Meteorus salicorniae Schmiedeknecht, 1897

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 : 69

Meteorus salicorniae Schmiedeknecht

Fig. 65 , 124

Meteorus salicorniae Schmiedeknecht, 1897:189 . Lectotype ♀, Germany: Artern (ZMHB, Berlin).

Meteorus ocellatus Watanabe, 1951:45 . Holotype ♀, Japan: Kyushu Hikosan, 17.v.1948 (Yasumatsu) (EI, Sapporo), synonymized by Huddleston, 1980:48.

Diagnosis: Meteorus salicorniae has four characteristics of the head that are very distinctive: the protruding face, the depression in the frons, the transverse face and the shape of the antennae. The only species in the Western Palearctic with a similarly protruding face is M. micropterus , but M. micropterus has a subcubic face, not transverse, and the antennae are only slightly tapering to the apex, not strongly so as in M. salicorniae .

Studied material: ~ 10 specimens.

Description: Size 4–5mm. Antennal articles 33–35. The articles are thick at base and strongly tapering to apex. The antennae are set in a depression in the frons. Ocelli small, OO= 2.5–3.5. Eyes small and not convergent. Face protuberant. Malar space slightly longer than the basal breadth of mandible. Face transverse, about twice as broad as high, minutely punctured. Clypeus protuberant and not as broad as face. Mandibles large, not twisted. Precoxal sulcus very deep. Propodeum high, rounded with diffuse carinae though strongly reticulate-rugose. Petiolar tergum with small but distinct dorsal pits. Ovipositor about 2.5 times the length of petiolar tergum. The ovipositor sheaths with erect long setae. Colour testaceous.

Distribution: Western and Eastern Palearctic. Country records: Austria; Bulgaria; Croatia; Czechoslovakia; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Italy; Japan; Korea; Romania; Switzerland; Turkey; Yugoslavia.

Biology: M. salicorniae is recorded as a parasitoid of the lepidopteran family Pyralidae ( Yu et al. 2005) .

Figures

FIGURES 65–72. Characters used in key to species. 65) lateral view of metasomal part with ovipositor of M. salicorniae, 66) lateral view of the head of M. obfuscatus, 67) habitus of M. hirsutipes, 68) lateral view of mesosoma of M. eklundi sp.nov. 69) lateral view of mesosoma of M. subtilisulcus sp.nov., 70) lateral view of petiolar tergum of M. ictericus, 71) dorso-lateral view of the pit in front of the anterior ocelli of M. ictericus, 72) lateral view of petiolar tergum of M. pendulus.

FIGURES 80–133. Anterior view of the head of Meteorus species (except for M. politutele, which is depicted in lateral view).