Cheiloneurusflaccus (Walker, 1847) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), new to New Zealand
Author
Thorpe, Stephen E.
text
Biodiversity Data Journal
2013
1
958
958
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.1.e958
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.1.e958
1314-2828-1-958
Rank: SpeciesType of treatment: Redescription or species observationextantHabitat: terrestrialRoot classification: 8
Cheiloneurus flaccus (Walker, 1847)
Materials
Type status:
Other material
Occurrence: recordedBy:
Stephen Thorpe
; individualCount:
2
; sex:
female
; Location: country:
New Zealand
; verbatimLocality: Tamaki Campus of University of Auckland; verbatimLatitude:
36.88661S
; verbatimLongitude:
174.85253E
; Event: eventDate:
20 April 2013
; Record Level: institutionCode:
Auckland Museum
Description
On 20 April 2013, while looking for insects in swards of long grass on the Tamaki Campus of the University of Auckland, I noticed two specimens of an unusual looking encyrtid. I collected one of the two specimens (see Figs 1, 2), and identified it as
Cheiloneurus flaccus
, using the redescription by
Guerrieri and Viggiani (2005)
.
Cheiloneurus flaccus
is a distinctive species, quite different to the two congeneric species already known from N.Z. The antenna, in particular, is distinctive, with the first segment of the funicle much longer than the pedicel (see Fig. 2). The species is known to be a parasitoid of dryinids. The site where I found
Cheiloneurus flaccus
also abounds with dryinids belonging to two species of
Gonatopus
. Two other species of dryinid (
Bocchus thorpei
, and
Dryinius koebelei
) also occur on the campus. I recommend that
Cheiloneurus flaccus
be added to the New Zealand Organisms Register (NZOR) as exotic, present in the wild.