Ophion obscuratus (Fabricius, 1793)

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 : 180

Ophion obscuratus (Fabricius, 1793)

Ophion obscuratus Fabricius, 1798: 237 . Lectotype ♂ in ZMUC, examined.

Ophion obscurus Fabricius, 1804: 132 .

Ophion flavolineatus Brullé, 1846: 147‒148 . Lectotype from Papua New Guinea, unsexed in MNHN, examined.

Material examined: IRAN: 1♂, Mazandaran Province, Golestan forest, Tang-e-Gol , 700 m . a. s., 17 May 1993, Paz / Badii leg. ( HMIM) ; 1♂, Mazandaran Province, Kelardasht, Rudbarak, Vandarbon , 2455 m. a. s., 23 May 2003, Gil. / Nem. leg. ( HMIM) .

Remarks: The here presented specimens, though slightly smaller in size, corresponds very well morphologically with Ophion obscuratus , an European species occurring in late autumn in central and northern Europe. However, the species treated as Ophion obscuratus by previous authors has shown to be an aggregate consisting of an unknown number of species with slightly different characteristics. The period of flight for the recorded specimens indicates that it potentially could represent a previously undescribed species differentiated from the true O. obscuratus . The species was only recently properly defined (Johansson & Cederberg 2019) and any references in literature preceeding that date of publication may refer to any closely related and similar species.