Meteorus tenellus Marshall, 1887

Stigenberg, Julia & Ronquist, Fredrik, 2011, Revision of the Western Palearctic Meteorini (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), with a molecular characterization of hidden Fennoscandian species diversity 3084, Zootaxa 3084 (1), pp. 1-95 : 73

Meteorus tenellus Marshall sp. reinst.

Fig. 43, 45, 47 , 131

Meteorus tenellus Marshall, 1887: 125 Lectotype ♀ Great Britain (BMNH)—examined.

Meteorus boreus Tobias, 1986:333 . Holotype ♀, Russia: Kola Peninsula, ‘ Vitti-guva, Imandra Lake , Arkhangel’sk Province, 3.ix.1929 ’ ( Cheburova ) (ZIN. St. Petersburg)—examined. Syn. n.

Diagnosis: Meteorus tenellus is very close to M. cinctellus . M. tenellus has a light yellow pterostigma and M. cinctellus has a dark brown pterostigma with whitish edges. The subapical five antennal articles are longer than broad in M. tenellus (0.6 times as wide as long), as long as broad in M. cinctellus (0.8–1.0 times as wide as long).

Studied material: 35 specimens.

Description: Size about 4mm. Antennal articles 27–30, all articles longer than broad. Head strongly contracted behind eyes. OOL=2. Eyes protruding and large. Malar space 0.4–0.6 times basal width of mandibles. Face slightly (0.9–1.1 times) broader than high and with a medial tubercle just below the antennal sockets. Clypeus protuberant and with long setae, mandibles small and strongly twisted. Precoxal sulcus deep and broad, rugose, otherwise area smooth. Propodeum with a longitudinal carina that sometime is hard to distinguish from other rugosity. Petiolar tergum long, slender and without dorsal pits. Ovipositor 2.0–4.0 times petiolar tergum. Fore wing 5 times the length of petiolar tergum. Hind coxa rugose dorsally. Forewing m-cu postfurcal or interstitial. Colour generally dark, face yellow to brown, sometimes with lighter details on the head, the legs yellow to brown.

Distribution: Western Palearctic. Country records: Austria; Finland; Lithuania; Russia: Sweden; United Kingdom; Yugoslavia.

Biology: This species was described by Marshall (1887) from six females bred by Bignell on the host Acleris hastiana ( Lepidoptera , Tortricidae ).

Remarks: This species, distributed in Sweden, Lithuania and Russia, was synonymyzed by Huddleston (1981) under M. cinctellus ( Spinola 1808) , a name that later turned out to be a synonym of M. cinctellus (Fabricius 1777) ( Yu et al. 2005) . Examination of the types of M. tenellus and M. cinctellus , and of specimens from a variety of locations, has led us to conclude that M. tenellus is a good species.

Figures

FIGURES 41–48. Characters used in key to species. 41) antennae of M. eadyi, 42) fore wing of M. cinctellus, 43) fore wing of M. tenellus, 44) antennae of M. cinctellus, 45) antennae of M. tenellus, 46) habitus of M. stenomastax sp. nov., 47) metasoma of M. tenellus, 48) metasoma of M. artocercus sp. nov.

FIGURES 80–133. Anterior view of the head of Meteorus species (except for M. politutele, which is depicted in lateral view).