm …………………………. 5
4(3) F2 quadrate; fore coxa light; distal 2/3 of forewing infumate ……………….………………. sp. 7
4’ F2 longer than wide; fore coxa dark; wing hyaline except near marginal vein ………………… sp. 8
5 (3) Head triangular in profile; legs with dark markings; metasoma all dark ………………..…… sp. 9
5’ Head semicircular in profile; legs (including coxae) all light; metasoma yellow centrally ……. sp. 10
6(1) Scape length about 3x width ……………………………………………………………… inimicus
6’ Scape length greater than 3.5x width ……………….…………..………….…………..……….….. 7
7(6) Club lightened apically; body all black dorsally except part of pronotum, axillae, scutellum yellow ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. elegans
7’ Club completely dark; body color various ……………………………………………………….… 8
8(7) Funicle bicolored (at least basal segment partially lightened) ……….………………..…………. 8
8’ Funicle unicolored …………………………………………………….………..……………..…… 14
9(8) Body all black; apical funicle segments lighter than basal ones; ovipositor visible dorsally … sp. 3
9’ Body with some light color; apical funicle segments not lighter than basal ones; ovipositor not protruding, or protuding only very slightly ……………………………………………………….. 10
10 (9) In frontal view, head length about equal to width ………………………………………..…… 11
10’ In frontal view, head distinctly longer than wide …………………………………………….…… 13
11(10) Body generally light, metasoma with diagonal dark stripe laterally ………..……..………. sp. 4
11’ Body generally dark, except pronotum, axillae and scutellum dorsally …….….…………………. 12
12(11) Club apically truncate; F5-F6 wider than long ……………..……………………….. albinotatus
12’ Club apically rounded; F5-F6 quadrate …………………………………………………..…….. sp. 6
13(10) Funicle flattened, F3-F6 wider than long; gena unmarked …..………..……………………. sp. 2
13’ Funicle not flattened, F3-F6 quadrate; gena with dark stripe ……………….………………….. sp. 5
14(8) F1-F3 all longer than wide …………………………………………………..……………. flaccus
14’ F1-F3 not all longer than wide …………………………..……………………………………….. 15
15(14) Scape with median longitudinal yellow stripe, dark ventrally and dorsally ……..…………….16
15’ Scape otherwise …………………………………………………………………………………… 17
16(15) Fore coxa dark, ………………………………………………………..………….… lineascapus
16’ Fore coxa white ……………..…………………………..…….…………………………….. noxius
17(15) Funicle widest apically, club as wide or wider than funicle; scutellum uniformly yellow-orange ………………………………………………………………….…………………… compressicornis
17’ Funicle widest medially, club narrower than funicle; scutellum light anteriorly, darker apically .. 18
18(17) In frontal view, head about 0.33x longer than wide; body with extensive brown/orange areas; fore and hind coxae concolorous with body ………………..………………..………………. banksi
18’ In frontal view head only slightly longer than wide; body all dark except scutellum; fore and hind coxa white; brachypterous and macropterous specimens …………………..………………….. sp. 1
Sp. 1 Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Sonoma, Tuolumne (RLZC)
Sp. 2 Kern, Los Angeles, Marin, Napa, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Stanislaus (RLZC, UCDC, UCRC)
Sp. 3 Contra Costa, Marin (RLZC)
Sp. 4 Marin, Modoc (RLZC); also Kern (USNM)?
Sp. 5 Kern, Lassen, Nevada, Riverside, Santa Barbara, (RLZC, SBNHM, UCDC, UCRC)
Sp. 6 El Dorado, Sonoma (CSCA, UCD)
Sp. 7 Nevada, Sierra (UCDC); also Contra Costa (CSCA)?
