Artículos originales

 

A new species of Coccophagus from Nuevo Leon, México (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Aphelinidae)

 

S. N. Myartseva

 

División de Estudios de Postgrado e Investigación, UAM Agronomía y Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, CP 87149, Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, México, e-mail: smyartse@uatedu.mx.

 

Recibido: 23 de febrero 2004.
Aceptado: 31 de octubre 2005.

 

ABSTRACT

A new species of aphelinids, from the state of Nuevo León, Mexico, Coccophagus gonzalezi sp.nov., is described and illustrated.

Key Words: Coccophagus gonzalezi, new species, Aphelinidae, Coccidae, Mexico.

 

RESUMEN

Se describe e ilustra una nueva especie del afelínido Coccophagus gonzalezi sp.nov., con base en especímenes colctados en el estado de Nuevo León, México.

Palabras Clave: Coccophagus gonzalezi, nueva especie, Aphelinidae, Coccidae, México.

 

INTRODUCTION

The genus Coccophagus Westwood, 1833, includes more than 200 described species and it is one of the largest genera in Aphelinidae. Its distribution is cosmopolitan. The first regional revision of Coccophagus was published in Australia (Girault 1915). Later Coccophagus species in the Ethiopian region (Annecke & Insley 1974), China (Huang 1994) and India (Hayat 1998) were revised. The first revision of the world species of Coccophagus was published in 1931 (Compere 1931). Complete data about fauna, taxonomy, hosts and distribution of world Coccophagus species were presented by Noyes (2002). In the New World are known 59 species, including 10 species in Mexico (Myartseva & Ruíz-Cancino 2000, Noyes 2002, Myartseva & Coronado-Blanco 2003). Most of species registered now in Mexico were described by H. Compere and A. Girault.

The hosts of Coccophagus are soft scale insects from the family Coccidae and rarely mealybugs from the family Pseudococcidae (Homoptera). Female larvae of Coccophagus are primary solitary endoparasitoids. Male larvae are developed either as internal or as external hyperparasitoids on their own species or other species of Homoptera (Walter 1988). Many species of Coccophagus are of value in agriculture and have been used in the biological control of pests belonging to the family Coccidae (Clausen 1978, Greathead 1989).

The soft scale Coccus hesperidum L. is the most cosmopolitan of many different coccids attacking citrus. Several natural enemies are known to attack C. hesperidum throughout the world. In Southern Africa, for example, this scale is attacked by more than 25 species of chalcidoid wasps (Prinsloo 1984). In Mexico, Coccophagus pulvinariae Compere (Contreras-Coronado 1972) and Coccophagus sp. (Olazarán & Ruíz 2000) were reared from this soft scale. In Peruvian citrus orchards, the rarity of C. hesperidum was due generally to two species of natural enemies, including C. quaestor Girault (Beingolea 1969; cit. by Kennett et al. 1999). In Chile, C. caridei (Brethes) is the main natural enemy of many lecaniid coccids on grapes, including Parthenolecanium corni (Bouché) and P. persicae (Fabricius), and has an important role in maintaining pests populations below economic levels (González 1983; cit. by Flaherty & Wilson 1999).

One of the major biological control campaigns of the world has been conducted against the black scale Saissetia oleae (Bernard) in California, USA. From different countries, 11 species of Coccophagus were introduced to California, including C. lycimnia (Walker) and C. mexicensis Girault from Mexico (Clausen 1978). C. rusti Compere introduced to Perú from South Africa, on olives and citrus had substantial control of Saissetia spp. (Aguilar 1980, Jara 1998). In Mexico, C. rusti attack Saissetia species on citrus and ornamental plants (Ruíz et al. 2002, Myartseva & Coronado-Blanco 2003).

In the absence of imported natural enemies that keep 7 important South American pests under complete or substantial control, estimated costs of chemical control totally composed more than 17,600,000 US dollars, including costs about 2,000,000 US dollars for chemical control of Saissetia oleae (Altieri & Nicholls 1999).

Among the species known to occur in Mexico, Coccophagus lycimnia (Walker 1839) and C. scutellaris (Dalman 1825) are cosmopolitan and C. quaestor Girault is distributed in North and South America. This species is widely distributed in Mexico and only this one is cited for the state of Nuevo León (González-Hernández 2000, Ruíz-Cancino & Coronado-Blanco 2002). C. rusti Compere, species of African origin, introduced to California, USA, for biological control of Saissetia spp., penetrated later to Mexico by ecesis, i.e. with its hosts, and established there. At the present, it is known in thee Mexican states (Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Oaxaca) as parasitoid of Saissetia spp., predominantly on ornamental plants (Myartseva & Coronado-Blanco 2003).

Sixty five species from 26 genera of Coccidae are registered in Mexico (Miller 1996). Nine species from 6 genera are known in the state of Nuevo León (Ruíz-Cancino & Coronado-Blanco 2002). Thus, it is possible than more Coccophagus species as parasitoids and soft scales species as their hosts, remain to be discovered in this and other states of Mexico. Below is described a new species, Coccophagus gonzalezi sp.nov., collected in the state of Nuevo León, Mexico.

 

MATERIAL AND METODS

Two exemplares of aphelinids were received for identification from the Entomological Research Museum of the Department of Entomology of University of California, Riverside, USA. They were collected in Mexico, the state of Nuevo León in July 1983 by entomologist Alexandro González Hernández. For their identification were prepared slides of specimens in balsam of Canada. Both females are belonging to genus Coccophagus Westwood and were identified as species novae. By identification of the genus and morphological study of species of these Aphelinidae were used keys and original descriptions of similar species of Compere (1931), Annecke & Insley (1974), Hayat (1998) and Taxapad of Chalcidoidea (Noyes 2002). This species is described below as Coccophagus gonzalezi sp. n.

