The genus Cyrtoptyx Delucchi (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae) from India, with a description of a new species from the southern Western Ghats of Kerala

Acknowledgement: I am grateful to Dr. K. Venkataraman, Director, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata and C. Radhakrishnan, Officer-incharge, Zoological Survey of India, Kozhikode for providing all the facilities for the work and constant encouragement. I am also grateful to Dr. Jhon S. Noyes, The Natural History Museum, UK, and Dr. Xiao Hui, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Zoology, Beijing for providing relevant literature for my work. I am also thankful to Mr. C. Bijoy and Ms. Dhanya Balan, junior research fellows, ZSI, Kozhikode for helping to prepare the photographs and the electron scan pictures of the specimens. Thanks are also due to the Chief Wildlife Warden, Kerala and the forest officials of Waynad forest division for granting the permission to conduct faunisitic surveys and make collections and as well for the various help rendered during the field work. Abstract: A taxonomic account on Cyrtoptyx Delucchi (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is given and a new species, C. wayanadensis, is described from the southern Western Ghats of Kerala, India. The affinities of the new species with the related species are discussed.

The genus Cyrtoptyx Delucchi (1956) belongs to the pteromalid subfamily Pteromalinae.Noyes (2011) lists a total of nine described species from the world, but from India (Tamil Nadu) and Pakistan, only one species, C. latipes (Rondani), was recorded by Bouček et al. (1979).During the faunal exploration surveys conducted in the forested tracts of the southern Western Ghats of Wayanad District, Kerala, interesting specimens of Cyrtoptyx were collected by sweeping over vegetations from a patch of moist deciduous forest located at the foothills of Banasura peak.The specimens were identified as belonging to an undescribed species and are described hereunder.
The morphological terminology used in the paper follows that of Bouček (1988).The type material of the new species is deposited in the Zoological Survey of India, Western Ghat Regional Centre, Kozhikode, Kerala (ZSIK).
Diagnosis: Body stout, metallic, generally bluish black, dark metallic green or bronze tinged; anterior margin of clypeus shallowly emarginate; antennal formula 11353 in female and 11263 in male; clava with sutures straight, area of micropilosity restricted to the third segment; mesosoma convex; pronotal collar almost as broad as mesoscutum, not margined anteriorly or at the most with a weak carina in the middle; mesoscutum with notauli incomplete; propodeum without nucha, with distinct median carina; forewing with PMV longer than STV (at least 1.8x); metasoma sessile, lanceolate; hind margin of T1 produced.
Comments: Cyrtoptyx closely resembles the genera Oxysychus Delucchi and Ischyroptyx Delucchi in general morphology.It differs from Oxysychus in having pronotal collar only weakly carinate in the middle, clava with the area of micropilosity limited to its apical segment and propodeum not much flat (in Oxysychus, pronotal collar with a complete fine carina, clava with area of micropilosity extending all along its length and propodeum between spiracles almost flat or weakly carinate).Cyrtoptyx differs from Ischyroptyx in having MV not thickened and at least 1.8x as long as STV, forewing hyaline or subhyaline, hairs on thorax thin and not conspicuous (in Ischyroptyx, MV slightly thickened from base, at most about 1.4x as long as STV, forewing often with slight broad infumation and hairs on mesosoma curved and broad, usually white and conspicuous).Etymology: The species name is derived from the name of the district (Wayanad) where the specimens were collected.Description: Female: Length 3.0-3.9mm (holotype 3.9mm).Colour: Head metallic blue; eyes cupreous; ocelli yellow; antennae yellowish-brown with scape, pedicel and anelli more yellowish; mandibles yellow with apical half brown; mesosoma metallic blue; tegulae pale yellowish-brown; wings hyaline; veins pale yellowish-brown; stigmal knob dark brown; discal pubescence brown; coxae concolorous with mesosoma except middle coxae brown; femora yellowish-brown except fore femora brown; rest of legs yellowish-white with tips of tarsi brown; gaster blackish-brown with metallic blue bands laterally in the middle of tergites and base of T1 dorsally; Head (Images 2, 5) distinctly reticulate with moderately dense white pubescence; in dorsal view head width 1.9x length; temple narrow, 0.2x eye length; POL 1.62x OOL; occiput not margined.In front view head width 1.3x height; scrobe deep, not reaching median ocellus; clypeus radiately striated, anterior margin very slightly emarginate; malar grooves indicated; malar space 0.6x as long as eye in profile; eye length 1.3x width in profile; eyes separated 1.4x their length at level of toruli; both mandibles with 3 teeth.Antennae (Images 3, 4 ) inserted above middle of face, distinctly above lower ocular line; toruli separated 0.32x their individual diameter; scape exceeding well above median ocellus, little shorter than eye and 4.9x as long as pedicel; pedicel plus flagellum 1.3x as long as head width; pedicel 1.6x as long as broad; third anellus little longer than second; anelli together 0.62x as long as pedicel; funicular segments slender, elongated, with uniform thickness, decreasing in length; F1 longest, F2 0.9x F1, F5 shortest, 0.64x F1; F1 and F2 with five irregular rows of sensillae, other segments with four rows of sensillae, clava little wider than funicle, 2.7x as long as broad and 1.51x as long as F5; area of micropilosity restricted to tip of clava; sutures almost straight ; pubescence moderately long.
Male: (Image 1) Length 2.6mm.Colour metallic greenish-blue.Differs from female in having antennae with two anelli and five long funicular segments with dense pubescence; gaster compressed, with an elongated brownish-yellow spot in the base dorsally and completely yellow ventrally.
Remarks: This species is unique in having long slender antennae in both the sexes.In the nature of gaster, forewing venation and general morphology it resembles C. latipes (Rondani) but differs from it in the nature of antennae which are long and slender, combined length of pedicel plus flagellum 1.3x as long as head width, F1 and F2 with five irregular rows of sensillae, other segments with four rows of sensillae, gaster with hind margin of T1 only slightly produced.(in C. latipes, antennae not long and slender combined length of pedicel plus flagellum slightly shorter than head width, F1-F3 with three rows of sensillae and F4 and F5 with two rows of sensillae, hind margin of T1 moderately produced.).It also resembles C. flavida Xiao et al. 2003, but differs from it in having antennae inserted above middle of face, funicular segments with more than two rows of sensillae, gaster 2.9-3.1x as long as broad with hind margin of T1 slightly produced, and body metallic blue (in C. flavida, antennae inserted middle of face, each funicular segments with two rows of sensillae, hind margin of T1 moderately produced, body black with metallic gloss).
nucha absent, posterior margin deeply emarginate, median carina complete, anterior margin of propodeum with a transverse depression, traversed by rugae; plicae indicated posteriorly; spiracle elongate ovate, almost touching hind margin of metanotum; callus with long white hairs.Prepectus short, finely reticulate, almost equal to length of tegula.Mesopleuron almost completely reticulate except for a narrow triangular smooth area beneath wings.Metapleuron reticulate punctate.Forewing length 2.5x width, basal part almost bare, basal vein represented by few hairs in the upper end; speculum open below; costal cell hairy on upper half and distal end; stigma moderately capitate.