Meteorus Haliday

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 : 43

Genus Meteorus Haliday

Meteorus Haliday, 1835 , (as subgenus of Perilitus ); Type species Ichneumon pendulator Latreille, 1799 , designated by Haliday in Westwood , 1840 .

Saprostichus Holmgren 1868, Type species: Saprostichus chinensis Holmgren 1868 , designated by Viereck 1914.

Pachythechus Cameron, 1912:84; Type species: Pachythechus ruficeps Cameron 1912 , designated by Viereck, 1914. ( Meteorus cameroni Shenefelt, 1969 , replacement name for ruficeps Cameron 1912 , preoccupied by M. ruficeps Nees, 1834 ).

Diagnosis: The species of Meteorus vary greatly in size from 2–10 mm. They are easily distinguished from other braconids by the petiolate second abdominal tergum in combination with the second submarginal cell in the fore wing and the presence of only one row of setae (dorsally) on each abdominal tergite from the 3 rd and onwards. The larger species might at first glance be mistaken for members of Zele but are distinguished from the latter by the single row of setae on the adominal tergites.

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

Biology: Meteorus contains both solitary and gregarious species. They parasitize on both Lepidoptera and Coleoptera . Some species have been used in biological control programmes ( Huddleston 1980, Yu et al. 2005).