Dolichomitus messor (Gravenhorst, 1829)

Verheyde, Fons, Hoekstra, Paul, Libert, Pierre-Nicolas, Meijer, Hilco, Ketelaere, Augustijn De, Vandaudenard, Thibaud, Belgers, Dick & Brosens, Edwin, 1880, Two hundred and five ichneumonid wasps reported for the first time in Belgium and the Netherlands (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), Belgian Journal of Entomology 122, pp. 1-142 : 105

Dolichomitus messor (Gravenhorst, 1829)

Dolichomitus spp. are large species mainly associated with hosts living in trees. They closely resemble other ‘black species with orange legs’, for example Ephialtes or Liotryphon spp. In Fitton (FITTON et al., 1988) genera are partly distinguished on the basis of the ovipositor-hind tibia index (less than 3.7 and hind wing broken near or slightly below the middle) and the ovipositor tip with the lower valves extended to partly enclose the upper valve (never with a distinct row of dorsolateral minute teeth). Some of these look-a-likes from other genera are also included in the key by Zwakhals on the genus.

Dolichomitus messor has the ovipositor /fore wing index at most at 2.2. The lower tooth of the mandible is as long as the upper tooth. The dorsal lobe of the ovipositor has at least five rather vertical grooves and the pterostigma is pale yellowish. Temples are slightly narrowed behind the head ( ZWAKHALS, 2010). Many hosts are known (see YU et al., 2012).

First report for Belgium and the Netherlands.

MATERIAL EXAMINED:

BELGIUM: • 1 ♀; Somal (NA); 12/v/2008; P-N. Libert leg.; coll. PNL; field observation; P-N. Libert det.

THE NETHERLANDS: • 1 ♀; Udenhout , Loonse en Drunense Duinen (NB); 51°38’22”N 5°06’24”E; 11/v/2014; P. Hoekstra leg.; coll . PH; field observation; P. Hoekstra & K. Zwakhals det. (ObsID: 143376219) .