Apanteles ornigis

Whitfield, James B., 2006, Revision of the Nearctic species of the genus Pholetesor Mason (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), Zootaxa 1144 (1), pp. 1-94 : 58-59

The ornigis ­group

This and the following group comprise most of the circumscriptus ­group of Nixon (1965, 1973) and Papp (1983a, b). The division between them may eventually prove to be an artificial one, but seems to be supportable so far by the maxillary setal number in the final instar larvae. The groups are fairly easily separated by the degree of sculpturing of the anterior metasomal tergites.

The ornigis ­group can be characterized by the following combination of character states, most of which (with the exceptions noted above) are shared with the circumscriptus­group (s.s.): 1) metanotum broadly retracted from scutellum, exposing portions of the mesothoracic postphragma and with the sublateral setiferous lobes often not reaching the scutellum; 2) areola and transverse carinae of propodeum absent, replaced by two series of ridges diverging obliquely from nucha; 3) metasomal tergite I subparallelsided to posteriorly narrowing, usually much longer than broad, coarsely sculptured; rarely broadening weakly posteriorly and not much longer than broad; 4) tergite II broadly trapezoidal to subtriangular, coarsely sculptured, slightly to much shorter than III down midline; 5) tergite III sculptured at most anteromedially, rarely over most of tergite but not rounded posterolaterally; 6) tergum IV unmodified, anteriorly overlapped by III and similar in appearance to succeeding terga; 7) sternites 3–6 of female anteromedially split or notched; 8) hypopygium evenly sclerotized to medial fold, not produced at tip; 9) ovipositor sheaths arising at or above mid­height of valvifers; 10) volsellae of male genitalia each with 2 setae along medioventral edge; 11) gonobase (basal ring) of male genitalia approximately as long as broad; 12) final instar larva with 6–7 pairs of labial setae; 13) final instar larva with 2 setae on each maxilla; 14) cocoon slender, smooth, capsule­like, often banded centrally by area of thinner silk layer, suspended within the mine of the host by a thread from each end; 15) hosts are various blotchmining genera of Gracillariidae , Tischeriidae and Elachistidae , mostly on broadleaved trees, vines and shrubs.

I include here five nearctic species: P. caloptiliae n. sp., P. glacialis (Ashmead) , P. ornigis (Weed) , P. salalicus (Mason) and P. salicifoliellae (Mason) . There are a number of closely related species throughout the Palearctic Region, some of the Asian species of which may eventually prove synonymous with some of the nearctic species treated here (see also under the individual species diagnoses and comments).

The form of the cocoon and the larval head setation patterns shared with the circumscriptus ­group are, to my knowledge, unique among Microgastrinae .