Diplazon laetatorius (Fabricius 1781, Ichneumon)

Ichneumon dichrous Schrank 1781

Anomalon attractus Say 1835

Bassus albovarius Wollaston 1858

Bassus cinctipes Holmgren 1868

Bassus sycophanta Cresson 1868

Bassus tripicticrus Walsh 1873

Scolobates varipes Smith 1878

Bassus venustulus Saussure 1892 Bassus balearicus Kriechbaumer 1894 Bassus terminalis Davis 1895

Bassus generosus Cameron 1898

Bassus senegalensis Ferrière 1925 (in Vayssière & Mimeur 1925) Bassus ikiti Cheesman 1936

Diagnosis. (No males found in Europe). Fore wing length 3.5–6 mm. Antenna in females with 16–17 flagellomeres. Face with punctures clearly distinct from the background sculpture. Mesopleuron smooth and polished with weak to strong punctures on lower half, upper half largely smooth but with punctures along anterior margin. Propodeum with a full set of carinae enclosing basal, lateral and petiolar areas. Tergite 1 0.9–1.1, tergite 2 0.55–0.7 times as long as wide; tergites 2 and 3 with large, distinct punctures on a rugose or on tergite 3 rather smooth and polished background, punctures with distinct margins. Transverse impressions deep on tergites 1 to 4. Metasoma dorsoventrally depressed.

Colouration of females. Antenna orange, brown dorsally. Head and mesosoma black, face with yellow along inner orbits, usually without yellow central face patch, yellow on clypeus and mouthparts, hind corner of pronotum, tegula, subtegular ridge, shoulder mark, upper mesepimeron; scutellum largely yellow. Legs including coxae orange; hind tibia tricolored, with a dark base, then white band, then black band and a broad, orange apex, hind tarsus dark. Metasoma orange at least on tergites 2 and 3, often also hind margin of tergite 1 and parts of tergite 4 orange.

Material examined. Holotype of Bassus cinctipes Holmgren: South Africa. 1♀, at NRM.

New for Kazakhstan: 12 km South from Urda village, bound between Khaki saline and Ryn-Kum, leg. Karalius, Miatleuski, 1.–3.VI.2001. 1♀, at MR.

Argentina (20), Finland (1), France (2), Germany (2), Hungary (>500), Iceland (1), Iran (4), Kazakhstan (1), Norway (1), Portugal (1), Russia (1), Spain (Canary Islands: 1), Sweden (>500), Switzerland (>300), Tadzhikistan (1), Turkey (1), Ukraine (1), United Kingdom (60), USA (4), Zambia (1).

Distribution. Worldwide.

Figures. Mesoscutum (Fig. 12A), habitus (Fig. 29 A).

Notes. This species has a cosmopolitan distribution and reproduces parthenogenetically in most of its range. Males are to date only known from North America and India.