Ophion minutus Kriechbaumer, 1879

Johansson, Niklas, Ameri, Ali, Riedel, Matthias, Talebi, Ali Asghar & Ebrahimi, Ebrahim, 2021, Contribution to the Ophioninae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) of Iran with the description of 16 new species and an illustrated key to the Eremotylus of the Western Palaearctic, Zootaxa 5023 (2), pp. 151-206 : 179

Ophion minutus Kriechbaumer, 1879

Figs 10C‒D, F

Ophion minutus Kriechbaumer, 1879: 105–106 . Lectotype ♀ from the Netherlands in ZSM, examined

Ophion eremotyloides Ceballos, 1962: 200‒201 ; Fig 2O . Holotype ♀ in MNCN from Spain, not eamined

Ophion telengai Meyer, 1935: 23 ? Type from Turkmenistan, lost.

Material examined: IRAN: 1♀, Mazandaran province, Golestan forest, Tang-e-Gol, 700 m . a. s. 17 May 1993, Paz / Badii leg. ( HMIM) ; 3♀♀, Lorestan Province, Khorramabad area, Mahmudvand , 30 Apr 2007, A. Klimenko leg. ( MR) ; 3♀♀, 1♂, Kohkiloye-va-Boyerahmad Province, Yasuj area , 10 km SE Sepidar, 5‒6 May 2007, A. Klimenko leg. ( MR) .

Remarks: Usually an easily identified species based on the small size, the conspicuously bent radius before the junction with the pterostigma in the fore wing, the wide face, buccate temples and the extensive pale markings of the mesosoma ( Fig. 10C ). It is a documented parasitoid of geometrids, primarly Erannis Hübner, 1825 ( Lepidoptera : Geometridae ) which mainly occurs in areas with oak forests. The short and relatively uninformative description of Ophion telengai ( Meyer 1935) (type destroyed, Townes et al. 1965) is possibly referring to a species in the Ophion minutus aggregate. The types were collected in Turkmenistan. In his key to species Meyer (1937) places O. telengai together with O. parvulus (erroneously considered to be a senior syn. of O. minutus ), O. amoenus Tosquinet (= Barytatocephalus mocsaryi Brauns ), Ophion buchariensis (occasionally placed in Apatophion ( Townes, 1971)) and Ophion boguschi (transferred to Eremotylus by Horstmann (2006)). This could indicate that the generic identity of the true O. telegai is to be sought after in other genera such as Eremotylus or Simophion .

Figures

FIGURE 2. Enicospilus affectatus Shestakov, 1926, lectotype ♀ (ZIN).A) Habitus, lateral view; B) head, anterior view; C) alar sclerites; D) labels. Photos: Andrey Khalaim.

FIGURE 10. Ophion angustigena Johansson sp. nov., holotype ♀ (HMIM). A) Habitus, lateral view; B) head, anterior view; C) head, lateral view. Photos: Niklas Johansson.