Gryon misellum Haliday

Pintureau, B. & al-Nabhan, M., 2003, New data on the European species of three genera Scelionidae (Hymenoptera)., Zootaxa 238, pp. 1-12 : 2-5

Gryon misellum Haliday

Masner (1976, 1983) listed basalis Thomson , bicolor Ashmead , brevipennis Kieffer , foersteri Kieffer , investis Kieffer , opacus Thomson , pumilio Nees , sagax Kieffer and walkeri Kieffer as synonyms.

Material examined. One female collected by sweeping at Furnas, Island of S. Miguel , Azores, Portugal, on 14 July 1989 ; four females and 3 males collected in yellow pan traps: 3 females (1 female on 7 August 1991, 1 female on 8 August 1991 and 1 female on 10 September 1991) and 3 males (1 male on 28 June 1991, 1 male on 4 July 1991 and 1 male on 6 August 1991) at Venissieux , Rhone, France ; 1 female at Hog’s Head, Waterville , Kerry, Ireland, on 13 July 1994 .

The species has been recorded previously from the following North American, Australasian and European countries: Albania, Australia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, former Czechoslovakia, Finland, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Moldavia and Russia (Szabo 1966; Hellen 1971; Kozlov 1971, 1988; Masner 1983; Mineo 1989). Therefore, it is new for Portugal (Azores) and France.

Hosts are unknown.

Morphology. The species was redescribed by Masner (1961). Kozlov (1988), Kozlov and Kononova (1990) and Kononova (1992) illustrated male and female antennae and hind wing. Individuals (males and females) are often brachypterous. While the two collected females from Azores and Ireland showed normal wings, the three French females were brachypterous (Fig. 1A, B, D) and two out of the three French males were brachypterous(Fig. 1C, E). The normal wings of the third French male appear in figure 1F.

Variations in male antennae were recorded in the French population (Fig. 2A, B), the funicular segments being more or less elongated as illustrated to originally distinguish between the two now synonymous species G. misellum and G. investis (Kozlov & Kononova1990; Kononova 1992). The female antenna and male genitalia appear in figures 2C and 3A, respectively. Abdominal sculpture is variable in the species (Mineo 1980; Masner 1983) and a French male abdomen was thus also figured (Fig. 2D).