Apolophus borealis Townes, 1971

Broad, Gavin R. & Shaw, Mark R., 2005, The species of four genera of Metopiinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) in Britain, with new host records and descriptions of four new species, Journal of Natural History 39 (26), pp. 2389-2407 : 2390-2391

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222930500102074

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03AB8B53-FFBE-D876-FE22-FB01FD45F95D

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Apolophus borealis Townes
status

 

Apolophus borealis Townes

Diagnosis

In the British fauna, Apolophus borealis is recognizable by the clypeus and face forming a continuous, moderately convex surface ( Figure 2 View Figures 2–5 ); thin mandibles with the lower tooth shorter than the upper ( Figure 2 View Figures 2–5 ); lower face elongate, with long malar space ( Figures 2, 3 View Figures 2–5 ); quadrate areolet; triangular, fairly long hypopygium, reaching to the end of the metasoma ( Figure 4 View Figures 2–5 ); and deep glymmae on the first tergite. The habitus of the genus is illustrated in Figure 5 View Figures 2–5 .

Biology

1♀ and 2 „ specimens of A. borealis were reared from pupae of Schreckensteinia festaliella (Hübner) ( Lepidoptera : Schreckensteiniidae ) collected as larvae on Rubus .

Material examined

England, UK: 1♀, Leicester, September 1973 (J. Owen) (AEI); 2 „„, Cornwall, Marsland Mouth, SS2117, ex Schreckensteinia festaliella (Hübner) , coll. 14 June 1998, em. July 1998 (J. L. Gregory) (NMS); 1♀, Cornwall, Truro/Tregony, SW8844 ex S. festaliella on Rubus fruticosa agg., coll. 11 October 1998, em. 26 November 1998 (J. L. Gregory) (NMS).

Comments

Although Townes (1971) had tentatively included it in Metopiinae , Porter (1998) suggested that Apolophus may belong in the Mesochorinae, and indeed the shape of the hypopygium and areolet are very mesochorine-like, with the configuration of the posterior end of the metasoma closely resembling that of Varnado Wahl (illustrated by Wahl 1993). However, as pointed out by Gauld and Sithole (2002), the fore and mid tarsal segments of Apolophus are foreshortened ( Figure 3 View Figures 2–5 ), as in Metopiinae , and Gauld and Sithole (2002) suggest that Apolophus is a rather plesiomorphic member of the Metopiinae . We can now confirm that A. borealis is a primary larval–pupal parasitoid of Lepidoptera , as are other metopiines. In addition to the previous British record ( Owen et al. 1981), A. borealis has now been recorded from Germany, Austria, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the USA ( Townes 1971; Yu and Horstmann 1997; Horstmann 2001), whilst further, mostly undescribed, species of Apolophus are known from South and Central America ( Townes 1971; Porter 1998; Gauld and Sithole 2002).

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hymenoptera

Family

Ichneumonidae

Genus

Apolophus

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