Hyposoter placidus ( Desvignes, 1856 )

Galsworthy, Anthony, Shaw, Mark R. & Haraldseide, Håkon, 2023, A key to European species of Hyposoter Förster, 1869 (Ichneumonidae: Campopleginae) with descriptions of 18 new species, and notes on all included species, Zootaxa 5290 (1), pp. 1-73 : 59

Hyposoter placidus ( Desvignes, 1856)

Campoplex placidus Desvignes, 1856 : lectotype ♀ in NHMUK, designated by Fitton (1976), examined.

In the female the length of the ovipositor distinguishes this species readily from ebeninus and rhodocerae . The yellow spot at the base of the hind tibia is faint, but usually present. For distinction from clausus , see notes under the latter species. Males may not always be distinguishable from those of ebeninus , but see also under the latter.

This is a well-known parasitoid of species of Lycaena (Lycaenidae) , including Lycaena dispar (Haworth) , L. hippothoe (Linnaeus) , L. helle ([Denis & Schifferm̧ller]), and L. phlaeas (Linnaeus) ( Shaw et al. 2009, 2016). There are numerous specimens in Horstmann’s collection reared from L. dispar . There are three specimens reared from the same host in NHMUK. We have seen specimens from the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Andorra. We are not aware of records from elsewhere. Limited phenological data shows specimens collected from June to September with a fairly even distribution over the period.

One specimen from the third author’s collection was barcoded (BOLD Sample ID CollHH1214).