Description of a new species of Oligosita Walker (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) from Punjab, India

Species of the genus Oligosita Walker (1851) are important egg parasitoids of hemipterous insect pest and they keep check and balance on the population of this insect pest in nature. The genus contains 94 species worldwide. Hayat (2008) provided notes on 17 species of genus Oligosita (including Pseudoligosita Girault), from India and gave a key to these species. But seven species (brevicilia, brevifringiata, latipennis, longicilia, nephotetticum, singularis, yasumatsui) have been transferred to Pseudoligosita (Pinto & Viggiani 2004; Begum & Anis 2013). Other recently published species of Oligosita from India include: Hayat (2009), O. similiana; Yousuf & Joshi (2003), O. longiflagellata; Fatma et al. (2014), O. obliqua; Begum & Anis (2015), O. doonensis; Begum & Anis, in Begum et al. (2015), O. aseta. Presently the genus is represented in the Indian fauna by 17 species, including the new species O. ferozepurensis described in this paper. The types are deposited in National Forest Insect Collection (NFIC), Forest Entomology Division, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.

Oligosita ferozepurensis sp. nov.

(Images 1 A–F)

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A37C25DC-B7F5-455B-A9B1-8DC6476D953A

Holotype: NFIC-FRI-21937/1, female (on slide), 27.xii.2013, Kanhe Wali Basti, Ferozepur, Punjab, India, 30.9230N & 74.6100E; 197m, coll. Mohsin Ikram.

Paratypes: NFIC-FRI-21937/2-4, 3 females (on 3 slides), same data as holotype.

Etymology: The specific name is derived from the type locality, Ferozepur (Punjab) India.

Description: Female: Body length, 0.53mm. Body honey yellow (Image 1A); head light brown; ocelli and eyes black. Antenna dark yellow. Mesosoma with some infuscation present laterally on pronotum, and on sides of mesosoma. Fore wing hyaline. Metasoma brown; ovipositor sheaths brown.

Head (Image 1B) slightly wider than long in facial view (32:28); ocelli arranged in obtuse triangle; malar space clearly longer than eye width. Mandible tridentate (Image 1C). Maxillary palp one-segmented and well developed (Image 1C). Antenna (Image 1H) with scape cylindrical, 3.2× as long as broad (22:7); pedicel 1.6× (14:9) as long as broad and slightly wider than scape (9:7); funicle narrowest basally and slightly wider than long (8:7); clava 3-segmented, about 2.6×as long as broad (26:10); widest at level of distal part of first segment and base of second segment; slender and longest apical segment terminating in a drumstick-like projection; drumstick-like projection a little shorter than third claval segment (8:11).

Mesosoma: Mid lobe of mesoscutum slightly wider than long (37:35); scutellum about 1.9× as broad as long (37:19); propodeum longer than metanotum. Fore wing (Image 1E) hyaline except an infuscated patch beneath stigmal vein and submarginal vein, 3.7× as long as wide (70:19); venation extending slightly more than 3/5 wing length; ratio of submarginal: premarginal: marginal: stigmal veins, 20:10:25:6; costal cell broad, shorter than marginal vein; stigmal vein well developed; marginal fringe 1.2× as long as maximum wing width (54:44).

Metasoma: Gaster longer than mesosoma; ovipositor slightly exserted, longer than length of hind tibia (63:50); hypogynium reaching half the length of ovipositor (Image 1F).

Male: Unknown.

Host: Unknown.

Comments: Oligosita ferozepurensis sp. nov. is similar to O. breviclavata Yousuf & Shafee (1988: 148), but can be separated by having mid lobe of mesoscutum slightly wider than long (37:35); scutellum about 1.9× as broad as long (37:19), fore wing with disc sparsely setose; setae arranged on disc up to the area beneath marginal vein; marginal fringe 1.2× as long as maximum wing width (54:44), antenna with scape cylindrical, 3.2× as long as broad; funicle as long as wide, clava 2.6× as long as wide and apical segment terminating into two drum stick like projection. In O. breviclavata mid lobe of mesoscutum about 1.4× as broad as long (40:29); scutellum about 1.7× as broad as long (32:19), fore wing with disc sparsely setose, setae arranged on disc up to apical marginal; marginal fringe 1.5× as long as maximum wing width, antenna with scape cylindrical, 2.7× as long as broad; funicle wider than long; clava 1.5× as long as wide and apical segment terminating into three cilia like projection.

This new species is also similar to Oligosita balcluthae (Bella et al. 2015), but can be separated by having the antennal scape broad, shorter than clava (22:26); funicle segment half the length of pedicel (7:14), fore wing with marginal fringe 1.2× longer than maximum wings width; ratio of submarginal: premarginal: marginal: stigmal veins (20:10:25:6). In O. balcluthae the fore wing with marginal fringe as long as maximum wings width; ratio of submarginal: premarginal: marginal: stigmal veins (18:08:20:6).

References

Begum, S. & S.B. Anis (2013). Taxonomic studies on some genera of Indian Trichogrammatidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). World Journal of Applied Sciences and Research 3(2): 42–48.

Begum, S. & S.B. Anis (2015). Description of a new species of Oligosita Haliday (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Trichogrammatidae) from India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 7(2): 6907–6909; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o4040.6907-9

Begum, S., S.B. Anis & M.T. Khan (2015). A revision of the Indian species of Oligosita Walker (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae). Zootaxa 3973(3): 401–424.

Bella, S., S. Cupani, V. D’urso, S. Laudonia, M. Sinno & G. Viggiani (2015). Description of a new species of Oligosita Walker (Chalcidoidea: Trichogrammatidae), egg parasitoid of Balclutha brevis Lindberg (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) living on Pennisetum setaceum, from Italy. Zootaxa 4039(4): 583–590.

Fatma, J., S. Begum & S.B. Anis (2014). Description of a new species of the genus Oligosita Haliday (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) from India with some records. Prommalia II: 114–119.

Girault, A.A. (1913). Australian Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea - I. Supplement. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 2: 101–106.

Hayat, M. (2008). On the types of Oligosita species from India (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Trichogrammatidae), with some records. Biosystematica 2: 5–18.

Hayat, M. (2009). Records and Descriptions of Trichogrammatidae from India (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Oriental Insects 43: 201–227.

Pinto, J.D. & G. Viggiani (2004). A review of the genera of Oligositini (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) with a preliminary hypothesis of phylogenetic relationships. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 13: 269–294.

Walker, F. (1851). Notes on Chalcidoidea and descriptions of various new species. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 7: 210–216.

Yousuf, M. & K.C. Joshi (2003). Description of a new species of Oligosita Haliday (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) from India. Shaspha 10(1): 7–8.

Yousuf, M. & S.A. Shafee (1988). Taxonomy of Indian Trichogrammatidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Indian Journal of Systematic Entomology 4(2): 55–200.