Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) of Reunion Island: a catalogue of the local species, including 18 new taxa and a key to species
Author
Rousse, Pascal
Author
Gupta, Ankita
text
Zootaxa
2013
3616
6
501
547
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.3616.6.1
b0b459e7-66d3-4f39-9c2f-56b6c1e130de
1175-5326
217943
E1F586D6-28D6-445A-986F-5C08839E834E
Glyptapanteles subandinus
(Blanchard, 1947)
comb. nov.
(
Fig.
15
g–i)
Apanteles subandinus
Blanchard, 1947: 20
.
Diagnosis.
Mesopleuron strongly sculptured.
Hind
coxa dark brown to blackkish. Wing venation mostly translucent, pterostigma centrally unpigmented.
Description.
cf.
Blanchard, 1947: 20 for details.
Material examined
. 1Ƥ (CBGP 14764 RVA 471) Le Tampon / Piton Hyacinthe, alt.
1050m
,
II.1997
, on
Solanum tuberosum
, leg. Cirad.
Host records
.
Achyra bifidalis
(Fab.)
(
Lepidoptera
:
Pyralidae
),
Phthorimaea operculella
(Zeller)
and
Scrobipalpula absoluta
(Meyrick)
(
Lepidoptera
:
Gelechiidae
) on
Solanum tuberosum
.
Distribution records.
Australia
,
New Zealand
,
South Africa
and South
America
.
Reunion
(new record). Introduced into numerous countries for the biocontrol of
P. operculella
on potato crops.
Comments.
Introduced into
South Africa
(Annecke
et al.
1992),
Madagascar
(Appert
et al.
1969) and
Mauritius
(Bartlett
et al.
1978). Its presence in
Reunion
is therefore not surprising, though no official introduction has been recorded. Also introduced into
India
in
1944–1945
from South
America
, and later recovered (Rao
et al.
, 1971; Sankaran, 1974). The
holotype
of
A. subandinus
was kept by Blanchard in his personal collection and we could not examine it. The description is nevertheless clearly detailed and illustrated, making this species unambiguously belonging to the genus
Glyptapanteles
.
Genus
Microplitis
Förster
(Mason 1981)
Mesoscutum shining and densely sculptured, often with notauli. Posterior declivity of scutellum rugulose or punctate. Mesopleuron with epicnemial carina absent. Propodeum rather evenly curved and almost always completely rugose. Mid-longitudinal carina often present, areola absent. Fore wing with r–m present, the areolet closed. Vein R1 short, usually not extending beyond 0.6x the distance between the pterostigma and wing apex.
Hind
wing with vannal lobe convex and hairy throughout.
Hind
coxa small, not longer than tergite 1. Tergum 1 variable, apically narrowed to widened, usually sculptured. Following terga almost always smooth, tergum 2 rarely weakly sculptured. Tergum 3 always longer than tergum 2, their separation frequently not or poorly defined. Hypopygium usually rather small, sometimes rather elongated, occasionally truncate or medially emarginated, without median longitudinal crease. Ovipositor and sheaths projecting barely beyond apex of hypopygium, the sheaths with few hairs concentrated near apex.
Microplitis
parasitise macrolepidoptera, mainly
Noctuidae
. It is a large genus, though it appears far less diversified in tropics than in Holarctic region. The genus is well characterized by the combination of the closed areolet, the absence of epicnemial carina, the coarse sculpture of propodeum and the poor separation between terga 2–3.