A new species of Anagrus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) from Amazonas, Brazil

Uma nova espécie de Anagrus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) do Amazonas

SYSTEMATICS, MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY

A new species of Anagrus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) from Amazonas, Brazil

Uma nova espécie de Anagrus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) do Amazonas

Serguei V. Triapitsyn^I; Ranyse B. Querino^II; Malu C.B. Feitosa^III

^IEntomology Research Museum, Dept. of Entomology, Univ. of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA; [e-mail]

^IIEmbrapa Roraima, BR 174, km 8, Distrito Industrial, 69301-970 Boa Vista, RR, Brazil; [e-mail]

^IIICoordenação de Pesquisas em Entomologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, INPA, C. postal 478, Av. André Araújo, 2936, Petrópolis, 69011-970, Manaus, AM, Brazil; [e-mail]

ABSTRACT

A new fairyfly species from the Neotropics, Anagrus (Anagrus) amazonensis Triapitsyn, Querino & Feitosa, sp. n., is described and illustrated. Anagrus Haliday is a large genus of Mymaridae (Hymenoptera), which now includes eight species recorded from Brazil. This new species attacks eggs of damselflies (Odonata: Zygoptera).

Key words: Odonata, egg parasitoid, Neotropics, taxonomy

RESUMO

Uma nova espécie de mimarídeo Neotropical, Anagrus (Anagrus) amazonensis Triapitsyn, Querino & Feitosa, sp. n., é descrita e ilustrada. Anagrus Haliday é um gênero extenso de Mymaridae (Hymenoptera), que agora inclui oito espécies registradas para o Brasil. Esta nova espécie ataca ovos de libélulas (Odonata: Zygoptera).

Palavras-chave: Odonata, parasitóide de ovos, Neotropical, taxonomia

The fairyfly genus Anagrus Haliday is one of the most speciose, " large" genera of Mymaridae, with 86 valid species described. It is cosmopolitan and occurs in terrestrial and aquatic habitats. Anagrus was recently studied in the Neotropics by Triapitsyn (1997, 2000, 2002), who provided keys based on females.

To date, seven species of Anagrus are known from Brazil: A. brasiliensis Triapitsyn, A. breviphragma Soyka, A. empoascae Dozier, A. flaveolus Waterhouse, A. lineolus Triapitsyn, A. nigriventris Girault, and A. urichi Pickles (Noyes 2003), among the 28 species registered in South America. However, there is no doubt that the number of species of this genus in Brazil and also in the entire Neotropical region is much greater.

Several species of Anagrus are important egg parasitoids of various pests belonging to Auchenorrhyncha (Hemiptera), and a few mirid and tingid bugs (Heteroptera: Miridae and Tingidae, respectively) (Triapitsyn & Beardsley 2000). Identification of Anagrus species is difficult because of their minute size and also because of the poor preservation techniques of voucher specimens. Thus, most of the earlier identifications and especially the catalog records of Anagrus species in the New World require confirmation (Triapitsyn 2002).

In spite of the importance of Mymaridae for the biological control of insects and their abundance among the faunistical survey material, knowledge of the Mymaridae diversity in Brazil is still very limited. In this paper we describe a new species of Anagrus collected in a creek in the tropical forest in Amazonas, Brazil. It occurs in an aquatic habitat and parasitizes eggs of an unidentified species of Zygoptera (Odonata). Mymaridae is one of the families of parasitic Hymenoptera that have species with aquatic habits. One of the first species of an aquatic fairyfly with a known biology was Caraphractus cinctus Walker (Hagen 1996). Fursov (1995) registered five species of Mymaridae from eggs of aquatic insects in several places in Europe.

