Opiognathus Fischer, 1972

Li, Xi-Ying, Achterberg, Cornelis van & Tan, Ji-Cai, 2013, Revision of the subfamily Opiinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) from Hunan (China), including thirty-six new species and two new genera, ZooKeys 268, pp. 1-186 : 42-43

Opiognathus Fischer, 1972 stat. n. Figs 105-125

Opiognathus Fischer, 1972b: 140 (as subgenus of Opius Wesmael). Type species (by original designation): Opius pactus Haliday, 1837 [examined].

Diagnosis.

Hind tibia with a long to medium-sized and more or less curved carinula basally (Figs 113, 123); face without tubercles; in front of anterior ocellus without a distinct depression; frons with pair of shallow depressions above antennal sockets; occipital carina present laterally, not or slightly curved ventrally and remain removed from hypostomal carina (Figs 112, 124), near level of middle of eye straight or nearly so, without transverse carina or crest; clypeus more or less convex and high (Figs 111, 122); labrum normal, without emargination ventrally; hypoclypeal depression distinct; malar suture absent; scapus, fore coxa and trochanter at most weakly compressed; epistomal suture without large depressions; mandible gradually (Fig. 112) or abruptly widened baso-ventrally and apical half abruptly narrowed (Fig. 124) or not; pronotum short and subvertical; pronope absent (and with a deep slit-like depression in front of middle lobe of mesoscutum) or large; side of pronotum anteriorly below groove without a distinctly elevated area; medio-posterior depression of mesoscutum large (Fig. 107) or absent (Fig. 117); scutellar sulcus rather wide to medium-sized; propodeum reticulate (Figs 108, 118) or largely smooth posteriorly, with a short or no medio-longitudinal carina and no posterior areola; precoxal sulcus coarsely or very finely crenulate; postpectal carina completely absent; vein 2-SR of fore wing present; first subdiscal cell of fore wing at least partly closed by vein 3-CU1 and comparatively long vein CU1b postero-apically (Figs 116, 127); vein 1-M of fore wing slightly to moderately curved and vein 1-SR medium-sized; vein cu-a of hind wing present and vein m-cu absent; vein 3-SR of fore wing distinctly longer than vein 2-SR; length of fore wing less than 3.5 mm; second tergite without sharp lateral crease, smooth; length of second and third tergites combined less than 0.7 times length of metasoma behind first tergite; fourth and following tergites (at least partly) exposed; ovipositor sheath about 0.1 times as long as fore wing. According to the molecular data, belongs at the base of a clade with Opius , Phaedrotoma and related genera.

Biology.

The type species has been reported as a parasitoid of leaf-mining Tephritidae .

Notes.

Unfortunately, Fischer designated thrice a type species of the subgenus Opiognathus Fischer, 1972b (not 1972a: 393, it is a nomen nudum in this paper because no type species was designated and more than one species was included (Int. Code Zool. Nom. Art. 13b)). Fischer (1972b) designated Opius pactus Haliday, 1837, which has the mandible only gradually widened basally, less than indicated in the general diagnosis. In 1978 Fischer designated a second type species for Opiognathus : Opius mokotoensis Fischer, 1968, which has indeed the mandible more distinctly widened basally, but this designation is invalid because in 1972 a valid type species was designated. In 1986 Fischer (p. 613) designated a third type species for the subgenus: Opius dewulfi Fischer, 1968, which is equally invalid. In this paper the original designation is accepted and the quotation about the widened mandible is considered to be a gradually widened mandible and Opiognathus is treated as a valid genus separate from the genus Utetes Foerster despite the presence of the carinula of the hind tibia because of morphological and molecular differences. Opiognathus can be separated as follows: