Record of the GenusLitus Haliday(Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Mymaridae)
from India, with description of two species
Tabassum Rehmat 1, Shoeba Binte Anis 1 & Mohammad Hayat2
1,2 Department of Zoology, Aligarh
Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh 202002, India
Email: 2 mohd_hayat@rediffmail.com (Corresponding author)
Date of online publication 26
July 2009
ISSN 0974-7907 (online) |
0974-7893 (print)
Editor: T.C. Narendran
Manuscript details:
Ms # o2199
Received 06 May 2009
Finally accepted 17 July 2009
Citation: Rehmat, T., S.B. Anis & M. Hayat(2009). Record of the Genus Litus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea:Mymaridae) from India, with description of two
species. Journal of Threatened Taxa 1(7):
370-374.
Copyright: © Tabassum Rehmat, Shoeba Binte Anis & Mohammad Hayat 2009. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows
unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit purposes,
reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and
the source of publication.
Author Details: Ms T. Rehmatis a research student working on the Indian Mymaridaeunder the guidance of Dr (Mrs) S.B. Anis, PhD., is a
Lecturer in Zoology, and Co-Principal Investigator in the ICAR Network Project
on Insect Biosystematics. Dr. M. Hayat, PhD., D.Sc., is the
Principal Investigator in the ICAR Project.
Author Contribution: The main work of
preparation of the paper, writing and description was done by the first author,
with considerable inputs, including checking of the final draft of the
manuscript done by the other two authors.
Acknowledgement: We are thankful
to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, and Dr. V.V.
Ramamurthy, Division of Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New
Delhi, the National Coordinator of the “Network Project on Insect
Biosystematics” for financial assistance. We are also grateful to the Aligarh
Muslim University and to the Chairman, Department of Zoology, for providing
working facilities.
Abstract:The mymarid genus Litus Haliday is recorded from India for the first time,
and two new species, L. huberi Rehmat & Anis, sp. nov., and L.triapitsyni Rehmat& Hayat, sp. nov. are described from material collected from the state of Assam.
Keywords:Genus Litus, Hymenoptera, India, Mymaridae, new species.
For Figures & Images –
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Recently, three specimens of the mymarid genus Litus Haliday were collected from Guwahati(Assam, India). With the help of Dr. J. Huber (Ottawa,
Canada) and Dr. S.V. Triapitsyn (Riverside, U.S.A.)
we studied the samples.
The genus Litusis a new record from India. And this
paper deals with the descriptions of two new species.
GenusLitus Haliday
Litus Haliday, 1833: 269, 345. Type species Litus cynipseus Haliday1833, by designation of Gahan & Fagan, 1923: 81.
Neolitus Ogloblin, 1935: 60. Type species Neolitus argentinus Ogloblin, 1935, by
original designation. Synonymy by Triapitsyn& Berezovskiy, 2004: 3.
Diagnosis
Female. Body robust, highly sclerotized;
head and thorax strongly sculptured. Mandible unidentate or bidentate,
sometimes longer than malar space. Antennal formula, 1161; funiclesegments without longitudinal sensilla; clava unsegmented, usually with 4
longitudinal sensilla. Mesoscutum usually
with distinct notauli; scutellumwith distinct anterior and posterior parts, the latter longer than the former; mesopostphragma projecting into gasterand usually with apex rounded. Fore and
hind wings long and narrow, with very long marginal fringe; marginal vein of
fore wing long. Legs with coxae usually strongly reticulate; tarsi 5-segmented. Petiole broader than long. Gaster with first tergitelong; ovipositor length variable, either short or long, and hidden or slightly to strongly exserted at apex.
Hosts
Gregarious egg
parasitoids of large Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) (Triapitsyn & Berezovskiy 2004).
Species
and distribution
The genus Lituscontains 12 extant species including the two described here. It is nearly cosmopolitan, known from
all the zoogeographical regions, except Australia and New Zealand. The Oriental Region species we know till now are from Thailand (L.sutil Triapitsyn & Berezovskiy), Taiwan (China) (L. camptopterus Novicky), and Nepal (L. usach Triapitsyn & Berezovskiy).
The species L. enockiHoward (1896) from Sri Lanka has been transferred to Camptopteraby Triapitsyn & Berezovskiy(2004).
1.Litus huberi Rehmat & Anis
sp.nov.
(Images
1-6, Fig. 1)
Material
examined
Holotype: Female,
28.x.2008, on slide under 3 coverslips, Kontola, Guwahati, Assam, India,
coll. F.R. Khan. Deposited in The
National Pusa Collection ,Division of Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (NPCI), Reg.No. 13/6/70/3.
Paratype: 1 Female,
28.x.2008, on slide under 3 coverslips, Borkusi, Guwahati, Assam, India,
coll. F.R. Khan. Deposited
in Insect Collections, Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University
(ZDAMU), Reg.No. HYM/CH. 577.
Etymology
The species is named after Dr. J. Huber,
Canadian Forest Service, Ottawa, Canada.
Description
Female: Length, 0.41mm (Measured from
card-mounted holotype before mounting it on
slide). Body except distal three tergites of gaster which are brownish-yellow,
dark brown to black, shiny; ovipositor sheaths dark brown. Mandibles pale yellow. Antennae dark brown.Fore wing lightly infuscate, hyaline in apical third; hind wing
sub-hyaline. Legs withcoxae black; femora and tibiae brown to dark brown;
tarsi brownish.
Head: Frontovertexbroad, about two-thirds of head width (34:53.5); fronswith a slightly curved line of prominent denticles(Image 3); clypeus with a median apically pointed lobe (Fig. 1); antennal toruli removed from transverse trabeculaby a distance slightly greater than diameter of a torulus;ocellar triangle with apical angle strongly obtuse;
posterior ocelli nearly touching supraorbital trabecula; frons with
several minute tubercles. Vertex with
wide-meshed reticulations; temples strongly reticulate. Mandible unidentate,
long, longer than malar space (Image 4; in Figure 1
mandibles appear shorter as the figure was drawn in dorso-lateral
view). Antenna as in Image 1; scape, in lateral view as in triapitsyni,Rehmat & Hayat sp.nov.,
but appears basally straight as it is oriented ventrally; first, fifth and
sixth funicle segments (F1, F5, F6) quadratic, F2-4
slightly longer than broad, F2 longest; clavaun-segmented, about 2.3x as long as broad, slightly shorter than preceding 5 funicle segments combined, and with 4 longitudinal sensilla.
Thorax: Compact, strongly sclerotized (characteristic of the genus); pronotum not visible in dorsal view of thorax, strongly
reticulate, the cells laterally elongate and medially convergent; mesoscutum short, not more than half the length of scutellum, with raised reticulate sculpture, and with 2+2
setae, mesoscutum without notaularlines; posterior scutellum with prominent raised
reticulate sculpture (Image 5) compared to sculpture on anterior scutellum; propodeum posterior
half behind transverse ridge narrowed and with prominent longitudinal ridges
(Image 5). Fore wing disc (=blade)
narrow, apically pointed (Image 2); and about 17.5x as long as broad
(width measured at broadest point), if width of the blade is measured, the fore
wing nearly 22x as long as broad; disc almost bare, except for 2-3 setae just
distal of venation, and a row of 5 setae along posterior margin in middle of
disc; venation characteristic of Litus species. Hind wing 24.5x as
long as broad, similar to that in triapitsyni Rehmat & Hayat, sp.nov. (as in Image 9), disc with a line of setae. Legs with coxae strongly sclerotized.
Gaster: Gaster longer than thorax (79:63); first tergite (TI) long, occupying nearly three-fourths of gaster length; other tergitesappear strongly transverse (retracted within gaster);
last tergite (TVII) apically conical; ovipositor
short, and in slide mounted holotype, exserted to 0.17x of gasterlength (Image 6). Relative measurements (holotype):
ovipositor length, 73 [Lengths: mid tibia, 45; mid tarsus, 35; hind tibia, 56;
hind tarsus, 55].
Male: Unknown.
Host: Unknown.
