Monolexis fuscicornis Foerster, 1863

Saleh, Alaa T. & Gadallah, Neveen S., 2024, Parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Doryctinae) reared from grape cane borer beetle Amphicerus bimaculatus (Olivier) (Bostrichidae) inhabiting pomegranate trees Punica granatum L. (Lythraceae) in Syria, new records and new tritrophic associations, Journal of Natural History 58 (13 - 16), pp. 449-470 : 463-467

Monolexis fuscicornis Foerster, 1863

( Figures 11A–F , 12A , 13A–E )

Monolexis fuscicornis Foerster, 1863, p. 237 , sex not indicated.

Material examined. 22♀, 55♂.

Diagnosis. Female: body length: 2.0– 3.75 mm (excluding ovipositor).

Body red brown, with legs pale brown to yellow, ovipositor sheath dark brown ( Figure 11A ); antenna with basal nine segments pale brown, rest dark brown ( Figure 11E ); Forewing indistinctly darkened, with pterostigma dark brown throughout ( Figure 13D ); head transverse, finely transversely striated all over (vertex, dorsally and face) ( Figure 11C, D ); occipital carina present dorsally, incomplete laterally, not reaching hypostomal carina; antenna 24–25-segmented, 0.86× as long as body, F1 about as long as to slightly shorter than F2 ( Figure 11E ); dorsal surface of mesoscutum distinctly raised above pronotum in lateral view ( Figure 13B ), rugose; notauli deep, rugose, Y-shaped, converging onto a rugose area ( Figure 13A ); metasomal T1 slightly longer than apical width, T1 (entirely) and T2 largely to completely longitudinally ridged, rest of tergites smooth and shiny ( Figure 12A ); ovipositor sheath distinctly longer than metasoma, (1.29×) ( Figures 11A , 12A ). Forewing ( Figure 13D ) with marginal cell relatively long, reaching slightly before wing apex; vein r-m absent; r issuing from middle of pterostigma, 0.23× as long as 3-SR+SR1; vein M+ CU1 distinctly curved; vein 1CU1 slightly postfurcal to interstitial with cu-a; vein 3-M membranous at apical half, distinctly divergent towards wing apex; hindwing ( Figure 13E ) with M+ CU 1.38× as long as 1-M; transverse anal vein well-developed, interstitial; hind coxa with basoventral tooth ( Figure 13C ); hind basitarsus about 0.53× as long as following tarsomeres combined ( Figure 13C ).

Male. Body length: 2.3–3.5 mm. Resembles the female except for the following: Body darker in colour in some specimens ( Figure 11B ); antenna 19-segmented, with scape, pedicel and first three flagellomeres red, rest of flagellum dark brown, F1 shorter than F2 (0.8×) ( Figure 11F ); pterostigma 2.5–3.0× as long as its maximum width; vein M+ CU1 nearly straight.

Distribution. Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, former Czechoslovakia, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Israel-Palestine, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA ( Ghahari et al. 2022), Syria (new record).

Host records. Amphicerus bimaculatus (Olivier) ( Bostrichidae ) on Punica granatum L. ( Belokobylskij and Tobias 1986; Halperin 1986 as Schistocerus bimaculatus ; present study); Chaetoptelius vestitus (Mulsant and Rey) ( Curculionidae ) on Pistacia vera L., Enneadesmus trispinosus (Olivier) ( Bostrichidae ) on Tamarix sp. ( Halperin 1986; Papp 1989); Heterobostrychus brunneus (Muray) ( Bostrichidae ) on Triplochiton scleroxylon K. Schum. , Lyctus parallelocolis Blackburn ( Bostrichidae ) on Corymbia maculata (Hook) ; Scobicia chevrieri (Villa and Villa) ( Bostrichidae ) on Ceratonia siliqua L. and on Pistacia vera L.; Sinoxylon ceratoniae (Linnaeus) ( Bostrichidae ) on Cercis siliquastrum L. ( Halperin 1986); Laemophloeus capensis (Waltl) ( Laemophloeidae ) ( Rühl 1911; Tobias et al. 1995); Lyctus brunneus (Stephens) ( Bostrichidae ) on Xanthophyllium actandrum (F. Muell.), Minthea rugicollis (Walker) ( Bostrichidae ) ( Nixon 1943); Lyctus linearis (Goeze) ( Bostrichidae ) ( Graham 1965); Lyctus carbonarius (Waltl) ( Bostrichidae ) ( Beardsley 1961 as L. planicollis ); Mesosa curculionoides (L.) ( Cerambycidae ) ( Tobias et al. 1995); Philoeotribus scaraboeoides (Bernard) ( Curculionidae ) on Ceratonia siliqua L. ( Russo 1938); Sinoxylon sexdendatum Olivier ( Bostrichidae ) ( Rühl 1911); Sternidius alpha (Say) ( Cerambycidae ) on Robinia pseudoacacia L. ( Chittenden 1893); and Trogoxylon parallelopipedum (Melsheimer) ( Bostrichidae ) ( Marsh 1979); Trogoxylon impressum (Comolli) ( Bostrichidae ) ( Özgen et al. 2018).

Comments. Monolexis fuscicornis is here recorded for the first time for the Syrian fauna. Characters of the Syrian specimens of M. fuscicornis agree with Tobias et al.’s key (1995, p. 57, couplet 1), but differs in having antennal F1 about as long as F 2 in some specimens ( Figure 11E ) (F1 shorter than F 2 in Tobias et al. 1995). Wings agree with Belokobylskij et al. (2004b, p. 128, fig. 137). Based on Nixon (1943, p. 261, 202) for M. atis and M. sorus (both are synonymised with M. fuscicornis ), the Syrian specimens agree more with M. atis . It differs from M. atis in having antenna 24–25-segmented (26-segmented in M. atis ). On the other hand, it differs from M. sorus in the following combination of characters: antenna 24–25-segmented (19–21 segments in M. sorus ); mesopleuron smooth over most of its surface ventrally, faintly transversely ridged at upper surface ( Figure 13B ) (smooth over most of its surface in M. sorus ); T1 about as long as its apical width ( Figure 12A ) (1.5× as long as apical width in M. sorus ). The Syrian specimens also resemble the Turkish ones ( Özgen et al. 2018) except the ratio of the length of T1 to its width, which is either as long as its apical width or slightly wider than its length in the Syrian specimens (slightly longer than apical width in the Turkish specimens). The lateral habitus of Syrian species ( Figure 11A ) resembles that of the Turkish female (see Özgen et al. 2018, p. 128, fig. 3).

On the examination of the types of M. atis Nixon and M. fuscicornis , as well as a large number of specimens from many Australasian localities, it was found that they are the same species; consequently, M. atis was synonymised with M. fuscicornis by Belokobylskij (1998).

Figures

Figure 11. Monolexis fuscicornis Foerster,1863: (A) lateral habitus of female; (B) dorsal habitus of male; (C) frontal view of head (female); (D) dorsal view of head (female); (E) female antenna; (F) male antenna.

Figure 12. Monolexis fuscicornis Foerster, 1863: (A) dorsal view of metasoma (female).

Figure 13. Monolexis fuscicornis Foerster, 1863 (female): (A) dorsal view of mesosoma; (B) lateral view of mesosoma; (C) hind leg; (D) forewing; (E) hindwing.