Baeoneurella phaeax (Nixon)

Popovici, Ovidiu Alin, Masner, Lubomir & Polaszek, Andrew, 2019, A revision of the European species of Baeoneurella Dodd (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae), Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 52 (43 - 44), pp. 2745-2794 : 2770-2773

Baeoneurella phaeax (Nixon)

Nardo phaeax Nixon, 1938: 283 . Original description; Nardo phaeax: Mani, 1941: 4 . Keyed; Eumicrosoma phaeax: Masner, 1965: 108 . Type information, generic transfer; Eumicrosoma phaeax: Mani and Sharma, 1982: 140 . Eumicrosoma phaeax: Fabritius and Andriescu, 1985: 126 , 128, 129. Diagnosis, variation, keyed; Eumicrosoma phaeax: Ryu and Hirashima, 1989: 53 . Keyed; Eumicrosoma phaeax: Johnson, 1992: 561 . Catalogued, type information; Euricrosoma phaeax: Lê, 2000: 254 . Misspelling.

Female

Size: 0.9 – 1.0 mm.

Colour ( Figure 6a ). Head dark brown or black; A1 lighter than rest of antenna ( Figure 6d ); A8 – A11 darker than rest of antenna ( Figure 6d ), but there are specimens with antennae having almost the same colour; mesosoma dark brown or black, legs the same colour as T1; metasoma lighter than rest of body; T1 red-light brown in contrast with brown T2; T3 – T7 the same colour as T1.

Head. Transverse in dorsal view, almost rectangular in lateral view; clypeus: wider than long; distal margin of clypeus: concave ( Figure 7a ); setation of clypeus: 2 setae; antennal rim not prominent ventrally laterad of interantennal process; sculpture of antennal scrobe: absent; sculpture of frons medially: absent; ratio OOL/OD: OOL<OD; OOL/POL/ LOL: 1:24:12; sculpture of interocellar area: absent; postgenal pit: closer to oral foramen than to occipital foramen ( Figure7e ); shape of postgenal pit: elongate and prolonged dorsally into a furrow ( Figure 7e ); sculpture of temple: imbricate-coriaceous; sculpture of temple along postgenal sulcus: longitudinally striate; sculpture of occiput: absent; sculpture of posterior vertex: imbricate-coriaceous; preoccipital furrow: a narrow longitudinal cleft, with sides slightly diverging medially and converging at the ends ( Figure 7d ); odontoid process: atrophied, barely visible ( Figure 7e ).

Mesosoma (dorsal). Pronotum: almost vertical, hardly visible in dorsal view ( Figure 7f,c ); dorsal pronotal area: hardly visible (width of dorsal pronotal area at most 0.7 times width of tegula); mesoscutal suprahumeral sulcus: incomplete, obscured by sculpture; mesoscutal humeral sulcus: a simple line; anterior declivity of mesoscutum almost vertical, distinct; mesoscutum (except the anterior declivity of mesoscutum) slightly convex; extent of sculpture on mesoscutum: sculptured on anterior third along pronoto-mesoscutal suture, remainder smooth and lustrous; parascutal carina: broad, distinct; scutoscutellar sulcus: short, present only on the lateral sides of the transscutal articulation; axillar crescent: present; axillular carina: slightly pointed posteriorly; posterior mesoscutellar sulcus distinct, crenulate; mesoscutellum flattened; sculpture of mesoscutellum: absent; pilosity of mesoscutellum: few sparse setae; shape of mesoscutellum: strongly transverse; ratio width mesoscutellum/length mesoscutellum: mesoscutellum between 3 and 4 times as wide as long; metascutellum: flattened; width of mesoscutellum/width of metascutellum: mesoscutellum at most 1.4 times as wide as metascutellum; width of metascutellum/length of metascutellum: metascutellum 6 – 7 times as wide as long.

Mesosoma (lateral). Pronotal cervical sulcus ( Figure 7c ): wide, relatively deep and crenulate; sculpture of lateral pronotal area: coriaceous to imbricate-coriaceous in the upper half, smooth to lustrous in the lower half; pronotal suprahumeral sulcus: slightly visible; posterior pronotal sulcus: large, distinct; sculpture of speculum: some transverse striae; sculpture of upper mesepisternum below femoral depression: imbricate-coriaceous; mesepimeral sulcus: incomplete; mesopleural carina: visible as an abrupt change on sculpture; metapleural carina: present; metapleural sulcus: present only posterior to metapleural pit; anteroventral extension of metapleuron: well developed, touching middle of mesocoxa.

Wings ( Figure 6f ). Lanceolate; colour of fore wings: hyaline throughout; colour of hind wings ( Figure 6f ); hyaline throughout; fore wing length: at most 6.9 times as long as wide; length of marginal fringe of fore wing: 1.6 times as long as fore wing width; fore wing width: 2.4 times as wide as hind wing width; length of marginal fringe of hind wing: 3 times as long as hind wing width.

Metasoma ( Figure 6f ). Metasoma 2.6 – 2.8 times as long as wide; longitudinal striae on T1: present on the anterior ¾; T1: 2.3 times as wide as long; sculpture on T2: present on anterior 1/3. Type of T2 sculpture: longitudinal coriaceous laterad, medially smooth; T2 about 5.5 times as long as T1 and 1.5 times as long as wide; T1 with 2 pairs of setae; T2 –

T4 with 3 pairs of setae (1 paramedian and 2 lateral – placed at the limit between tergite and laterotergite) ( Figure 12c ).

