Gelis festinans (Fabricius, 1798)

Verheyde, Fons, Hoekstra, Paul, Libert, Pierre-Nicolas, Meijer, Hilco, Ketelaere, Augustijn De, Vandaudenard, Thibaud, Belgers, Dick & Brosens, Edwin, 1880, Two hundred and five ichneumonid wasps reported for the first time in Belgium and the Netherlands (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), Belgian Journal of Entomology 122, pp. 1-142 : 93-94

Gelis festinans (Fabricius, 1798)

This certainly is a more challenging apterous Gelis sp. to identify. Measuring only between 1.7–2.5 to rarely 3.3 mm, it is a small species as well. G. festinans often is completely black, with only marginal brown or orange markings. Its scutellum is not or only indistinctly separated from its mesoscutum, its first abdominal segment is about as long as wide apically (and apically broad) and the laterotergite of the second segment is not separated from the tergite ( SCHWARZ, 1995). Additionally, its eyes are only very slightly protruding and its first flagellar segment is yellowish basally. As this species is hard to identify from pictures, only a limited amount of certain observations has been integrated here. G. festinans has a wide host range with arachnids like Erigone atra Blackwall, 1833 ( Araneae : Linyphiidae ) and hymenopterans like Diplolepis rosae (Linnaeus, 1758) (Parasitica: Cynipidae ) (see SCHWARZ, 2002 and YU et al., 2012).

First report for Belgium; confirmed in the Netherlands.

MATERIAL EXAMINED:

BELGIUM: • 1 ♀; Spa (LG); 50°29’24”N 5°52’35”E; 7/x/2008; C. Devillers leg.; field observation; M. Schwarz det. (ObsID: 166555068) • 1 ♀; Westrozebeke , Polderbos (WVL); 50°56’31”N 3°00’34”E; 13/vi/2020; F. Verheyde leg.; field observation; F. Verheyde det. coll. (ObsID: 193950325) .

THE NETHERLANDS: • 1 ♀; Almere (FL); 52°22’43”N 5°14’12”E; 6/xi/2019; P. Hoekstra leg.; coll . PH; field observation; P. Hoekstra det. (ObsID: 182029665). • 1 ♀; Ede (GE) ;

52°01’33”N 5°40’31”E; 29/v/2020; K. Verhoogt leg.; coll. PH; field observation; P. Hoekstra det. (ObsID: 193305356) .