Praon exsoletum (Nees, 1811)

Gadallah, Neveen S., Edmardash, Yusuf A., Mansour, Amany N. & Imam, Ahmed I., 2023, Parasitoid wasps (Ichneumonoidea) collected from faba bean fields, Kharga Oasis, New Valley, Egypt, with new records and the description of a new species, Zootaxa 5389 (5), pp. 501-544 : 506

Praon exsoletum (Nees, 1811)

Fig. 3 (A, B)

Material examined: 1♀, Kharga Oasis (New Valley) [25°31’34.0”N 30°37’19.9”E], May, 2022, blue pan trap in Vicia faba .

Diagnosis. Antenna with 18 antennomeres, with scape, pedicel and F1 (somewhat darkened apically) yellowish; eyes with sparse short setae; face with central narrow hairless area margined by simple rows of hairs, with sparse setae between such rows of hairs and inner orbits of eye; lateral lobes of mesoscutum with large hairless areas; propodeum sparsely setose; vein m-cu of fore wing colourless throughout; petiole distinctly longer than wide, with indistinct lateral carinae, without elevated area between carinae, with a number of short fine setae along its sides; ovipositor sheath short, rounded apically, with two long spatulate or conical spines, and one longer seta in between spines.

Distribution in the MENA: Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Yemen.

Comments: Characters of the only collected female agree with Starý (1976: 57, couplet 7) as well as Rakhshani et al. ’s key (2019: 65, couplet 25). This is the first record for P. exsoletum in association with faba bean . Its presence may be attributed to the fact that it is one of the primary parasitoids of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum , which is one of the most important pests attacking V. faba plant.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Praon exsoletum (Nees, 1811) (♀): A, lateral habitus; B, dorsal habitus.