Meteorus filator (Haliday)

Stigenberg, Julia & Ronquist, Fredrik, 2011, Revision of the Western Palearctic Meteorini (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), with a molecular characterization of hidden Fennoscandian species diversity 3084, Zootaxa 3084 (1), pp. 1-95 : 54

Meteorus filator (Haliday)

Fig. 18, 24 , 40 , 98

Perilitus filator Haliday, 1835:32 . Holotype ♀, Ireland: ’ British Haliday 20.2.82’ (NMI, Dublin)

Perilitus laticeps Wesmael, 1835:47 . Lectotype ♀, Belgium: Brussels, coll. Wesmael (IRSNB, Brussels), Considered valid species by Fischer, 1970 a. Synonymized by Huddleston, 1980:30.

Meteorus hodisensis Fischer, 1970b:285 . Holotype ♀, Austria: ‘Bgld., Markt. Hodis, Rechnitz, 7.viii.1961 ’ (Fischer) (NHM, Vienna). Synonymized by Huddleston, 1980:30 —examined.

Diagnosis: Males of Meteorus filator look very similar to those of M. eadyi but the shape of the clypeus is a good diagnostic character (wide in M. filator , narrow and protruding in M. eadyi ).

Studied material: ~ 60 specimens.

Description: Size about 4.5mm. Antennal articles 21–25. Head broad, temples rounded. Ocelli small, OOL=2.5–3.0. Eyes large, strongly convergent. Face about as wide as high, not strongly protuberant. Clypeus wide, not strongly protuberant. Malar space short, less than half the basal breadth of mandible. Mandible large, not twisted. Precoxal sulcus wide. Propodeum rather depressed with three longitudinal and two transverse carinae. Petiolar tergum long, almost equal in length to rest of abdomen, slender, ventral borders joined from the base of the segment to its midpoint. Ovipositor long, 2.5 times length of petiolar tergum. Legs long, slender; hind coxa partly reticulate-rugose; tarsal claws simple, long, slightly swollen at base. Colour mostly black. Male same as female except eyes are smaller and less convergent so that the face is about twice as broad as high and the malar space longer; antennae longer, 27–30 articles, all articles of flagellum at least twice as long as broad, darker in colour, rarely distinctly yellow in basal half of flagellum.

Distribution: Western Palearctic. Country records: Austria; Azerbaijan; Belgium; Bulgaria; Czechoslovakia; Denmark; Finland; France; Georgia; Germany; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Lithuania; Mongolia; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Russia; Slovakia; Sweden; Switzerland; United Kingdom.

Biology: Haliday (1835) states “locis fungiferis autumno” for this species, meaning that it occurs amongst fungi in autumn. Also, Capron mentions to Marshall (1887) that he has taken several females of this species by shaking species of Trametes versicolor (Fungi, Polyporaceae ) and the males were abundantly collected in the autumn by sweeping. We found 41 specimens within the SMTP, most of them were from a Malaise trap placed on a sandy railway. They were caught during the summer months July to August.

Figures

FIGURES 18–25. Characters used in key to species. 18) dorsal view of the petiolar tergum of M. filator, 19) dorsal view of the petiolar tergum of M. rubens, 20) ventral view of the petiolar tergum of M. colon, 21) dorsal view of the petiolar tergum of M. hirsutipes, 22) ventral view of the petiolar tergum of M. pendulus, 23) dorsal view of the head of M. pulchricornis, 24) dorsal view of the head of M. filator, 25) ventral view of the petiolar tergum of M. rubens.

FIGURES 33–40. Characters used in key to species. 33) habitus of M. versicolor, 34) head in lateral view of M. micropterus, 35) fore wing of M. micropterus, 36) habitus of M. micropterus, 37) dorsal view of the mesosoma of M. fialtor, 38) dorsal view of the mesosoma of M. stenomastax sp. nov., 39) fore wing of M. stenomastax sp. nov., 40) antennae of M. filator.

FIGURES 80–133. Anterior view of the head of Meteorus species (except for M. politutele, which is depicted in lateral view).