Sp. 8 Nevada (RLZC)
Sp. 9 Riverside (UCRC)
Sp. 10 Mendocino (UCDC), Sonoma (RLZC)
Described Nearctic species and distribution
albinotatus De Santis, 1964: USA (CA)
alaskae Trjapitzin & Triapitsyn, 2008: USA (AK)
albicomis Howard, 1881: CA (ON); USA (CO, DC, IA, LA, MA, MO, NH, NJ, NY, OH, SC, WI)
annulicornis (Ashmead, 1900): USA (FL)
banksi (Howard, 1898): USA (AZ, CA, NM, TX)
compressicornis (Ashmead, 1894): MEX(MX); USA (CA, FL, IA, LA, MS, MO, NC, SC)
cupreicollis (Ashmead, 1894): MEX (MX); USA ()
cushmani Crawford, 1911: USA (VA)
dubius Howard, 1885: USA (MA, MO, WI)
elegans (Dalman, 1820): CAN (ON); MEX (MX, MR); USA (CA, MD, NJ, NY, PA, VA)
flaccus (Walker, 1847): MEX ()USA (AZ, CA, FL, NC, OH)
giraulti Trjapitzin, 2005 (in Trjapitzin & Zuparko): USA (IL)
inimicus Compere, 1925: MEX (ZA); USA (CA, FL, TX)
kansensis (Girault, 1917a): USA (KS)
lineascapus Gahan, 1910: USA (CA, FL, LA, MD)
marilandia (Girault, 1917b): USA (MD)
noxius Compere, 1925: USA (CA)
pachycephalus (Perkins, 1906): USA (OH)
pulvineri Dozer, 1925: USA (DC, FL, NC)
reate (Walker, 1847): USA (FL)
swezeyi Ashmead, 1903: USA (CN, OH)
Remarks
I treat as C. banksi a long series of specimens that are otherwise morphologically very similar, but vary dramatically in body color, ranging from those with a fair proportion of orange/brown to others that are almost completely black. More research is required to determine if these specimens do indeed represent a single species with highly variable coloration, or a complex of species.
References
Ashmead, W.H. 1894. Notes on cotton insects found in Mississippi. Insect Life 7: 240-247.
Ashmead, W.H. 1900. On the genera of chalcid-flies belonging to the subfamily Encyrtinae. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 22: 323-412.
Ashmead, W.H. 1903. Two new parasitic Hymenoptera. Entomological News 19(6): 192.
Compere, H. 1925. New chalcidoid (hymenopterous) parasites and hyperparasites of the black scale, Saissetia oleae Bernard. University of California Publications in Entomology 3: 295-326.
Crawford, J.C.1911. A new species of the genus Cheiloneurus. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of America 13: 126.
De Santis, L. 1964. Encirtidos de la Republica Argentina (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Anales de la Comisión de Investigacion Cientifica Provincia de Buenos Aires Gobernacion 4: 9-422.
Dozer, H.L. 1925. An outbreak of the red-striped sugar-can scale. Journal of the Department of Agriculture of Porto Rico 9: 357-367.
Gahan, A.B. 1910. Four new species of Hymenoptera. Chalcidoidea, Encyrtidae. Canadian Entomologist 42: 205-208.
Girault, A.A. 1917a. Notes and descriptions of miscellaneous chalcid-flies (Hymenoptera). Proceedings of the United States National Museum 53(213): 445-450.
Girault, A.A. 1917b. Chalcidoidea nova marilandensis. Private publication, Glenndale, Maryland: 2 pp.
Howard, L.O. 1881. (in Comstock, J.H. – Report of the entomologist for 1880). Part III. Report of the parasites of Coccidae in the collection of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Report. United States Department of Agriculture. Washington. (Entomology). 1880: 350-374.
Howard, L.O. 1885. Descriptions of North American Chalcididae from the collections of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and of Dr. C.V. Riley, with biological notes. (First paper). Together with a list of the described North American species of the family. Bulletin of the United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology 5: 44 pp.
Howard, L.O. 1898. On some new parasitic insects of the subfamily Encyrtinae. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 21: 231-248.
Perkins, R.C.L. 1906. Leaf-hoppers and their natural enemies (Pt. VIII. Encyrtidae, Eulophidae, Trichogrammatidae). Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association Experiment Station (Entomology Series) 1: 239-267.
Trjapitzin, V.A. & S.V. Triapitsyn. 2008 (2007). New species of Cheiloneurus Westwood, 1833 (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) from Alaska (USA), Mexico, and Cuba. Russian Entomological Journal 16(4): 465-473.
Trjapitzin, V.A. & Zuparko, R.L. 2005 (2004). A synopsis of the genus Cheiloneurus Westwood, 1833 (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Encyrtidae) of the New World. Russian Entomological Journal 13(4): 257-266.
Walker, F. 1847. Characters of undescribed Chalcites collected in North America by E. Doubleday, Esq., and now in the British Museum. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 20: 19-29.