Cremnops desertor (Linnaeus)

Sharkey, Michael J. & Clutts, Stephanie A., 2011, A revision of Thai Agathidinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), with descriptions of six new species, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 22, pp. 69-132 : 88-89

Cremnops desertor (Linnaeus) Fig. 37

Ichneumon desertor Linnaeus 1758.

Agathis atricornis Smith 1874. Synonymized by Sharkey 1996. [BMNH, examined]

Bracon deflagrator Spinola 1808. Synonymized by Curtis 1837. [type presumably lost]

Cremnops alternans Enderlein 1920. Synonymized by Sharkey 1996. [MZPW, examined].

Cremnops lemniscatus Enderlein 1920. Synonymized by Sharkey 1996. [MZPW, examined].

Cremnops malayensis Bhat 1979. syn. n. [FSCA, examined]

Agathis nigritarsus Cameron 1899. syn. n.[OUMNH, examined], India.

Ichneumon purgator Fabricius 1793. Synonymized by Latreille1805. [type presumably lost]

Diagnosis.

This is a highly variable and widespread species. The fore wing varies from completely infuscate to mostly hyaline with dark and yellow bands. The images in the key (above) show a good range of variation. The combination of characters given in the key is sufficient to identify Thai specimens.

Notes.

Contrary to van Achterberg and Long (2010) we do not recognize the species status of Cremnops atricornis (Smith) but rather consider it to be a junior synonym of Cremnops desertor . The character that van Achterberg and Long used to separate eastern and western specimens of Cremnops desertor is the relative lengths of the fore tibia and tarsus. The first two specimens that we checked from Thailand fit their concept of the West Palearctic forms, and looking at all specimens from a large number of Oriental specimens the measurements are variable with no clear gap between long and short. Cremnops desertor has recently been found in North America. There is one specimen from Ottawa, Canada and one from Washington DC. These are in the Canadian National Collection in Ottawa and the US National Museum in Washington, respectively. Among the specimens of Cremnops desertor from Thailand one was particularly small, i.e., 5.4 mm rather than the average length of 6.8 mm. 28S sequence data of several specimens, including the smallest, were identical ( Fig. 2 ). A recently collected specimen of Cremnops desertor from Sweden differed in only 4 positions (~600 bps total) from the two Thai specimens that were checked ( Fig. 2 ). The specimen of Cremnops mekongensis , which is very similar morphologically to Cremnops desertor , differed in 11 sites in the 28S rDNA ( Fig. 2 ). There is no magic number as to how many site changes constitute a distinct species but we predict that as 28S sequence data are obtained for specimens of Cremnops desertor from sites between Europe and Thailand that there will be a grade in the 4 sites in which the 28S sequences differ.

GenBank accession.

H098: #JF506256. H8099: #JN019810. H294: #JN019811

Distribution.

Widespread over temperate and tropical Eurasia and, recently, accidentally introduced to eastern North America. Distribution map of Thai and Peninsular Malaysia specimens can be found at http://purl.org/thaimaps/desertor.

Examined specimens are in the following collections: BMNH, HIC, QSBG, CNC and UKM.

Figures

Figure 2. Bayesian phylogram inferred from 28 S (region D 2 - D 3) sequence data aligned by secondary structure. Bayesian analysis runtime = 736,000 generations (25 % burnin). Branch support: Bayesian posterior probabilities / bootstrap (1,000 replicates). (-) indicates bootstrap support below 60.

Figure 37. Cremnops desertor a lateral habitus b fore wing.