Description of a new species of Neocladia Perkins and female of Neocladia narendrani Hayat (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Encyrtidae) From India

A new species, Neocladia noyesi is described and the female of Neocladia narendrani Hayat is first reported and described from Tamil Nadu.


ISSN
Online 0974-7907 Print 0974-7893 The members of the genus Neocladia Perkins are internal, nymphal parasitoids of Cicadellidae (Hemiptera) (Noyes 2012) containing 34 species worldwide after the recent synonymy of Anagyrodes Girault, Carabunia Waterston, Elijahia Girault, Paracladella Girault and Schillerana Girault with Neocladia by Trjapitzin & Triapitsyn (2010).The new species described comes under Paracladella, but is placed in Neocladia following Trjapitzin & Triapitsyn (2010).Hayat (2003) described Neocladia narendrani from a male, and noted that this species differed from males of Neocladia in the fore wing venation and the larger costal cell and predicted that this might belong to an undescribed genus for which females are needed.We recently collected two females presumably of this species and thought of describing this as a new genus but, taking into account the synonymies proposed by Trjapitzin & Triapitsyn (2010), we retain wing; metasoma-abdomen excluding the propodeum, but including petiole; hypopygium-the last sternite of the gaster, also called subgenital plate.
Measurements are directly taken using the divisions of a linear scale.
All images were taken using either Leica DM750 phase contrast microscope or Leica S8APO stereo zoom microscope with montage software.Specimens were deposited with the Entomology Department, Annamalai University, Parasitoid Taxonomy and Biocontrol Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu (EDAU).
Color: Body dark with predominantly metallic green luster; frontovertex metallic green; labrum dark brown.Antenna with scape yellowish-brown; pedicel slightly darker than scape; flagellum brown.Pronotum, mesoscutum, tegulae, scutellum and propodeum (except pale greenish-brown median depression) metallic green; setae on dorsum of mesosoma whitish.Wings subhyaline with dark brown setae.Legs including coxae pale yellow except base and apex of hind tibia brown more pronounced on inner side, and apex of hind femur brown; tip of mid tibial spur dark brown.
Head: (Image 2) Head a little wider than high (76: 73); occipital margin slightly concave and sharp and continues up to mouth margin; posterior margins of eyes nearly reaching occipital margin; frontovertex width at narrowest 0.56× head width (43:76); frontovertex with large thimble-like setigerous punctures extending up to mouth margin, punctures separated by less than their own diameters; each thimble with single white seta; antennal scrobes meeting dorsally; antennal toruli situated lower on head and separated from each other by less than their own width, their lower margins below lower level of eye margins and separated from mouth margin by a distance 2.8× of torulus height; eye height 1.36× as long as malar space (38:28).Antennal scape 3.75× as long as wide; pedicel longer than broad and smaller than F1; all funicle segments longer than wide; F2 and F3 and F4 and F5 subequal in length; clava solid and as long as preceding two segments combined (Image 3).
Mesosoma: (Image 5) Dorsum of mesosoma including tegulae finely reticulate (visible at high magnification).Pronotum 6.5× as wide as long (72 : 11) and 0.3× of scutellum length; scutellum 1.3× as long as mesoscutum and slightly longer than wide (46:44); apex of scutellum with a broad transparent flange (Image 5); sides of propodeum almost straight and median length of propodeum 0.26× of scutellum length (12:46); propodeum with a median carina and a pair of submedian grooves; sides of propodeum with dense white setae.Fore wing 2.3× as long as broad (Image 4); posterior margin of fore wing emarginate; costal cell large, 5.5× as long as broad with five rows of dorsal and three rows of ventral setae; submarginal vein curved; marginal vein punctiform; postmarginal vein 1.8× as long as stigmal vein; hind wing 2.6× as long as broad.Mid basitarsus 1.16× of mid tibial spur; mid tibial length 3.03× as long as mid basitarsus length; hind femur 2.8× as long as broad, hind tibiae 4.5× as long as broad.
Male: (Image 6) Length 2.2mm.Differs from female in the following characters: genitalia, color of body (darker than female), color of legs (coxae, trochanter and basal half of femora dark brown with green tinge), antennal scape (3.25× as long as wide), postmarginal vein 2.8× stigmal vein and metasoma 1.06× as broad as long.
Host: Unidentified nymphs of cicadellid on Cassia sp.

Etymology:
The species is named after the encyrtid expert, Dr. John S. Noyes of the Natural History Museum, London, U.K.
Comments: The new species runs near Neocladia gigantica (Rao 1973) in the key to species given by Trjapitzin & Triapitsyn (2010) but differs in the following characters: fore wing subhyaline without infuscate patch; frontovertex with large thimble-like setigerous punctures, hypopygium not reaching apex of metasoma; hind tibia angulate at apex; all coxae pale yellow; body color green with metallic shine and comparatively smaller, length 2.05mm (in gigantica, fore wing strongly infuscate in the distal one-third; frontovertex with transversely lineolate-reticulate sculpture and with fine setigerous punctures; hypopygium reaching apex of metasoma; hind tibia rounded apically; all coxae dark brown; body color shining black and comparatively larger, length 4.2mm).
Among Indian species, it is closer to Neocladia uttara (Hayat, 2003) and N. calicutana (Hayat, 2003).This new species mainly differs from the latter two species by the following characters: fore wing subhyaline without infuscate patch; propodeum with a median carina and submedial grooves; body color green with metallic shine; scutellum apex with thin transparent flange; hind tibia 4.5× as long as wide [in uttara and calicutana, fore wing infuscate; body color dark brown; scutellum without flange and hind tibia nearly 2.5× as long as wide (3.1× as long as wide in calicutana)].
Color: Body dark brown to black.Head green, Images 5-6.Neocladia noyesi sp.nov. 5 -meso and metasoma dorsal view, 6 -male facial impression blue-violet.Antennal scape, pedicel, funicle and basal part of the clava testaceous brown, clava brown.Mesoscutum greenish and scutellum with reddish reflections; mesopleuron dark brown with green shiny reflections.Metasoma dark brown, smooth and shiny; tip of the ovipositor sheath yellow.Fore and hind wings hyaline.All coxae dark brown, fore legs pale yellow, mid legs yellow with tibiae pale brown in basal third, hind legs with trochanters brown, femora in basal third and tibia in distal third brownish, tarsal segments except fifth segment yellow.Head: (Image 8) Frontovertex more than one-third of head width, facial impression with transverse striations and silvery white setae.Thimble like punctures in head separated by more than their own diameter and not descending between lower eye margin and facial impression, each thimble with a fine white seta.Antennal scape cylindrical about 6× as long as broad, F1 slightly longer than pedicel, antennae setose, the setae brown.