Psyllaephagus yaseeni Noyes

(Figs 1571-1576; Hab. E 234, G 235)

Psyllaephagus yaseeni Noyes, 1990:39-40. HolotypeE, Hawaii, NHMUK, examined.

Female (length about 0.8-1.3mm): head generally metallic green or blue-green, scrobes purple, mouth margin blue, mesoscutum bright metallic green, scutellum much less shiny metallic green, coppery in basal half or more; antenna (Fig. 1572) with scape dark brown, funicle generally slightly dusky orange, clava slightly darker dusky orange or testaceous orange; tegula brown; mesoscutum bright metallic green or blue-green, scutellum duller and largely coppery; femora dark brown; fore tibia yellow, with a faint, narrow, brown, subbasal ring, mid tibia yellow, with a well-marked, conspicuous, dark brown, subbasal ring, hind tibia almost entirely dark brown with only apical quarter yellow; head (Fig. 1574) about 2.5X as wide as frontovertex and about 3.1X as wide as mouth opening; frontovertex with shallow piliferous punctures, each a little larger than eye facet but somewhat obscured by the coarse, relatively deep, polygonally reticulate sculpture; ocelli forming an angle of about 90°, posterior ocellus a little closer to eye than occipital margin; pedicel and flagellum together shorter than head width; scrobes shallow, separated from anterior ocellus by slightly more than length of torulus; antenna (Fig. 1572) with scape about 4.3-4.6X as long as broad; clava with apex rounded; clypeal margin emarginate, straight; mandible with one tooth and a broad truncation; scutellum with deep, longitudinally striate-reticulate sculpture more or less arranged in whorls that is conspicuously deeper than sculpture on mesoscutum; marginal vein (Fig. 1576) a little less than 2X as long as broad and very slightly longer than frontovertex width; antenna (Fig. 1572) with pedicel clearly longer than F1, which is smaller than F2 and subquadrate, remaining funicle segments quadrate or transverse, linear sensilla on F3-F6; costal cell (Fig. 1573) with only a single line of setae dorsally, this hardly reaching more than half way to base of cell; dorsal surface of basal cell with not more than 50 setae, linea calva partially closed; Gt3 without a distinct, strongly reticulate area anteromedially; hypopygium Fig. 1577; ovipositor hidden, slightly longer than mid tibia, second valvifer with 5 or 6 subapical setae. Male (length about 0.8-1.2mm): generally similar to female but for colour and structure of antenna (Fig. 1571) and genitalia (Fig. 1575); face shining metallic green, scape yellow to brown; flagellum pale yellowish to testaceous-brown; posterior ocellus about equidistant from eye and occipital margin; F6 not more than 1.25X as long as broad; dorsal surface of basal cell with not more than 40 setae.

DISTRIBUTION. USA (Texas & Florida), Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Tobago, Anguilla, Costa Rica, Colombia and introduced into Hawaii, Kenya, Tanzania, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, China (Hainan) and New Caledonia (Noyes & Hanson, 1996; Napompeth, 1995; Kairo et al., 2003).

HOSTS. Psyllaephagus yaseeni is a solitary, internal parasitoid of first and second instar nymphs of Heteropsylla cubana (Crawford) (Murai, 1986, as Psyllaephagus sp near rotundiformis) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae). P. yaseeni has also been reared from an unidentified species of Heteropsylla on Mimosa invisa (Noyes, 1990), but in host specificity tests it did not attack Heteropsylla huasachae Caldwell and H. fusca Crawford (Murai, 1986). The species has been collected with H. curta Muddiman, Hodkinson & Hollis in Jamaica and has been reared from an unidentified psyllid on Cojoba arborea (Noyes & Hanson, 1996) and from Heteropsylla on Pithecelobium arboreum (see below).

BIOCONTROL. Between 1987 and 1996, Psyllaephagus yaseeni was introduced into Hawaii, Kenya, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and New Caledonia, in attempts to control Heteropsylla cubana Crawford, a pest of Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit (Fabales: Fabaceae) (see Noyes & Hayat, 1994; IIBC, 1993, Napompeth, 1995, Kairo et al., 2003). This plant is used commonly as cattle fodder, green manure, a shade plant for coffee and cocoa and as a nitrogen fixing plant in alley cropping. The parasitoid has become established in at least some countries, even spreading to adjacent countries and it at least partially responsible for effective control of the psyllid (IIBC, 1994; Napompeth, 1995), although studies in Thailand indicated that the parasitoid was not very effective (Geiger & Gutierrez, 2000).

MATERIAL EXAMINED.

Type material. HolotypeE: HAWAII, Oahu, Manoa, ex Heteropsylla cubana nymphs on Leucaena leucocephala, xi.1988 (G.Y. Funasaki). Paratypes: 68E, 33G from HAWAII, MEXICO, CUBA, HAITI, JAMAICA, TOBAGO and COLOMBIA. Holotype in NHMUK, see Noyes (1990) for a full list of type depositories.

Non type material. COSTA RICA, 1E, 1G, Guanacaste, Santa Rosa NP, H10, 26.iv-16.v.1987 (D. Janzen, I.D. Gauld); 1E, Alajuela, RF Arenal, Sect. la Peninsula, LN 271500 453800, #55166, 1-14.iii.2000 (G. Carballo); 3E, Heredia, Santo Domingo, INBio Parque, LN 217300 526200, 1100m, ii.2000 and iii-iv.2001 (R. Zuñiga); 1E, Heredia, Santo Domingo, INBio Parque, LN 526200 217400, 1100m, iii.2002 (J.A. Azofeifa, J.S. Noyes); 1E, Heredia, Santo Domingo, INBio Parque, LN 526200 217400, 1100m, 1-12.iv.2002 (D. Rubí, J.S. Noyes); 1E, Heredia, Santo Domingo, INBio Parque, LN 217300 526200, 1100m, 6.x.2002 (J.A. Azofeifa); 5E, 2G, San José, UCR Campus, 1100m, ex Heteropsylla on Pithecelobium arboreum, iii.1994 and iv.1994 (P. Hanson); 1E, Puntarenas, Pen. Osa, Puerto Jimenez, 8°32’N 83°19’W, iii.1991 (P. Hanson). Plus a further 40E, 16G from USA, MEXICO, JAMAICA, PUERTO RICO, ANGUILA, ST LUCIA, COSTA RICA, COLOMBIA and PHILIPPINES as detailed in Noyes & Hanson (1996). Material in NHMUK, INBio, and MZUCR.

COMMENTS. Psyllaephagus yaseeni can easily be confused with rotundiformis. Both sexes can be separated by the characters given in the key. The females can also be distinguished on the colour of the mid and hind tibia, relative length of the flagellum and setation of the fore wing. In yaseeni the mid tibia has a distinct dark brown, subbasal ring, the hind tibia has the basal three-quarters or so dark brown, the pedicel and flagellum combined are shorter than the width of the head and the costal cell of the fore wing has a dorsal line of setae present only in the apical half. In rotundiformis the mid tibia has the subbasal ring very indistinct or absent, the hind tibia has the dark brown area extending only about half-way along its length, the pedicel and flagellum combined are longer than the width of the head and the costal cell of the fore wing has a dorsal line of setae more or less along its length.