Enicospilus merdarius (Gravenhorst, 1829)

Johansson, Niklas, Ameri, Ali, Riedel, Matthias, Talebi, Ali Asghar & Ebrahimi, Ebrahim, 2021, Contribution to the Ophioninae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) of Iran with the description of 16 new species and an illustrated key to the Eremotylus of the Western Palaearctic, Zootaxa 5023 (2), pp. 151-206 : 163

Enicospilus merdarius (Gravenhorst, 1829)

Ophion merdarius Gravenhorst, 1829: 698 . Type lost.

Ophion tournieri Vollenhoven, 1879: 61 , pl. 39. Type lost.

Henicospilus rossicus Kokujev, 1907: 170 . Lectotype ♀ and paralectotype ♂ from Russia in ZIN, examined.

Enicospilus contributus Shestakov, 1926: 256 . Lectotype ♀ from Mongolia in ZIN, examined.

Material examined: IRAN: 1♀, West Azerbaijan Province, Rezaieh , 7 km Silvano, 22 Jul. 1976, 1660 m. a. s., Borumand / Pazuki leg. ( HMIM) ; 8♂♂, West Azerbaijan Province, Khoy, Firouragh , 38˚36’25.97"N, 44˚49’33.92"E, 8–20 Apr. 2019, 1278 m. a. s., Malaise trap, A. Ameri leg. ( HMIM) ; 9♂♂, 1♀, Ardebil Province, Meshkin Shahr , 38˚30’37.62"N, 47˚45’17.52"E, 16–30 Aug. 2015, 1750 m. a. s., Malaise trap, A. Ameri leg. ( HMIM) ; 1♀, 1♂, Zanjan Province and abad, 47˚59’21.87"E, 36˚48’27.73"N, 24 Jun. 2019, Sweepnet, A. Amiri leg. ( HMIM) ; 1♀, East Azerbaijan Province, Arasbaran, Protected area ( Kalaybar Aynalo ), 38˚54’10.62"N, 46˚47’0.74"E, 1263, m. a. s., Malaise trap, A. Ameri leg. ( HMIM) ; 1♀, Khorasan Province, Shomali-Ghuchan-Chakane, dga/ Pahne , 1780 m. a. s., 11–12 Jun. 2009, Mof. leg. ( HMIM) ; 1♂, East Azerbaijan Province, Khoda, Afarain, Gholi Biglo Olya , 39˚23’30.99"N, 47˚20’28.77"E, – 16 Jul. 2019, 678 m . a. s., Malaise trap, A. Ameri leg. ( HMIM) .

Remarks: Very similar to Enicospilus cruciator Viktorov , but with the ocelli touching the inner margin of the compound eye in the female and slightly narrower face in the male. Enicospilus merdarius is a widespread species in the Western Palaearctic, in Northern Europe mostly confined to coastal areas. Due to some unfortunate interpretation of type material, the name E. merdarius has widely been used for the species now known as Enicospilus adustus (Haller) ( Broad & Shaw 2016) . Broad and Shaw (2016) synonymized Enicospilus contributus Shestakov with the redefined E. merdarius , based on the synonymy proposed by Aubert (1962, 1964) and Viktorov, 1957, stating that the type could not be located at the time of the study. With the kind assistance of Dr. Andrey Khalaim at ZIN, the male type of E. contributus could be detected and the previously proposed synonymy is hereby confirmed.