 

RESULTS

Coccophagus gonzalezi Myartseva sp.nov.

(Figs. 1-5)

Female. Length: 1.30 mm.

Coloration. Head whitish-yellow, antennal scape and pedicel bright yellow, funicle and club brownish. Mesosoma whitish- yellow, fore and hind margins of propodeum laterally outlined brown. Fore wing hyaline, marginal vein very slightly infuscate. Legs whitish-yellow. Metasoma whitish-yellow, 1st-4th and 6th tergites dorsally brownish on sides, 5th brown fully, except for anterior margin, 7th brown in apical half; ovipositor sheaths brown, laterally black.

Morphology. Head slightly wider than mesosoma, slightly less than twice as wide as long and wider than hight. Frontovertex as long as wide, with erected short setae, its width twice less than head width. Ocelli forming an apical angle of about 90°; hind ocelli placed slightly closer to eyes than to occipital margin, on distance about one diameter of ocellus. Eyes naked, about 1.5 times as long as cheeks. Mandible (Fig. 1) with two teeth, the upper one well defined, the second blunter but long, and with a dorsal truncation. Antennae (Fig. 2) inserted close to mouth margin. Distance between toruli subequal to distance from torulus to eye. Radicle 2 times as long as wide; scape 6.2 times as long as wide; pedicel 2.3 times as long as wide; first funicular segment the longest, 4.8 times as long as wide and 1.6 times as long as pedicel; second segment 4.5 times as long as wide; third segment 3.3 times as long as wide, very slightly wider than two first segments; club 5.4 times as long as wide, slightly shorter than the two preceeding segments combined and slightly longer than scape. Two first funicular segments with two linear sensilla each one, third with 3 sensilla, club segments with 2, 3 and 2 sensilla, respectively. Mesoscutum wider than long, densely setose; scutellum shorter and wider than long, with three pairs of thin long setae; each axilla with 2 setae, each side lobe with 7 setae. Propodeum with short triangular prominence medially. Fore wing 2.5 times as long as wide; marginal vein 1.4 times as long as submarginal vein, postmarginal vein absent (Fig. 3). Midtibial spur (Fig. 4) subequal in length to basitarsus; basitarsus subequal in length to the next three tarsal segments combined. Ovipositor (Fig. 5) very slightly protruded, 0.8 times as long as middle tibia; third valvula 0.7 times as long as second valvifer.

Material examined. Holotype female - México, Nuevo León, Mun. Guadalupe, Rincón de la Sierra, 11-VII-1983 (A. González H.) (UCR Ent. No. 54597). Paratype female - same data as holotype (UCR Ent. No. 54598).

Etymology. New species is named in honour of the Mexican hymenopterist Dr. Alejandro González Hernández (Laboratorio de Entomología, División de Postgrado, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, UANL, San Nicolás, Nuevo León, México) for his important contribution to the study of Chalcidoidea of Mexico, the creation of one of the major Collection of Hymenoptera Parasitica of Mexico, and for collecting the interesting new species of Coccophagus, described here.

Type locality: México, Nuevo León, Guadalupe, Rincón de la Sierra.

Type depository: Entomological Research Museum of the Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA.

Paratype is preserved in the same Museum.

 

DISCUSSION

The new species Coccophagus gonzalezi sp.nov., is a very distinctive species, it differs from all the other species of the genus by the unusual long and thin funicular segments: first and second segments more than 4 times (4.8X and 4.5X, respectively) as long as wide. Unusual long and thin first funicular segment have only the Indian species C. longicornis Hayat, 1971 (5.7X) and the Australian species C. redini Girault, 1924 (about 4X), and possibly other Indian species, C. subflavescens Hayat, 1971 (3.75X).

From C. longicornis, the new species can be distinguished by the body coloration and also by the following: in C. gonzalezi - flagellum unicolored, brown, first funicular segment 1.6 times longer than pedicel, second segment 4.5 times as long as wide, scape 6.2 times as long as wide, side lobe with 7 setae, body length 1.30 mm; in C. longicornis - flagellum contrastingly colored, brown and white, first funicular segment 1.3 times as long as pedicel, second segment 4.7 times as long as wide, scape 5.5 times as long as wide, side lobe with 4 setae, body length 1.76 mm.

From C. redini, the new species can be distinguished by the following: in C. gonzalezi - flagellum unicolored, first funicular segment 1.6 times longer than pedicel, second segment 4.5 times as long as wide, axilla with two setae; in C. redini - flagellum bicolored, first funicular segment more than 2 times as long as pedicel, second segment 2 times as long as wide, axilla densely setose.

From the other Indian species, C. subflavescens Hayat, 1971, with the first funicular segment 3.75 times as long as wide, the new species differs also by other characters: in C. gonzalezi - fore wing hyaline, postmarginal vein absent, hind tibia whitish, first funicular segment 1.6 times as long as pedicel and 1.2 times as long as third segment; in C. subflavescens - fore wing with infuscation, postmarginal vein present, hind tibia medially dusky, first funicular segment 1.4 times as long as pedicel and equal to third segment in length.

The new species Coccophagus gonzalezi sp. n. can be referred to ochraceus group in the genus Coccophagus.

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Author thanks to S.V.Triapitsyn (University of California, Riverside, California, USA) for loan interesting materials of Aphelinidae collected in Mexico and sending of some literature on this family of Chalcidoidea. Author would also like to thank División de Postgrado e Investigación of UAM Agronomía y Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, México, and Cuerpo Académico Entomología Aplicada for providing facilities and help for this work.

 

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