Material and Methods

The description is based on ethanol-collected samples. Specimens were dried using a critical point drier, and slide mounted in Canada balsam or point-mounted. Measurements were determined from slide-mounted individuals and they are given in micrometers (µm). Quantitative data are reported as a range if variation was extensive. Photomicrographs of the antennae, wings, and genitalia were made using an Automontage system. Terms for morphological features are those of Gibson (1997). Abbreviations for depositories of specimens are as follows: CNCI, Canadian National Collection of Insects, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; INPA, National Institute for Research in the Amazon, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil; UCRC, Entomology Research Museum, University of California, Riverside, California, USA; USNM, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, District of Columbia, USA. An abbreviation used in the text is: F = funicle (in females) antennal segment.

Anagrus (Anagrus) amazonensis Triapitsyn, Querino & Feitosa, sp. n. (Figs. 1-6)

Types. Holotype female [INPA] on slide: BRAZIL, Amazonas, Presidente Figueiredo, BR 174, km 123, Creek Santa Cruz, 24.xi.2005, M.C. Feitosa and C. Ramalheira, from eggs of Odonata on Rhynchospora pubera (Vahl) Bockeler (Cyperaceae). Paratypes: One female on point [CNCI], five females and five males on points [INPA], two females and three males on slides as well as five females and two males on points [UCRC], and one female on point [USNM], all with the same label data as the holotype.

Description (holotype and paratypes). Female. Body length 460-660 µm. Body mostly brown except posterior scutellum pale and gastral terga partially light brown; appendages light brown except flagellum brown.

Head slightly wider than mesosoma. Antenna (Fig. 1) shorter than body. Scape 3.4-3.5 x as long as wide; F1 much shorter than pedicel or F2; all funicle segments except for F1 much longer than wide, F1 the shortest and F6 usually the longest; F2 and F3 subequal in length and a little shorter than F4; F4 and F5 usually subequal in length but sometimes F4 slightly longer than F5 and about as long as F6; longitudinal sensilla on F4 (1), F5 (1), and F6 (2); clava 3.2-3.4 x as long as wide (in lateral view), with five longitudinal sensilla.

Mesosoma. Mesoscutum with a pair of adnotaular setae. Forewing (Fig. 2) narrow, 11.0-11.1x as long as wide; length of the distal macrochaeta about 1.5x that of the proximal macrochaeta; longest marginal seta about 3x maximal width of disc; disc notably infumate, more so medially, with one complete median row of setae beyond venation in addition to a row of setae along each wing margin and a few setae at wing apex. Hind wing (Fig. 3) about 23x as long as wide; disc notably infumate, with setae only along margins; longest marginal seta about 6x maximal width of disc.

Metasoma. Gaster longer than mesosoma. Ovipositor about 3/4 length of gaster, not reaching tip of mesophragma anteriorly and barely exsert beyond apex of gaster posteriorly (exserted part of ovipositor 1/20-1/15 of its total length); ovipositor length:protibia length ratio 2.0-2.1:1. External plate of ovipositor with two setae.

Measurements (holotype). Body: 658 µm; head (length, taken before slide-mounting): 100 µm; mesosoma: 236 µm; metasoma: 306 µm; ovipositor: 261 µm. Antenna: scape: 85 µm; pedicel: 40 µm; F1: 16; F2: 40; F3: 39; F4: 47; F5: 48; F6: 52 µm; clava: 103 µm. Forewing: 576/52 µm; longest marginal seta: 161 µm. Hind wing: 540/23 µm; longest marginal seta: 136 µm. Legs (given as femur, tibia, tarsus): pro-: 133 µm, 125, 161; meso-: 121, 172, 152 µm; meta-: 131, 197, 170 µm.

Male. Body length 460-660 µm. Similar to female except for normally sexually dimorphic characters such as antenna with an 11-segmented flagellum (Fig. 4) and genitalia (Fig. 6). Coloration of body is slightly darker than female. Forewing (Fig. 5) slightly wider than female, about 9.5x as long as wide; its disc with an additional incomplete row of setae only in the middle.

