Hyposoter ebeninus ( Gravenhorst, 1829 )

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 : 42

Hyposoter ebeninus ( Gravenhorst, 1829)

Campoplex ebeninus Gravenhorst, 1829 : lectotype ♀ in UWCP, designated by Townes et al. (1965), examined by Horstmann. syn. Limneria vulgaris Tschek, 1871 : Hinz (1957)

syn. Limnerium brevicaudis Szépigleti, 1916 : Horstmann (1978)

syn. Angitia rapae Meyer, 1926 : Horstmann (1969)

Females are easily distinguished from all other species with all dark tergites and sternites in the metasoma, except Hyposoter rhodocerae , by the length of the ovipositor, and can be separated from the latter by the key characters. Males can be more difficult to separate, especially from placidus , but the dorsal face of the propodeum is longer in placidus , especially viewed laterally. The faint yellow spot at the base of the hind tibia is usually visible in placidus , but lacking in ebeninus .

Shaw et al. (2016) gave details of rearings of Hyposoter ebeninus from three species of Carcharodus (one since transferred to Muschampia ) (Hesperidae) and several Pieridae , notably species of Pieris and Euchloe . Reared specimens in NHMUK are as follows: from Pieris brassicae (Linnaeus) : 2♁ 5♀ ( Algeria), 1♁ 1♀ ( India), 2♁ 2♀ ( Turkey), 6♁ 4♀ ( Egypt); from Pieris rapae on cabbage (Linnaeus): 3♁ 1♀ ( Cyprus); from Euchloe ausonia (Ḩbner): 1♀ ( Israel). Also in NHM 1♁ 1♀ are labelled as having been reared from Colias (Pieridae) larvae on cabbage in Cyprus; but no Colias species feed on cabbage and this is doubtless a misidentification of P. rapae larvae, which resemble those of some Colias species. There are many older records of rearings from Lepidoptera in other families in the literature, but their reliability is highly questionable.

We have seen specimens from Germany, Austria, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Sardinia, former Yugoslavia, Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Iran, Algeria and India. There are also reports from right across Asia to China. The fact that it does not occur in Britain, despite the abundance of Pieris spp , may be a result of its possible overwintering hosts ( Carcharodus and perhaps Muschampia spp ) not occurring in Britain (cf. Shaw et al. 2016). One specimen from the third author’s collection was barcoded (BOLD Sample ID CollHH3480).