Meteorus ictericus

Meteorus ictericus (Nees von Esenbeck)

Fig. 70, 71, 74, 100

Bracon ictericus Nees von Esenbeck, 1811.22 Syntypes ♀, Germany (destroyed).

Ichneumon minutor Thunberg, 1822.266. Holotype ♀ (UDE, Uppsala) Synonymized by Roman 1912:267.

Zele ephippium Curtis, 1832: folio 415. Syntypes, Great Britain:’ Coomb Wood’ (NMV, Melbourne). Synonymized by Curtis 1837.

Perilitus xanthomelas Wesmael, 1835:29. Lectotype ♂, Belgium: Brussels (IRSNB, Brussels). Synonymized by Fischer, 1970b:263.

Meteorus confinis Ruthe, 1862:18. Lectotype ♀, Germany: Ruthe coll. (BMNH, London). Synonymized by Huddleston, 1980:34.

Meteorus fallax Ruthe, 1862:18. Lectotype ♀, Germany: Ruthe coll. (BMNH, London). Synonymized by Huddleston, 1980:34.

Meteorus pleuralis Ruthe, 1862:19. Lectotype ♀, Germany: Ruthe coll. (BMNH, London). Synonymized by Huddleston, 1980:34.

Meteorus liquis Ruthe, 1862:20. Lectotype ♀, Germany: Ruthe coll. (BMNH, London). Synonymized by Huddleston, 1980:34.

Meteorus consors Ruthe, 1862:44. Lectotype ♀, Germany: Ruthe coll. (BMNH, London) examined. Synonymized by Fischer, 1970b:263.

Meteorus crassicrus Thomson, 1895:2154. Lectotype ♀, Sweden: Skåne, Arrie (MZLU, Lund)—examined

Meteorus lophyriphagus Fahringer in Schönwiese, 1934:495. Holotype ♀, Austria (IFF, Vienna)

Meteorus adoxophyesi Minamikawa, 1954:41. Holotype ♀, Japan: Kanaya Shizuoka-ken, 10.iv.1948 (Sonan) (NIAS, Yatabe) Synonymized by Huddleston, 1980:34.

Diagnosis: Meteorus ictericus is most similar to M. ruficeps but the latter species has converging eyes, whereas the eyes of M. ictericus are only slightly converging. M. ictericus can sometimes be hard to separate from M. pendulus but M. ictericus has whitish hairs between the eyes and the clypeus (absent in M. pendulus), rugose glymmae (smoother in M. pendulus) and longer ovipositor (2.5–3.0 times length of petiolar tergum in M. ictericus, 1.5–2.0 times petiolar tergum in M. pendulus).

Studied material: ~ 200 specimens.

Description: Size about 4.5–5.5mm. Antennal articles 26–33, long. Head strongly contracted behind the eyes. Ocelli large, OOL=1.0–1.5, protuberant, the ocellar area raised and there is a pit in front of anterior ocelli, the size of the pit varies. Eyes large, protuberant, inner margins converging very slightly. Malar space short, at most equal to half basal breadth of mandible. Face often only slightly raised medially. Clypeus narrower than face, protuberant. Tentorial pits small. Mandibles moderately twisted, short and rather stout. Precoxal sulcus foveolate, narrow. The propodeum is excavated with a strong medial transverse carina marking the excavation, the weak medial longitudinal carina is surrounded by an area on both sides with smooth or very faint structure. Petiolar tergum long, slender with distinct dorsal pits and rugose glymmae. Ovipositor long, 2.5–3.0 times length of petiolar tergum, stout. Legs long, slender; hind coxa smooth, tarsal claws strongly bent and with a large basal lobe. Colour varying. Males look the same as females, the only one we studied had antennae with 28 articles. Males are very rare and only one was found in the SMTP.

Distribution: Palearctic. Country records: Armenia; Australia; Austria; Azerbaijan; Belarus; Belgium; Bulgaria; China; Croatia; Czechoslovakia; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Hungary; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Japan; Kazakhstan; Korea; Latvia; Lithuania; Moldova; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Romania; Russia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Sweden; Switzerland; Turkey; USA; Ukraine; United Kingdom; Yugoslavia.

Biology: Meteorus ictericus is readily caught in Malaise Traps but is also attracted to light. Host records include 14 different lepidopteran families, but the majority of records involve the Tortricidae (Huddleston 1980, Yu et al. 2005). We found 89 specimens (only one male) within the SMTP and they were caught in forests, both deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests, though with a slight preference towards spruce forests. The period of flight seems to be from June to October.