Ooencyrtus

May 2018

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1 Abdomen dorsally or ventrally at least partly yellow ……………………..……..…….. 2

1’ Abdomen entirely black ……………………………………………………………….. 4

 

2(1) Body yellow brown, antennae white ……………………………………..…….. sp. 12

2’ Body dark …………………………………………………………………………….. 3

 

3(2)Tegula unicolorous, metasoma light at base ……………………………. californicus

3’ Tegula yellow basally, greater part of metasoma light  …………..…….. submetallicus

 

4(1) Funicle segments transverse; mesopleuron yellow; scutellum longitudinally reticulate …………………………………………………….………………..…. sp. 7

4’ Some or all funicle segments quadrate or longer than wide; mesopleuron black or light brown; scutellum sculpture variable …………………………………………………. 5

 

5(4) Legs, including coxae, all yellow-orange ……………….……………………………… 6

5’Legs with some maculation present …………………………………………………… 7

 

6(5) Scutellum imbricate anteriorly, smooth at apex ……………………….……….. sp. 3

6’ Scutellum longitudinally striate …………………………………………..……….. sp. 1

 

7(5) All tibia completely yellow ……………….………………………………………… 8

7’ Some or all tibia at least partially darkened ………………………….…………….…. 10

 

8(6) Fore and hind femora at least partly darkened ……………………………..…. anasae

8’ Fore and hind femora completely yellow or orange ……………………………..…… 9

 

9(8) F1 quadrate or slightly longer than wide; scutellum finely transversely shagreened,

      smooth at tip ……….…………………….……………………..………….… johnsoni

9’ F1 at least 2x longer than wide; scutellum longitudinally reticulated, apex sculptured …………………….………………………………………………………………. sp. 8

 

10 (7) Scutellum completely sculptured when viewed dorsally (apical declivity may appear smooth when viewed laterally) ……………………………………………… 11

10’ Apex of scutellum unsculptured when viewed dorsally ……………………………. 15

 

11(10) Scutellum longitudinally striate; marginal vein distinctly elongate, length up to 2x width ………………..………..……………………………………………….…. sp. 6

11’ Scutellum not longitudinally striate; marginal vein punctiform or slightly longer than wide ……………………………………………………………..…………….…… 12

 

 

12(11) Scutellum finely reticulate ……………………………………….……….……. 13

12’ Scutellum imbricate ………………………………………………………………… 14

 

13(12) Body completely black; vertex finely reticulate ………………………… kuvanae

13’ Mesopleuron light brown, rest of body not fully black; vertex imbricate …….. sp. 13

 

14(12) Mesopleuron black …………………………………………………………… sp. 2

14’ Mesopleuron light brown …………….………..………………………………… sp. 9

 

15(10) All funicle segments 2-3x longer than wide ……..………………………….. sp. 11

15’ At least some funicle segments not more than 1.5x longer than wide …………..… 16

 

16(15) F1-F4 quadrate or slightly longer than wide …………………………………. sp. 5

16’At least some of F1-F4 distinctly longer than wide …………………………………. 17

 

17(16) Legs entirely dark orangish …………………………..……..….…………… sp. 10

17’ Legs marked differently ……………………………………………………………. 18

 

18(17) Mid tibia with 2 dark bands ………………………………….…………….. sp. 15

18’ Mid tibiae without 2 dark bands …………………………………………………… 19

 

19(18) Tibia narrowly white basally, then with small dark band, shading into yellow-orange (dark band in fore & mid tibiae about 0.2x length of segment, in hind tibiae somewhat larger); mesopleuron dark; F4-F5 length less than 2.0x width ….……. sp. 4

19’ Tibia with dark bands wider; mesopleuron partly yellow; F4-F5 length greater than 2.0x width …………………………………………………..……………..……. sp. 14

 

 

Sp. 1 Imperial (UCD)

Sp. 2 Contra Costa, Imperial, Kern, Marin, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Solano, Stanislaus (CSCA, EMEC, RLZC, UCF, UCR)

Sp. 3 Humboldt, Marin, Modoc, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, Sutter, Trinity, Tuolumne (CSCA, EMEC, RLZC, UCF, UCR)

Sp. 4 Contra Costa, Fresno, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Clara, Solano, Stanislaus (CAS, EMEC, LACM, RLZC, UCD, UCF, UCR)

Sp. 5 Marin, Riverside (RLZC, UCR)

Sp. 6 Orange, Santa Barbara (UCD, UCR)

Sp. 7 Marin, Santa Barbara (RLZC, UCD) (maybe 1 male from Santa Clara, RLZC)

Sp. 8 Imperial (LACM)

Sp. 9 Napa, Sonoma, Stanislaus (EMEC, UCD, UCF, USNM)

Sp. 10 Riverside (EMEC)

Sp. 11 Riverside (UCR)

Sp. 12 Shasta (CSCA)

Sp. 13 Santa Barbara (UCD)

Sp. 14 Napa (UCD)

Sp. 15 Contra Costa, Imperial (RLZC, UCD) May be 2 species. Contra Costa specimen has larger smooth area at apex of scutellum and large ocelli, Inyo specimen has reduced smooth area and smaller ocelli

 

 

