Meteorus obfuscatus

Meteorus obfuscatus (Nees von Esenbeck)

Fig. 66, 112

Bracon obfuscatus Nees von Esenbeck, 1811:22. Syntypes, Germany (destroyed).

Zele thoracicus Curtis, 1832: folio 415. Syntypes, Great Britain: England, Regent’s Park (NMV, Melbourne) synonymized by Haliday, 1835:31.

Perilitus formosus Wesmael, 1835:36. Lectotype ♀, Belgium: Liege, coll. Wesmael (IRSNB, Brussels), synonymized by Marshall, 1887:106.

Meteorus fodori Papp, 1973: 3 Holotype ♀, Yugoslavia: Montenegro, Bjela Gora, Grahovo, 1929 (Fodor) (HMHM, Budapest), synonymized by Huddleston, 1981:41. Male from same coll examined

Diagnosis: Meteorus obfuscatus is similar to M. cespitator and to M. hirsutipes but has a much shorter ovipositor (1.7–2.0 times petiolar tergum). The ovipositor is 3–4 times the petiolar tergum in M. cespitator and 2.2–2.5 times the petiolar tergum in M. hirsutipes.

Studied material: ~ 50 specimens.

Description: Size about 4–5mm. Antennae short, 23–29 articles, the basal articles about twice as long as broad, often shorter; the apical half are as long as broad. Head behind eyes contracted, rounded. Ocelli small, OOL=2.5. Eyes large, protuberant, slightly convergent. Malar space short, half the basal breadth of mandible. Face 1.5 times as broad as high, not strongly protuberant. Clypeus protuberant, slightly narrower than face sometimes with an impression in the medial part of the apical border. Tentorial pits small. Mandibles stout, moderately twisted. Precoxal sulcus deep and foveolate. Propodeum with distinct carinae, rugae in between. Petiolar tergum stout with distinct dorsal pits; generally somewhat raised medially. Ovipositor twice the length of petiolar tergum, slender, usually straight but in some down-curved. Legs long, slender; hind coxa smooth punctate; tarsal claws long, without a basal lobe but slightly swollen at base. Colour brownish black, legs always more or less yellow, prothorax usually orange-testaceous as well as sometimes antennae, head, mesothorax and abdomen. Male same as female, antennae longer, 29–32 articles.

Distribution: Palearctic. Country records: Belgium; Czechoslovakia; Finland; France; Germany; Hungary; Italy; Japan; Poland; Romania; Russia; Slovakia; Sweden; Switzerland; United Kingdom; Yugoslavia.

Biology: We found 3 specimens of M. obfuscatus within the SMTP. They were caught during August and September in an old heath with old beeches and in an old aspen forest. Host records of M. obfuscatus include five different coleopteran families: Cerambycidae, Erotylidae, Melandryidae (Orchesia micans) and Tenebrionidae (Huddleston 1980, Yu et al. 2005).