Zele Curtis

Stigenberg, Julia & Ronquist, Fredrik, 2011, Revision of the Western Palearctic Meteorini (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), with a molecular characterization of hidden Fennoscandian species diversity 3084, Zootaxa 3084 (1), pp. 1-95 : 40

Genus Zele Curtis

Zele Curtis 1832:415 . Type species: Zele testaceator Curtis, 1832 .

Zemiotes Foerster, 1862:253 . Type species: Perilitus albiditarsus Nees, 1834 . Synonymized by Van Achterberg 1979:376 Protelus Foerster, 1862:253 . Type species: Perilitus chrysophthalamus Nees 1811 .

Meteorus Haliday, 1835:24 . Type species: Ichneumon pendulator Latreille 1799 .

Diagnosis: The genus Zele is at a first glance most similar to Homolobinae . The larger and more common species ( Z. albiditarsus , Z. chlorophthalmus and Z. deceptor ), in particular, are similar in size and colour to Homolobinae , but the shape of the second abdominal (petiolar) tergum is a good diagnostic character: it is almost parallel and only slightly broadening in Homolobinae and widely broadening in Zele . The smaller species of Zele ( Z. annulicrus and Z. caligatus ) are more similar to species of the genus Meteorus , but are easily distinguished from the latter by the apically widened marginal cell of the hind wing ( Fig. 12a ), and the setose 3rd and following abdominal tergites. The marginal cell in Meteorus is apically narrowed and the abdominal tergites only have one row of setae each.

Distribution: Western and Eastern Palearctic, Nearctic, Neotropic, Oceanic, and Oriental regions.

Biology: The species of Zele mentioned here are all solitary except possibly Z. caligatus . As far as known, they all parasitize on Lepidoptera larvae. They are caught in Malaise traps from June to October. Some species are attracted to light.

Figures

FIGURES 10–17. Characters used in key to species. 10a) hind wing of Z. albiditarsus, 10b) hind wing of M. colon, 11) metaoma of Z. deceptor, 12) metasoma of M. pendulus, 13a) fore wing of Z. chlorophthalmus, 13b) fore wing of Z. albiditarsus, 14) mesosoma of Z. caligatus, 15) mesosoma of Z. deceptor, 16) fore femur and tibial spur of Z. albiditarsus, 17) fore femur and tibial spur of Z. deceptor.