Described Nearctic species and distribution

anabrivorus Gahan, 1942: USA (WY)

anasae (Ashmead, 1887): USA (CA, FL, GA, KS, LA, NC, SC, TN)

bucculatrix (Howard, 1883): CAN (ON); USA (DC, MO, NJ, NY, OH)

californicus Girault, 1917: USA (CA, TX, WA)

clisiocampe (Ashmead, 1893): CAN (ON); USA (CN, IL, IN, LA, MA, MN, NJ, NY, OH, WY)

ennomophagus Yoshimoto, 1975: USA (CN, NC, VA)

johnsoni (Howard, 1898): USA (FL, GA, MD, NY, NC, TX, VA)

kuvanae (Howard, 1910): CAN (ON): USA (CA, CN, DC, IL, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NM, NY, PA, RI, VT, VA, WV)

moneilemae Gahan, 1925: USA (TX)

submetallicus (Howard, 1897): USA (CA, FL, LA)

 

Remarks

Ooencyrtus johnsoni was described from Texas, and has since been reported throughout the eastern USA (Noyes, 2017); the original description noted the species had “all legs uniformly honey-yellow” and the “first funicle joint a little longer than wide” (about 1/3 the length of the pedicle) – I have examined the allotype and its legs are indeed completely yellow. The holotype is supposed to be in the USNM, but I was unable to locate it. In California, this species was initially reported from Orange County (Essig, 1922), based on determinations made by A.B. Gahan, and later from Imperial County (Clancy, 1946) and Riverside and Santa Barbara counties (Vol & Goeden, 1973). Maple (1937) considered specimens he collected from Orange County as “undoubtedly the same as described by Howard and recalled by Essig.” However, the specimens in the Essig Museum, determined by A.B. Gahan as O. johnsoni, has areas of the femora darkened and F1 distinctly longer than wide, almost 1.5x the pedicle length. Non-type specimens from Sacramento County in the USNM have the rear femora with dark areas as well. The specimen appearing in Figure 1 in Maple (1937) has the hind femora darkened, while F1 does appear to agree with Howard’s description. Of all the Ooencyrtus species I examined, none exactly match that of the original description of O. johnsoni. Therefore, in the absence of a definitive revision of Nearctic Ooencyrtus species, I consider O. johnsoni absent from California, but for completeness sake, I am including it in the key, its placement based solely upon the characters noted in the OD. The single specimen of O. submetallicus from California (Inyo County, CSCA, identified by Burks) is missing the antenna, and does not exactly match the OD, and so there is some doubt about it’s identity. Examination of specimens in the USNM  led to these observations: O. anabrivorus keys to sp. 2, but the former has a flat scutellum (the latter has a rounded scutellum); O. bucculatrix keys to sp. 13, but the former has a wide club, and the latter’s club is only slightly wider than the funicle; O. clisiocampe keys to couplet 19, but doesn’t match either of the options there; O. ennomophagus keys to O. submetallicus but doesn’t match it;  O. moneilimae keys to couplet 3, but the tegulae are yellow at the base, the scutellum is smooth apically and finely reticulate anteriorly (in holotype, the scutellum is smooth over apical half).

 

References

Ashmead, W.H. 1887. Report on insects injurious to garden crops in Florida. Bulletin of the United States Department of Agriculture (Entomology) 14: 9-29.
Ashmead, W.H. 1893. Descriptions of new parasitic Hymenoptera bred by Prof. F.M. Webster. Bulletin of the Ohio Agriculture Experiment Station, Technical Series 1: 159-165.
Clancy, D.W. 1946. Natural enemies of some Arizona cotton insects. Journal of Economic Entomology 39: 326-328.
Clausen, C.P. 1978. Pentatomidae. In: Clausen, C.P. (Ed.), Introduced parasites and predators of arthropod pests and weeds: a world review. Agriculture Handbook 480. Agriculture Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, pp. 23-26.
Essig, E.O. 1922. Insect notes from Laguna Beach, California. Journal of Entomology and Zoology 14: 75-78.
Gahan, A.B. 1925. A new encyrtid parasitic in the eggs of Moneilema (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 27: 167-168.
Gahan, A.B., 1942. Descriptions of five new species of Chalcidoidea, with notes on a few described species (Hymenoptera). Proceedings of the United States National Museum 92: 41-51.
Girault, A.A. 1917. Descriptiones stellarum novarum. Private publication, Glenndale, Maryland: 22 pp.
Howard, L.O. 1883. In Lintner, J.A. Annual report on the injurious and other insects of State of New York 1: 160-161.
Howard, L.O. 1897. On the Chalcididae of the Island of Grenada. Journal of the Linnean Society (Zoology) 26: 129-178.
Howard, L.O.1898. A new parasite of the harlequin cabbage bug. Canadian Entomologist 30: 17-18.
Howard, L.O. 1910. On some parasites reared or supposed to be reared from the eggs of the gypsy moth. Technical Series, Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture 19: 12 pp.
Maple, J.D. 1937. The biology of Ooencyrtus johnsoni (Howard), and the role of the egg shell in the respiration of certain encyrtid larvae (Hymenoptera). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 30: 123-154.
Noyes, J.S. 1979. The West Indian species of Encyrtidae described by L.D. [sic] Howard, 1894 and 1897 (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea). Systematic Entomology 4: 143-169.
Noyes, J.S. 2017. Universal Chalcidoidea Database. World Wide Web electronic publication. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/chalcidoids.
Vol, J.E. de & Goeden, R.D. 1973. Biology of Chelinidea vittiger with notes on its host-plant relationships and value on biological weed control. Environmental Entomology 2: 231-240.
Yoshimoto, C.M. 1975. A new species of Ooencyrtus (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea, Encyrtidae) reared from the elm spanworm, Ennomos subsignarius (Lepidoptera: Geometridae). Canadian Entomologist 107: 833-835.