Cotesia icipe Fernandez-Triana & Fiaboe 2017

Cotesia icipe Fernández-Triana & Fiaboe, 2017

Figs 10 (A–C), 11 (A–C) [CNC1179954]

Material examined: 1♂, Kharga Oasis (New Valley) [25°31’34.0”N 30°37’19.9”E], May, 2022, yellow pan trap in V. faba intercropped with B. napus.

Diagnosis (male). Body length 3.0 mm; generally black, with lateral margins of T 1-3 clear yellow, following tergites black, with thin yellow posterior margins; all legs yellowish, with dark brown tarsi, hind coxa black with yellowish apex, apex of hind femur and tibia noticeably dark brown; eyes whitish; mandible reddish brown with black tip. Pterostigma, metacarp, C+SC+R pale brownish, rest of veins lighter in colour.

Eye densely setose, length (in dorsal view) about as long as temple; OD 0.4× OOL, POL 1.3× OOL; malar space very short, less than 0.2× eye length; hind coxa conspicuously large, reaching end of T 2; hind tibial spur 0.5× hind metatarsus; metasomal T 1 with indistinct median longitudinal sulcus; metasomal T 1 1.3× as long as posterior width; T 2 distinctly longer than T 1, 1.5× as long as T 1; its width posteriorly 2.1× its medial length; vein r of fore wing issuing from middle of pterostigma, about as long as or slightly longer than vein 2-SR; vein r-m arising from vein r+3RSa, so areolet is open; vein 1-CU1 distinctly shorter than 2-CU1; cu-a of hind wing straight.

Distribution in the MENA: Egypt (new record), Saudi Arabia, Yemen (Fiaboe et al. 2017).

Comments: This is the first record of C. icipe for the fauna of Egypt. The collected male is similar to male paratype of C. icipe Fernández-Triana & Fiaboe (see Fiaboe et al. 2017: 54, fig. 2) except for the following combination of characters: metasomal T 2 distinctly wider than long, 3.6× as wide as long centrally (quadrate in the male paratype); metafemur 4.1× as long as wide (3.6–3.8× as long as wide in the male paratype); T 1 length centrally 1.3× as long as its width posteriorly (1.5–1.7× as long as its width in the male paratype); vein r of the fore wing issuing from middle of pterostigma (vein r issuing more distad of pterostigma in the male paratype).

From the biological point of view, C. icipe is recorded as being a solitary larval endoparasitoid of Spodoptera littoralis (Boisduval) and S. exigua (Hübner) (Noctuidae) (Fiaboe et al. 2017). It is very effective as a biological control agent against lepidopteran pests in small scale farming conditions in Africa (Fiaboe et al. 2017). It was also reported as a very effective biocontrol agent against the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Noctuidea), which has invaded Africa since 2016 (Georgen et al. 2016) and constitutes a high threat to food security there (Mohamed et al. 2021; Obala et al. 2023).

BOLD identification number: CNC1179954