Rhoptromeris heptoma (Hartig, 1840)

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 : 1214

Rhoptromeris heptoma (Hartig, 1840)

( Figure 5a,b )

Diagnosis

Common species easily identified by the enlarged femora in the fore and middle legs and by antennal characters.

Redescription

Compound eyes relatively small. Male antennae dark, flagellomeres stout, F2 strongly enlarged and clearly longer than F1. Female antennae with F1 subequal to F2 and F3 subequal to F4, the first pair longer than the second. Pre club flagellomeres yellow or light brown, club distinct, 7-segmented, flagellomeres dark. Pronotal fovea separated by a medial bridge. Scutellar dorsal surface weakly sculptured. Anteroventral cavity of metapleura present, posterior incision of metapleura absent. Legs rather short, femora of fore and middle legs expanded. Wings relatively narrow.

Distribution

Very widespread species. Records listed here follow Fauna Europaea, Nordlander (1978) and Quinlan (1986) (African records), with additions by the authors. AFRICA: Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa. ASIA: China. EUROPE: Austria, British Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy (including Sardinia), Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia (uncertain: ‘USSR’ records), Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine.

Biology

Rhoptromeris heptoma is one of the main parasitoids of the agricultural pest Oscinella frit (Linnaeus, 1758) . Details about the interaction of R. heptoma with its host are given by Nordlander (1978). The species is readily collected in grassy areas ( 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).