Coelichneumon singularis Berthoumieu, 1892

Cheraghi, A. & Esfandiari, M., 2016, The First Rearing Of Coelichneumon singularis (Berthoumieu, 1892) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) From The Sugarcane Borer Sesamia Cretica Lederer, 1857 (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), Far Eastern Entomologist 323, pp. 14-15 : 14-15

Coelichneumon singularis Berthoumieu, 1892

MATERIAL EXAMINED. Iran: Khuzestan Prov., Amir-Kabir Sugarcane Co., 7 m, 31°06'N 48°18'E, VIII-IX 2015 , 25♀, 55♂ ; Debal-Khozaii Sugarcane Co., 8 m, 31°08'N 48°35'E, VIII-IX 2015 , 52♀, 46♂ .

DIAGNOSIS. Body length 10-14 mm, face width 1/1-1/2 × longer than its height, legs and metasomal segments brownish-red except dark red segment 1, lateral margin of scutellum white. Male. Reddish triangular clasper at tip of metasoam, metacoxa without scopa, pro- and mesocoxae more or less ivory, flagellum without ivory ring. Female. Ovipositor black, metacoxa ventrally with scopa, all coxae red, flagellum with an ivory ring.

BIOLOGY. After collecting pupa of Sesamia cretica in the field, the wasps emerged from it in the laboratory a few days later. Sesamia cretica is most important pest of sugarcane in south-western Iran and identification of the new parasite Coelichneumon singularis would be significant in biological control of this sugarcane borer. Further studies are needed to investigate the efficiency of this wasp in the field. Currently the most important method for the control of Sesamia cretica in Khuzestan is releasing the egg parasitoid Telenomus busseolae Gahan, 1922 ( Hymenoptera : Scelionidae ).