Metapelma Westwood, 1868

Cao, Liang Ming, Achterberg, Cornelis van, Tang, Yan Long, Yang, Zhong Qi, Wang, Xiao Yi & Cao, Tian Wen, 2020, Redescriptions of two parasitoids, Metapelma beijingense Yang (Hymenoptera, Eupelmidae) and Spathius ochus Nixon (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), parasitizing Coraebus cavifrons Descarpentries & Villiers (Coleoptera, Buprestidae) in China with keys to genera or species groups, ZooKeys 926, pp. 53-72 : 53

Metapelma Westwood, 1868

Main history of Oriental and Palaearctic species.

Westwood (1835) established Metapelma with M. spectabile Westwood as the type species from North America. Förster (1856) subsequently described Halidea based on H. nobilis from Germany, but Ashmead (1896) synonymized Halidea under Metapelma (see Gibson 1989 for further remarks on generic synonymy).

Until now, 15 valid extant species of Metapelma from the Oriental and Palaearctic regions are known, namely M. albisquamulatum Enderlein from the Philippines, M. beijingense from China, M. compressipes Cameron from Malaysia, M. gloriosum Westwood from the Philippines, M. kokkaricum Narendranand & Abhilash from India, M. mesandamna Mani & Kaul from India, M. nobilis ( Förster) from Germany, M. obscuratum Westwood from India, M. pacificum Nikolskaya from Russia, M. periyaricum Narendranand & Mohana from India, M. rufimanum Westwood from Malaysia (Sarawak), M. strychnocola Mani & Kaul from India, M. taprobanae Westwood from Sri Lanka, M. tenuicrus Gahan from the Philippines, and M. zhangi Yang from China.

Recognition.

Metapelma is one of four extant genera described for Neanastatinae ( Eupelmidae ). The genus is differentiated from the other three genera using the keys by Gibson (1995, 2009), but indivduals can be recognized uniquely by the following combination of characters: head lenticular with short scrobe above each torulus but scrobes not united into a common scrobal depression (Fig. 3C ); antenna 13-segmented with flagellum composed of longer than wide anellus, seven funicular segments, and 3-segmented clava (Fig. 3D ); scutellum entire, not divided longitudinally (Fig. 3E ); mesopleuron with upper and lower mesepimeron differentiated posteriorly behind acropleuron (Fig. 4A, B ); hind tibia usually conspicuously compressed and widened apically (Fig. 3A ).

Figures

Figure 3. Metapelma beijingense Yang, ♀, China, Guizhou. A Habitus, dorsal aspect B head, dorsal aspect C head, anterior aspect D antennae, lateral aspect E mesosoma, dorsal aspect.

Figure 4. Metapelma beijingense Yang, ♀, China, Guizhou. A Head and mesosoma, lateral aspect B metasoma, lateral aspect, C metasoma, dorsal aspect D mid and hind legs, lateral aspect E wings.