Rhicnocoelia impar (Walker, 1836)

Haas, Michael, Baur, Hannes, Schweizer, Tanja, Monje, Juan Carlos, Moser, Marina, Bigalk, Sonia & Krogmann, Lars, 2021, Tiny wasps, huge diversity - A review of German Pteromalidae with new generic and species records (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea), Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 77092-77092 : 77092

Rhicnocoelia impar (Walker, 1836)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: BOLD Sample ID: SMNS_38987 ; recordedBy: T. Kothe; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; preparations: dry mounted; associatedSequences: GenBank: OL538055 ; Taxon: scientificName: Rhicnocoelia impar (Walker, 1836); Location : continent: Europe ; country: Germany; countryCode: DE; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; locality: Lkr. Waldshut, Herrischried , Kreuzfeld ; verbatimElevation: 998 m; decimalLatitude: 7.9662; decimalLongitude: 47.6572; Identification: identifiedBy: M. Haas; dateIdentified: 2021; Event: samplingProtocol: Sweep net; eventDate: 4/9/2013; Record Level: datasetID: SMNS_Hym_Pte_001924; institutionCode: SMNS Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: BOLD Sample ID: SMNS_40918 ; recordedBy: I. Wendt; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; preparations: dry mounted; associatedSequences: GenBank: OL538084 ; Taxon: scientificName: Rhicnocoelia impar (Walker, 1836); Location : continent: Europe ; country: Germany; countryCode: DE; stateProvince: Hessen; locality: Wetteraukreis , Dorn-Assenheim , Wiese ; decimalLatitude: 8.8492; decimalLongitude: 50.3468; Identification : identifiedBy: M. Haas; dateIdentified: 2021; Event : samplingProtocol: Sweep net; eventDate: 28/9/2014; Record Level: datasetID: SMNS_Hym_Pte_003853; institutionCode: SMNS

Ecological interactions

Parasite of

The host of the species is unknown, but probably a member of Diptera, associated with several plants: Asteraceae ( Onopordum nervosum Boiss.), Euphorbiaceae ( Euphorbia serrata L.), Poaceae ( Triticum sp.), Tamaricaceae ( Tamarix canariensis Willd.).

Distribution

Mediterranean, Europe incl. United Kingdom and Ireland, Canary Islands; Germany: Baden-Württemberg, Hessen

Notes

Newly-recorded genus and species in Germany. According to Graham (1969), the identification of the two species R. impar and R. constans is quite difficult. Rhicnocoelia constans (Walker, 1836) has already been recorded from Germany. Graham’s characters for the wing venation do not work perfectly to distinguish our collected specimens, but it is clear that both species are morphologically different with regards to the metasomal size and overall colouration. Specimens of both species are also distinguishable, based on DNA barcoding, in our comparisons. A key to males is not available, but male specimens in our sampling could be unequivocally matched to their female counterpart by molecular evidence. Images: Figs 3 , 10 .

Figures

Figure 3. Digital microscopic images of the male Rhicnocoelia impar (Walker, 1836) (Pte _ 003853). A Habitus lateral B Habitus dorsal C Head frontal D Head dorsal E Metanotum and propodeum dorsal F Mesosoma dorsal. Scale bars: A - B 200 µm.

Figure 10. Digital microscopic images of Rhicnocoelia impar (Walker, 1836) (♀, Pte _ 001924). A Habitus lateral B Habitus dorsal C Head frontal. Scale bars: A, B 500 µm; C 200 µm.