Diagnosis.Anagrus amazonensis sp. n. belongs to the incarnatus species group of the nominate subgenus of Anagrus, as defined by Chiappini et al. (1996). The male genitalia of A. amazonensis are not typical in shape and structure for the incarnatus group species, as discussed by Chiappini & Mazzoni (2000), but more similar to the male genitalia of the Neotropical species A. lineolus Triapitsyn (Triapitsyn 2000) and A. urichi Pickles (Triapitsyn 2002), and also of A. brasiliensis Triapitsyn (Triapitsyn 1997), all of which also occur in Brazil. In the key to the Neotropical species of Anagrus Haliday by Triapitsyn (2002), A. amazonensis would key to the same couplet with A. lineolus.Anagrus amazonensis differs from A. lineolus in having a more infumate forewing disc in both sexes (the forewing disc is almost hyaline in A. lineolus), and also a different shape of the male genitalia: the latter are significantly more elongate in A. lineolus, as illustrated by Triapitsyn (2000). From A. urichi, which also has an infumate forewing disc, A. amazonensis differs in having a complete median row of setae on the forewing disc (the forewing disc has an incomplete row of at most 10 setae in A. urichi). Also, F1 of the male antenna is subglobular and much shorter than the remaining flagellomeres in A. urichi (Triapitsyn 2002), but similar in A. amazonensis. The new species differs from A. brasiliensis by the F2 of the female antenna, which is about as long as F3 in A. amazonensis but much shorter than F3 in A. brasiliensis (Triapitsyn 1997).

Etymology. The specific name is an adjective (gender: masculine) referring to the occurrence of this species in the Amazonas State of Brazil.

Host. An unknown species of Zygoptera (Odonata).

Acknowledgments

We thank the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (grants PPI 1-0605, 0405), Neusa Hamada (INPA) for support in this work, the collectors of this species, and also Vladimir V. Berezovskiy and Jennifer Walker (UCRC), by specimens preparation and illustrations, respectively.

Received 14/XII/07. Accepted 11/X/08.

• Chiappini, E. & E. Mazzoni. 2000. Differing morphology and ultrastructure of the male copulatory apparatus in species-groups of Anagrus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae). J. Nat. Hist. 34: 1661-1676.
• Chiappini, E., S.V. Triapitsyn & A. Donev. 1996. Key to the Holarctic species of Anagrus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) with a review of the Nearctic and Palaearctic (other than European) species and descriptions of new taxa. J. Nat. Hist. 30: 551-595.
• Fursov, V. 1995. A review of European Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera) parasitizing the eggs of aquatic insects. Bull. Irish Biogeogr. Soc. 18: 2-12.
• Gibson, G.A.P. 1997. Morphology and terminology, p.16-44. In G.A.P. Gibson, J.T. Huber & J.B. Woolley (eds.), Annotated keys to the genera of Nearctic Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). NRC Research Press, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 794p.
• Hagen, K.S. 1996. Aquatic Hymenoptera. In R.W. Merrit & K.W. Cummins (eds.), An introduction to the aquatic insects of North America. Kendall-Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, 862p.
• Noyes, J.S. 2003. Universal Chalcidoidea database. (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/chalcidoids/index.html). Last accessed 8 December 2007.
• Triapitsyn, S.V. 1997. The genus Anagrus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) in America south of the United States: A review. Ceiba 38: 1-12.
• Triapitsyn, S.V. 2000 (1999). A review of the species of Anagrus Haliday, 1833 (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), collected by A. A. Ogloblin in Argentina. Russian Entomol. J. 8 : 213-222.
• Triapitsyn, S.V. 2002. Descriptive notes on a new and other little known species of Anagrus Haliday, 1833 (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) from the New World tropics and subtropics. Entomotropica 17: 213-223.
• Triapitsyn, S.V. & J.W. Beardsley. 2000. A review of the Hawaiian species of Anagrus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae). Proc. Hawaiian Entomol. Soc. 34: 23-48.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  16 Jan 2009
• Date of issue
  Dec 2008

History

• Accepted
  11 Oct 2008
• Received
  14 Dec 2007