Monorthochaeta nigra Blood, 1923

Gumovsky, A. V. & Fursov, V. N., 2022, Taxonomic observations on Monorthochaeta (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) in Ukraine, and biological notes on M. nigra, Ukrainska Entomofaunistyka (Oxford, England) 13 (2), pp. 33-44 : 34-38

Monorthochaeta nigra Blood, 1923 ( Figs 2, 3, 5a, d, 6–8)

Monorthochaeta nigra Blood, 1923: 257 .

Monorthochaeta adanaensis Doğanlar, 2006: 251 , syn. n.

Type material studied ( Fig. 3E). Holotype ♀ M. adanaensis ( Figs 3a–d), “ Türkiye, Adana, Balcali, August 1999, ex eggs Cassida (coll. M. D. Ghawami)”, on glass slide №1888. Paratypes: 2♀, same label, ex eggs Cassida rubiginosa on Cynara scolymus ; 2♂, same label (separate glass slides №1889, №1892), marked “ allotype, paratype ” (on separate glass slides №1890, №1891) ( Fig. 2 e-g) (MKU).

Other material studied. Ukraine: Cherkasy Oblast, Uman Raion,

Zhytnyky, “Kuibyshev” collective farm, 7– 8.06.1984, ex eggs Cassida nebulosa , emerged 20.06.1984, 2♀, 1♂ ( Yu.P. Bichuk) [ ♀ antenna and wing – slides 107, 108]; Poltava Oblast, Kremenchuk Raion, nr. Hlobyne, “Staryi Khutir”, reared from egg set of tortoise beetle on thistle leaf, coll. 21.06.2021, reared end of 06.2021, 2♀ (used for biological experiments) ( Fig. 2a–c), 1♂ ( Fig. 2d), ( A. Gumovsky); Kherson Oblast , 10.08.1985, ex eggs of tortoise beetle, 2♀ ( V. Fursov); Crimea, near Nikita village , swept from Graminaceae and Fabaceae on grassy hills in forest 18.05.1994, 1♀ ( V. Fursov); Türkiye: Isparta, 8.05.2002, 1♀ ( M.D. Ghawami); Kırşehir Province, forest, 19.05.2005, 1♀ (on glass slide №1894) ( M.D. Ghawami); Hatay, Reyhanlı district , Tell Tayinat, 05.05.2005, 2♀ (on glass slides 1893, 1896) ( M. Doğanlar) ( SIZK) .

Host. Tortoise beetles, in particular Cassida spp. ( Coleoptera : Chrysomelidae , Cassidini) ( Noyes, 2022).

Distribution. England ( Blood, 1923; Blood & Kryger, 1928), France, Italy ( Nowicki, 1940), Hungary, Czech Republic ( Noyes, 2022), Ukraine ( Fursov, 2015), Türkiye ( Doğanlar, 2002), Egypt ( Awadalla, 1993, 1996; Hendawy & El-Fakharany, 2017).

Discussion. Synonymy of M. adanaensis Doğanlar with M. nigra Blood is proposed here as resultant from the comparison of the type specimens of M. adanaensis with reared material of M. nigra and its original description. Doğanlar (2002) stated that M. adanaensis differs from M. nigra in having the antennal clava of both sexes with a long terminal spine and the clava of male being twice as long as broad, and the second clavomere of male being twice as long as the first clavomere (whereas there is no terminal spine in female, the male clava is just slightly longer than broad, and its second clavomere is just slightly longer than the first clavomere in M. nigra ). However, the discussed characters vary in M. nigra . They are also not very distinct in the type specimens, so we consider them intraspecific variations. Instead, the presence of the characters listed in the key, the long hind basitarsus in particular, suggest that M. nigra Blood, 1923 and M. adanaensis Doğanlar, 2002 concern one and the same species, so the synonymy of the names is proposed.