Venturia canescens ( Gravenhorst, 1829 )

Rousse, Pascal & Villemant, Claire, 2012, Ichneumons in Reunion Island: a catalogue of the local Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) species, including 15 new taxa and a key to species, Zootaxa 3278, pp. 1-57 : 19

Venturia canescens ( Gravenhorst, 1829)

( Fig. 8 c)

Angitia compressa Hedwig, 1962: 89 ; Angitia pyraustae Uchida, 1930: 129 ; Amorphota ephestia Cameron, 1912: 309 ; Amorphota ephestiae Cameron, 1912a: 187 ; Campoplex canescens Gravenhorst, 1829: 555 ; Campoplex frumentarius Rondani, 1877 ; Cryptus ductilis Say, 1835: 257 ; Idechthis oahuensis Ashmead, 1901: 355 ; Lathrostizus insularis Ashmead, 1901: 355 ; Limnerium christianae Cheesman, 1928: 191 ; Limnerium garrulum Cameron, 1905c: 315; Mesochorus australicus Girault, 1925: 541 ; Nemeritis gracilens Tosquinet, 1896: 414 ; Omorgus orientalis Schmiedeknecht,1909: 1759 .

Diagnosis. Species distinguishable in Reunion by the shape of petiole (generic characteristic): smooth, without glymma and with the sterno-tergal suture on the lateral side.

Description. Wahl (1987).

Biological notes. Twenty-three host records on Pyralidae , Noctuidae , Tortricidae , Gelechiidae , Tineidae and Yponomeutidae .

Comments. Venturia canescens is a well-known model for many parasitoid workers. It is often associated with pests of stored products and widely distributed throughout the world. Its presence in Reunion is therefore not surprising, but the precise origin of the specimens housed at MNHN is unclear.

Distribution records. Reunion (new record). Nearly cosmopolitan, reported in Africa from Maghreb to South Africa.

Material examined. 10Ƥ Reunion, leg. Institut Scientifique de Madagascar, locality and date of collection unknown.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Campopleginae and Metopiinae (females), habitus. a: Diadegma mollipla. b: Dusona pauliani. c: Venturia canescens. d: Eriborus pallipes. e: Hyposoter reunionis. f: Triclistus aitkeni.