Comments: Litus huberi sp. nov. appears to be very close to L.sutil Triapitsyn & Berezovskiy (2004) in having narrow fore wing blade, but
differs from sutil in having funicle segments shorter, quadrate (F1,5,6) to only
slightly longer than broad (F2,3,4), clava about 2.3x
as long as broad; fore wing disc straight; gaster 1.25x
as long as thorax; and ovipositor occupying about three-fourths length of gaster, and clearly longer than both mid and hind tibiae,
1.62x as long as mid tibia and 1.30x as long as hind tibia; face with a row denticles. (In sutil: funicle segments all longer than broad, each not less than
2x as long as broad; clava about 3.5x as long as
broad; fore wing disc apically curved; gaster stated
as being a little shorter than mesosoma, mesosoma: metasoma, 157: 145;
ovipositor short, occupying about one-third length of gaster,
and clearly shorter than mid and hind tibiae, 0.50x of mid tibia and 0.41x of
hind tibia; probably the row of facial denticles absent in sutil).
2.Litus triapitsyni Rehmat & Hayat, sp. nov.
(Images
7-11, Fig. 2)
Material
examined
Holotype: Female,
29.x.2008, on slide under 3 coverslips, Koylajol, Guwahati, Assam, India,
coll. F.R. Khan. Deposited
in NPCI, Reg.No. 13/6/70/4.
Etymology
This species is named after Dr. S.V. Triapitsyn, Department of Entomology, University of
California, Riverside, U.S.
Description
Female: Length, 0.44mm,exserted ovipositor, 0.074mm. (Measured
from card-mounted holotype before mounting it on a
slide).
This species is very similar to L.huberi Rehmat &
Anis, sp. nov. in body colour, various dimension of body parts, and sculpture, but
differs only in the following characters: Anterior margin of frons biconvex with a row of large denticles;funicle segments (Image 7) all longer than broad, F1
about 1.5x, F2 and F3 2x, F4 1.75x, and F5 and F6 each a little longer than
broad; clava 2.3x as long as broad; ovipositor
originates from near base of gaster, and strongly exserted at apex, the exsertedpart 0.39x of gaster length (Image 11). Structural details are illustrated in Images
7-11 & Fig. 2.
Relative measurements (holotype slide): Thorax length, 57; gasterlength, 74; ovipositor length, 95; mid tibia length, 48; mid tarsus length, 40;
hind tibia length, 64; hind tarsus length, 60. Fore wing length, 184; fore wing width at widest, 10; width at widest
part of disc, 7.5; marginal fringe length, 70; hind wing length, 180; hind wing
width, 6; marginal fringe length, 70.
Male: Unknown.
Host: Unknown.
Comments: This species is very close
to L. huberi, Rehmat& Anis, sp. nov., but different in having the anterior margin of frons with two convex lobes provided with large denticles; ovipositor originates from near base of gaster, and strongly exserted at
apex, exserted part 0.39x of gasterlength; ovipositor 1.98x as long as mid tibia and 1.48x as long as hind tibia.
[In huberi: anterior margin of frons slightly convex, with a row of large denticles; ovipositor originates from basal fourth of gaster and very slightly exserted,
the exserted part about 0.17x of gasterlength; ovipositor 1.65x as long as mid tibia and 1.30x as long as hind tibia].
References
Gahan, A.B. &
M.M. Fagan (1923). The type species of the genera of Chalcidoideaor chalcid-flies. United States National
Museum, Bulletin No. 124: 1-173.
Haliday, A.H. (1833). An essay on the classification of the parasitic Hymenoptera of
Britain, which corresponds with the Ichneumones minuti of Linnaeus. Entomological Magazine 1:
259-276, 333-350.
Howard, L. O. &
W.H. Ashmead (1896). On some reared
parasitic hymenopterous insects from Ceylon. Proceedings
of the United States National Museum 18: 633–648.
Oglobin, A.A. (1935). Um (sic) nuevo mimórido de Misiones (Hym. Mymaridae). Revista de Entomologia 5: 59 -64.
Triapitsyn,
S.V. & V.V. Berezovskiy (2004). Review of the
genus Litus Haliday,
1833 in the Holarctic and Oriental regions, with
notes on the Palaearctic species of Arescon Walker, 1846 (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae). Far Eastern Entomologist,
Vladivostok No. 141: 1-24.