Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Braconidae

Paralipsis Foerster, 1863

Paralipsis Foerster, 1863: 248, 250; Starý 1958: 85; Mackauer 1968: 22; Takada 1976: 1. Type species: Aphidius enervis Nees, 1834 (by original designation).

Myrmecobosca Maneval, 1940: 9. Type species: Myrmecobosca mandibularis Maneval, 1940 (by original designation). Synonymised with Paralipsis Foerster, 1863, by Starý (1958).

Diagnosis.

Veins r + SR and 1-R1 of fore wing absent and if weakly indicated then continuous with postero-basal border of pterostigma (Fig. 1); pterostigma conspicuous and wide triangular (Figs 1, 14, 25); scapus much larger than pedicellus and apically widened (Fig. 4); first tergite parallel-sided or weakly widened posteriorly (Figs 3, 11, 19, 27); labial palp with 1 segment and maxillary palp with 2 segments; scutellum protuberant, but of ♀ of Paralipsis eikoae and of males flattened; mandible strongly narrowed and twisted apically, with two minute apical teeth and with fine ventral carina (Fig. 22); fore and middle coxa nearly triangularly enlarged (Fig. 21); precoxal sulcus absent; ventrally head with long combined occipital and hypostomal carina (Fig. 23); length of body 2.0-2.7 mm.

Biology.

Myrmecophylic endoparasitoids of root aphids ( Aphididae) (Maneval 1940; Hincks 1949, 1958; Starý 1958; Pontin 1960). Fore wing frequently mutilated, possibly by ants during their stay inside the ant nest.

Distribution.

Palaearctic; four species, of which two new to science.

Key to species of Paralipsis Foerster