The genus Gasteruption Latreille, 1796 (Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae) in the Czech Republic and Slovakia: distribution, checklist, ecology, and conservation status Author Bogusch, Petr text Zootaxa 2021 2021-02-24 4935 1 1 63 journal article 7438 10.11646/zootaxa.4935.1.1 5ec55ddd-306e-45a9-9925-296caf2c9bf6 1175-5326 4559034 29188279-3AC9-493D-9146-7A8F89F8991A Gasteruption freyi (Tournier, 1877) Figs. 61–69 . For synonymy see van Achterberg & Talebi (2014) . Diagnosis: The body length of the female is 10–13 mm , ovipositor length 2.9–3.6 mm . Total length of males is 9–11 mm . Species with a short ovipositor, 1.2–1.5× as long as third tibia. The end of the ovipositor sheath is black. In general, it is very similar to G. assectator but differs by the well-developed, although narrow occipital carina. The sculpture of mesonotum is finely rugose but coarser than of most specimens of G. assectator . Third tibia and tarsus are dark brown or black, without a light circular spot subbasally ( van Achterberg & Talebi 2014 ). Distribution: ( Fig. 69 ): European species. Recorded mostly from central and south Europe: Austria , Belgium , Bulgaria , Croatia , Czech Republic , Germany , Hungary , Italy , Netherlands , Poland , Portugal , Russia , Spain , Slovakia , Switzerland ( Ferrière 1946 ; Šedivý 1958 ; Oehlke 1984 ; Madl 1990 ; Pagliano & Scaramozzino 2000 ; van Achterberg 2013 , 2019 ; Strumia & Pagliano 2014 ; van Achterberg & Talebi 2014 ; Žikić et al. 2014 ; Madl & Mitroiu 2019 , Wiśniowski 2020 , and personal records). Also known from Turkey and Morocco ( van Achterberg & Talebi 2014 , Özbek 2020 , and personal records). Šedivý (1958 ; 1989 ) recorded this species both from the Czech Republic ( Bohemia and Moravia ) and from Slovakia . A very rare species recorded especially from steppe habitats and loess walls. Recorded from 21 localities in the Czech Republic , however, all findings are dated prior to 1990, except one record from loess steppe near Hradčany in central Bohemia from 2011. It was not recently recorded from Moravia . From Slovakia it was recorded from 10 localities, and only three finds from the southernmost parts of the country are new (two specimens from Virt and one from Číčov) ( Tab. 2 ). FIGURES 61–68. Gasteruption freyi (Tournier, 1877) . 61—female, lateral habitus, 62—male, lateral habitus, 63—female, lateral head, 64—female, frontal head, 65—female, dorsal head, 66—female, lateral mesosoma, 67—female, dorsal mesosoma, 68—female, third leg. Scale bars represent 1 mm. Biology: Occurring from June to August. Hylaeus pectoralis is recorded as the main host ( Ferrière 1946 ; Malyshev 1966; Oehlke 1984 ; Westrich 1989 ; Orlovskyté et al . 2018 ), although this species is a specialised bee occurring in wetlands and reed beds ( Bogusch et al. 2018 ) and is very unlikely to be a host of G. freyi . van Achterberg & Talebi (2014) reported Hylaeus spp. as hosts of this species. In my opinion, G. freyi is probably a parasite in nests of ground–nesting species of Hylaeus or similar hosts from the family Halictidae like Gasteruption hastator . Conservation: This species has the biggest loss of localities among all Gasteruption recorded from the Czech Republic and Slovakia . It is certainly bound on steppic habitats and loess walls, and negatively affected by the overgrowing and changes of these habitats into forest-steppes, fields, meadows and forests. Red List Category: CR—critically endangered ( Tab. 2 ).