Choeras ciscaucasicus (Tobias, 1971)

Hoecherl, Amelie, Shaw, Mark R., Boudreault, Caroline, Rabl, Dominik, Haszprunar, Gerhard, Raupach, Michael J., Schmidt, Stefan, Baranov, Viktor & Fernandez-Triana, Jose, 2024, Scratching the tip of the iceberg: integrative taxonomy reveals 30 new species records of Microgastrinae (Braconidae) parasitoid wasps for Germany, including new Holarctic distributions, ZooKeys 1188, pp. 305-386 : 305

Choeras ciscaucasicus (Tobias, 1971)

Material examined.

Czech Republic: South Moravia, Obora Soutok, Lanzhot , 48.69, 16.945, 165 m, ex. Sterrhopterix fusca , 09.v.2014, leg. P. Drozd, BC- ZSM-HYM-23872-B02 ; Germany: Bavaria: Aub , 49.542, 10.053, 316 m, canopy fogging, 10.vii.2020, leg. B. Leroy, ZSM-HYM-42392-B10; Bad Windsheim, 49.482, 10.468, 382 m, canopy fogging, 3.vii.2019, leg. B. Leroy, ZSM-HYM-33158-H02; Iphofen, 49.646, 10.315, 355 m, canopy fogging, 2.vii.2019, leg. B. Leroy, ZSM-HYM-33158-H10; Theres, 49.997, 10.412, 275 m, canopy fogging, 2.vii.2019, leg. B. Leroy, ZSM-HYM-33159-A07 .

Geographical distribution.

PAL.

PAL- Czech Republic*, Germany*, Lithuania, Russia (AD, PRI).

Molecular data.

BIN: BOLD:ACU3996.

Host information.

Host of type unknown; also Psychidae *: Sterrhopterix fusca * (Haworth, 1809).

Notes.

This species is morphologically very distinct from all other Palaearctic species of Choeras and can be identified by the combination of the following characters: T1 strongly narrowing; ovipositor sheaths short, ~ ½ length of metatibia; propodeum smooth and shiny; T1 and T2 smooth, with only slight wrinkles on the posterior half of T1. Our German specimens keyed out as Choeras ciscaucasicus in all keys that we used ( Papp 1983; Tobias 1986; van Achterberg 2002; Kotenko 2007). One Czech Republic specimen stored at the ZSM (BC- ZSM-HYM-23872-B02) was reared from Sterrhopterix fusca ( Psychidae ) and represents the first host associated with Choeras ciscaucasicus . This species is illustrated in Figs 5 , 6 .

Figures

Figure 5. Choeras ciscaucasicus (Tobias, 1971), female (ZSM-HYM- 42392 - B 10) A lateral view B wing C mesosoma D metasoma E head frontal view F propodeum. Length of the specimen: 2.85 mm.

Figure 6. Choeras ciscaucasicus (Tobias, 1971), male (ZSM-HYM- 33159 - A 07) A lateral view B mesosoma C metasoma D wing. Length of the specimen: 2.65 mm.