Opius bellus Gahan, 1930

Marinho, Cláudia F., Costa, Valmir A. & Zucchi, Roberto A., 2018, Annotated checklist and illustrated key to braconid parasitoids (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) of economically important fruit flies (Diptera, Tephritidae) in Brazil, Zootaxa 4527 (1), pp. 21-36 : 27

Opius bellus Gahan, 1930

( Figure 2E )

Diagnosis. Occipital carina absent, labrum concealed by clypeus when mandibles closed, notauli and midpit absent, propodeum with strong median carina, hind tibia with no basal carina, apex and base of posterior tibiae black or yellow, wings infumate, stigma broad, fore wing with (RS+M)b present, 2 nd submarginal cell long 4-sided, hind wing with m-cu absent.

Comments. Opius bellus belongs to the subgenus Bellopius Wharton , which is constituted of Neotropical species associated with tephritids, and it is characterized by the absence of the occipital carina and notauli ( Wharton 1997). Opius bellus has dark-brown tibiae. In Brazil, some specimens have dark-brown tibiae and others have yellowish tibiae. These specimens were considered as Opius sp. aff. bellus for about two decades. However, based on geometric morphometry and molecular analyses, it was concluded that specimens with yellowish tibiae actually belong to O. bellus as well ( Marinho et al. 2014). Opius bellus is quite common in several fruit-fly surveys, recorded in 22 Brazilian states, and is predominant in the state Amazonas ( Canal et al. 1994, 1995) and Piauí ( Araújo et al. 2014, Vilanova et al. 2016, Souza et al. 2017). It parasitizes 19 species of Anastrepha , including some of economic importance, and C. capitata (see Zucchi & Moraes 2008; 2012).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Fruit fly braconid parasitoids. Doryctobracon crawfordi (A); D. fluminensis (B); D. whartoni (C); Fopius arisanus (D); Opius bellus (E);Utetes anastrephae (F) (figures are not on the same scale).