Male ( Figure 6b )

Size: 0.8 – 0.9 mm. Similar to female, differing from it in: (a) structure of antenna – with 12 antennomeres, without clava ( Figure 6e ); (b) length of metasoma – shorter than in female; and (c) colour of metasoma – in male, the apex of the metasoma is brown as in T2, not lighter as in female.

Material examined

Romania. 38♀ and 6♂, Iaşi, ‘ Valea lui David ’ Natural Reservation , 47.18794°N, 27.46699° E, 22 June 2016, swamp, leg . Popovici O . (screen sweeping, OPPC); 17♀, Iaşi, ‘ Valea lui David ’ Natural Reservation , 47.18794°N, 27.46699°E, 20 June 2016, swamp, leg . Popovici O . (screen sweeping, OPPC); 1♀, Iaşi, Botanical Garden , 47.18643°N, 27.54931°E, 30 June 2011, leg . Noyes J .S . (screen sweeping, OPPC); 14♀, Iaşi, Botanical Garden, N 47.18643, E27.54931, 21 June 2016, swamp, leg . Popovici O . (screen sweeping, OPPC); 19♀, Iaşi, Mârzeşti , 47.242716°N, 27.471497°E, 19 June 2016, swamp, leg . Popovici O . (screen sweeping, OPPC); 34♀ and 1♂, Iaşi, Mârzeşti , 47.2441°N, 27.4827°E, 5 July 2011, leg . Noyes J .S . (screen sweeping, OPPC); 1♀, Iaşi, Bârnova, Poiana cu Schit , 46.9852°N, 27.5847°E, 30 June 2011 swamp, leg . Popovici O . (screen sweeping, OPPC); 2♀, Iaşi, Bârnova, Poiana cu Schit , 46.9852°N, 27.5847°E, 24 June 2015 swamp, leg . Popovici O . (screen sweeping, OPPC); 5♀ and 3♂, Tulcea, Danube Delta , Periprava, 45.383648°N, 29.530020°E, 8 July 2015 leg . Popovici O . (screen sweeping, OPPC).

Greece. 1♀, Kerkini Lake Nat . Park, march site, 25 April – 1 May 2007, 41.228378°N, 23.085607°E, leg . Ramel G . ( MT, OPPC); 3♀, Kerkini Lake Nat . Park, Pumping station site, 41.212396°N, 23.094961°E, 16 – 25 May 2007, leg . Ramel G . ( MT, OPPC), 3♀, Kerkini Lake Nat . Park, Pumping station site, 41.212396°N, 23.094961°E, 6 – 12 June 2007, leg . Ramel G . ( MT, OPPC); 10♀ and 1♂, Kerkini Lake Nat . Park, Pumping station site, 41.212396°N, 23.094961°E, 13 – 19 June 2007, leg . Ramel G . ( MT, OPPC).

Hungary. 1♀, Őrseg , Nemzeti Park, Lugosy Valley, 46.9010°N, 16.4510°E, 231 m alt ., 28 June 2010, leg . Noyes J .S . (screen sweeping, OPPC); 1♀, Hanság , Főcsatarna, Nemzeti Park, 47.6666°N, 16.8511°E, 128 m alt ., 24 June 2010, leg . Noyes J .S . (screen sweeping, OPPC); 1♀, Őrseg , Bárkás Lake, Nemzeti Park, 46.8666°N, 16.4333°E, 268 m alt ., 28 June 2010, leg . Noyes J .S. (screen sweeping, OPPC).

South Korea. 5♀, Jeollabukdo , Buan-gun , Dongjin-myeon , Dongjeon / Dongjin estuary, 21 April – 27 May 2007, on mud flat, leg . Tripotin P . ( MT, OPPC); 2♀, Chollabukdo , Iksan-si Geumma-myeon, Miluk-san, 36.0201°N, 127.0311°E, 12 – 28 July 2004, leg . Young C .L. ( MT, OPPC).

Distribution

One of the most common species of this genus in the Palaearctic. Previously found in Pakistan ( Nixon 1938); Romania – Danube Delta ( Fabritius and Andriescu 1985); Japan

( Ryu and Hirashima 1989); Korea ( Ryu and Hirashima 1989); India ( Rajmohana 2006); Iran ( Samin et al. 2011). New distributional records for Greece and for Hungary.

Biology

Egg parasitoid of Cavelerius excavatus (Distant) ( Hemiptera : Blissidae ) ( Nixon 1938) and Blissus pallipes ( Hemiptera : Blissidae ) ( Ryu and Hirashima 1989). In Romania it is the most common species of this genus in the samples taken from wet habitats rich in Cyperaceae and Typhaceae . Probably a competitor of Baeoneurella maceki . The maximum flight period in Romania (and extrapolating across the temperate region) is June – July, but in Greece and South Korea specimens were caught from late April.

Figures

Figure 6. Baeoneurella phaeax: (a) female, habitus; (b) male, habitus; (c) female, head and mesosoma, detail; (d) female, antenna; (e) male, antenna; (f) female, fore and hind wings.

Figure 7. Baeoneurella phaeax (female,SEM):(a) head, ventral view; (b) head, frontal view; (c) head,lateral view; (d) head, posterodorsal view; (e) back of the head; (f) mesosoma, dorsal; (g) mesosoma, lateral.

Figure 12. Chaetotaxy of T1–T4 in: (a) Baeoneurella benefica; (b) Baeoneurella mirabilis; (c) Baeoneurella phaeax; (d) Baeoneurella maceki.