Rhoptromeris rufiventris (Giraud, 1860)

Costa Baião, Guilherme & Forshage, Mattias, 2018, Revision of the West Palaearctic species of Rhoptromeris Förster, 1869 (Hymenoptera: Figitidae: Eucoilinae), Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 52 (17 - 20), pp. 1201-1224 : 1221

Rhoptromeris rufiventris (Giraud, 1860)

( Figure 5i )

Diagnosis

Body brown, anteroventral portion of metasoma with a reddish tinge, this colour more pronounced on females. The species is most similar to R. macaronesiensis sp. nov., from which it can be distinguished by the absence of the posterior incision of the metapleura. R. ru fi ventris can further be separated from R. nigriventris by the pronotal fovea fused medially into a continuous furrow (separated by a medial bridge in R nigriventris ), narrow scutellar fovea and very short scutellum.

Several studied specimens exhibited a mix of diagnostic characters of R. nigriventris and R. ru fi ventris, and more extensive molecular studies could be useful to better elucidate the relationship between both species.

Redescription

Female: Compound eyes small. Pronotal fovea fused medially forming a transverse furrow. Antennae approximately 0.7 times body length, club 7-segmented. Dorsal scutellar surface smooth, scutellar plate narrow. Scutellum short, sloping steeply posteriorly after the scutellar plate. Anteroventral cavity of metapleura absent, posterior incision of metapleura absent. Wings narrow.

Male unknown.

Distribution

Widespread throughout Europe. Records listed here follow Fauna Europaea and Nordlander (1978), with additions by the present authors. EUROPE: Austria, Spain and Sweden.

Biology

Rhoptromeris ru fi ventris has been collected by sweeping on lawns, and at least one specimen was captured in a pitfall trap placed in an oat field ( Nordlander 1978). Probably a parasitoid of grass-inhabiting Chloropidae ( Nordlander 1978) .

Figures

Figure 5. Habitus of Rhoptromeris heptoma (a: female, b: male), Rhoptromeris villosa (c: female, d: male), Rhoptromeris strobigena (e: female, f: male), Rhoptromeris nigriventris (g: female, h: male) and Rhoptromeris rufiventris (i: female).